Universal Orlando Resort Celebrates Grand Opening of Much-Anticipated Fourth Theme Park, Universal Epic Universe

Fireworks during the opening of Epic Universe in Orlando Florida, May 21, 2025 (Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

Epic Universe is Comcast’s big bet to challenge Disney’s theme park dominance

Disney’s parks are its profit engine. Universal wants a piece.

5/23/25 9:37AM

The streaming wars have been the battleground of choice for America’s largest entertainment companies over the last few years. Now, Comcast is taking the fight to Disney in a more physical way.

Yesterday, Universal opened Epic Universe, the Comcast-owned company’s largest theme park investment ever and its biggest development since launching the Wizarding World of Harry Potter 15 years ago. Reportedly costing some $7 billion, the 750-acre site has five “worlds,” incorporating characters and places from beloved franchises like Nintendo, “How to Train Your Dragon,” and more.

**You have to spend this much to build this ride**

But Comcast’s not the only company doubling down on thrills — Disney, too, has announced a royalty agreement for the development of a new enormous park in Abu Dhabi in recent weeks, adding to its own ongoing decade-long $60 billion investment into its parks division.

Disney and Comcast are betting that visitors will continue to splurge hundreds of dollars on park tickets (and maybe even $35 on a single popcorn bucket). Indeed, even as recession fears grow, the theme park business has been highly profitable, with Disney’s experiences division, which includes sales from its parks, resorts, and merch, bringing in 59% of the House of Mouse’s total profit last year with ~$9 billion.

Disney's profits are led by its experiences segment — Sherwood News

Parks and resorts are also less volatile than the fast-changing television, film, and streaming segments, and are “not at all exposed to the shift in time on screens from one venue to another,” per Comcast President Mike Cavanagh.

But Comcast may have a tough time catching Disney — the iconic entertainment giant had 8 of the top 10 of the world’s most-visited theme parks in 2023, according to a report by the Themed Entertainment Association.

Max Knoblauch4h

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones10h

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.