183. Len Testa on the Future of Disney's Theme Parks and Universal's Epic Universe

Len Testa talks to Dan Heaton about the concepts for an expansion Beyond Big Thunder from Disney.

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It’s an interesting time in the world of theme parks, especially for Disney. Their parks are still drawing large crowds, but not everything is going so well. Following the announcements at the recent D23 Expo, I had a lot of questions about Disney’s future. Len Testa is the perfect guest to help explain what’s happening today. As the President of Touring Plans and co-host of the Disney Dish podcast, Len has a close view of the latest changes. He also studies the numbers to support his conclusions.

This example shows the type of research that Touring Plans is doing about Disney Genie Plus.

Len returns to the Tomorrow Society Podcast for his sixth appearance. We start by talking about work modifying the Touring Plans software to account for complexities of Disney Genie Plus (pictured above). Some nuances with the reservations system weren’t present in FastPass Plus. Next, Len and I dive into why Disney is taking a cautious approach to expansions. I expected them to counter the opening of Epic Universe from Universal, and Len explains Disney’s slower approach.

An example of a survey that Universal is giving to their guests about trips to the Orlando parks.

We also talk about our excitement for Epic Universe and potential for growth at Universal Orlando. Universal has a great opportunity, and we discuss surveys they’re sending to guests. I close the show by asking Len silly questions, including one about the origins of Hank Lonely. Len describes the legend of his Galactic Starcruiser character and what it was like to portray him on the ship. I really enjoyed chatting with Len again and getting his perspective on Disney and Universal.