Universal Orlando Resort has acknowledged what Walt Disney World’s unusually short summer wait times have been signaling for weeks: Central Florida’s theme-park market is experiencing a broader demand slowdown.
During Comcast’s second-quarter earnings call on July 23, Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said attendance across the Orlando market began softening in June and has remained pressured into the third quarter. The admission does not confirm Disney World’s attendance numbers, which Disney does not release, but it gives the resort’s falling posted waits considerably more context.
This is no longer one company having an unexpectedly quiet month. Two competing resorts are showing signs of pressure during what was once the heart of Orlando’s summer vacation season.
Comcast Says the Weakness Is Coming From Attendance
Cavanagh offered a blunt assessment during the call: “The operating environment has softened more than we anticipated.”
He said Epic Universe continued to perform well and deliver the strong guest response Comcast expected. Elsewhere, however, attendance across what he called the “broader Orlando market” began to weaken in June, with that trend continuing into the third quarter.
During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Cavanagh narrowed the issue further. The softness, he said, was “essentially weakness in attendance,” rather than a decline in how much each visitor spends after entering the resort.
Comcast believes weaker consumer sentiment and higher travel costs are affecting demand. Cavanagh described those pressures as temporary and said the company had not changed its long-term expectations for the parks.
The financial picture was mixed. According to Comcast’s second-quarter results, theme-park revenue increased 2.7% year over year to $2.413 billion. Adjusted EBITDA—a measure of operating profitability—fell 5.1% to $609 million, although Comcast attributed much of that decline to continued pressure at Universal Studios Japan and higher operating expenses.
Orlando revenue and adjusted EBITDA still grew, partly because the comparison period included only a portion of Epic Universe’s opening quarter. That growth nevertheless came in below Comcast’s expectations.
Disney World Is Showing the Same Warning Sign
Comcast does not operate Walt Disney World and cannot confirm how many people Disney has admitted through its gates. Its comments are significant because they overlap with observable wait-time changes across Disney’s four Florida theme parks.
Inside the Magic recently reported that Disney World’s average posted waits fell sharply during June and July. June’s resort-wide average dropped from 31 minutes in 2025 to 27 minutes in 2026. July fell from 30 minutes to 26 minutes.
Both declines equal approximately 13%.
Those averages also put June and July near levels more commonly associated with September, traditionally one of Disney World’s quieter periods. The change follows earlier indications that summer crowds were becoming unusually manageable.
Posted wait times are not attendance counts. Disney can adjust attraction capacity, and ride closures, Lightning Lane distribution and operating decisions all affect the numbers guests see in the app. Still, sustained resort-wide declines across dozens of attractions are difficult to dismiss—especially when Orlando’s other major operator is reporting attendance weakness during the same window.
Together, the two sets of evidence suggest—but do not prove—that fewer people are purchasing or taking Central Florida theme-park vacations this summer.
Epic Universe Is Not Carrying the Blame
The most important distinction in Comcast’s remarks concerns Epic Universe.
Cavanagh said the new park was “doing what we wanted it to do,” delivering against expectations and generating a strong guest response. He also said Epic Universe was driving higher per-capita spending and helping transform Universal Orlando into a broader multi-destination resort.
That assessment aligns with Comcast’s earlier report of strong Orlando growth following Epic Universe’s opening. It also complicates any easy theory that Universal’s expansion simply stole enough guests from Disney to create this summer’s lower waits.
Comcast’s position is that Epic Universe is performing. The problem is the total pool of Orlando demand.
That leaves open the possibility that Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure are feeling more pressure than the newest park, although Comcast did not release park-by-park attendance figures. Recent discounts on select Epic Universe admission also cannot, by themselves, establish weak demand; operators use targeted offers for numerous reasons.
What the Slowdown Means for Upcoming Vacations
For guests already committed to a summer trip, softer demand can deliver an immediate advantage: shorter waits, less congested walkways and more flexibility inside the parks. It does not make an Orlando vacation inexpensive, but it can improve what visitors receive for the money they have already spent.
For Disney and Universal, the calculation is less comfortable. Higher travel costs and fragile consumer confidence can affect the entire vacation before a family ever reaches a ticket checkout page. Airfare, gasoline, hotels, food and admission compete for the same household budget.
Comcast expects attendance to recover once economic conditions and consumer demand stabilize. That is the company’s forecast, not a guaranteed timeline.
What is now clear is that Disney World’s slow summer is not occurring in a vacuum. Universal has identified attendance weakness across Orlando during the same period—and the pressure has already followed the market into the third quarter.
