Universal Parks and Resorts keeps its position as one of the leading attractions brands by always aiming higher, said Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Parks and Resorts’ design and development group.

Giving the keynote conference speech at IAAPA today (16 November), Woodbury explained how the company’s past has shaped its DNA – as Steven Spielberg put it, to “ride the movies” - and how it plans to grow its success moving into the future.

“At Universal, the next thing we do has to be better than the last thing we did,” Woodbury said.

With an illustrious story so far, dating back to the opening of Universal Studios Hollywood in 1964, and with more recent successes in Japan and Singapore, Orlando remains the company's flagship park.

“Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990, with attractions developed off the back of Universal blockbusters and Spielberg blockbusters,” Woodbury said. “We had something really big, something unique, something different.”

King Kong, Jaws, ET, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park are just a few of the IPs that Universal famously transformed into park experiences.

“In 1999, Islands of Adventure opened, a whole new immersive world that brought some of the greatest intellectual properties to life in ways that were really compelling.”

The unprecedented success of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure and Diagon Alley at the adjacent Universal Studios defines the current era for Universal, Woodbury said, and serve as an example of the “out-of-the-box thinking” that drives the company’s creative studios.

“Conventional thinking would have had us place Diagon Alley next to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” Woodbury said. “But we had a better idea - to connect the two parks with the Hogwarts Express, creating a two-part, one-story thematic experience.”

The Future

Looking to the future, Woodbury discussed the new King Kong attraction, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, which will open in Orlando in 2016.

“Visitors will go on an expedition to the heart of Skull Island, coming face to face with Kong as he wrestles a T-Rex in an epic battle,” Woodbury said. “As all hell is breaking loose, your car falls off the edge of a cliff and Kong saves it – and there’s more, but I can’t tell you.”

Next year Universal is also opening the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Hollywood, a Jurassic World ride in Japan, and a Jimmy Fallon ride, Volcano Bay waterpark and Sapphire Falls hotel in Orlando. The company has also recently announced it’s teamed up with Nintendo, and has “really fantastic” plans for the partnership, Woodbury said.

Woodbury pointed to the longevity and global appeal of the theme park brand, which is celebrating more than 50 years since the opening of its first theme park in Los Angeles, 25 years of Universal Studios Florida, 15 years of Universal Studios Japan and five years of Universal Studios Singapore.

Next is China, with Universal Studios Beijing opening in 2019.