Marvel Characters Can't Set Foot in Disney World

~ °o° ~ Disney owns the rights to the Marvel Characters, but did you know they are not allowed to set foot in Disney World in Florida?

Recently, Disney made several announcements about how Marvel characters will have their own land and new rides at Disneyland in California, Disneyland Hong Kong and at Disneyland Paris. But there will not be any of Marvel's marquee characters at Walt Disney World, Disney's largest theme park resort…. aside from Guardians of the Galaxy coming to EPCOT.

Could it be that Capt Jack Sparrow had something to do with this? Could it be that Floridians just have to settle for Pandora, (aka Avatar land) and Star Wars: Galaxy Edge? What is the reason for this audacity! Is it (gasp!) an over-sight by Disney???

Turns out that this can’t legally happen in Florida due to an agreement signed nearly two decades ago. Comcast signed territorial rights covering most of Marvel's best-known characters for the use in theme parks in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River ahead of the opening of Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. So, unfortunately Disney doesn't have a choice when it comes to a creating a lot of Marvel attractions at any of its four theme parks in Florida.

Don’t feel too bad for Disney. Comcast has to pay licensing fees and product royalties to its competitor as at Universal Orlando the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Avengers attractions are some of its more popular rides.

I also don’t feel too bad for Disney especially with 'Black Panther', this year's huge movie hit. (Did you know that "Black Panther" was a Disney super-hero?) It will be interesting to see which Park will start to feature Black Panther merchandise/attractions/rides/meet-n-greets…. and when in Florida, (some Black Panther characters already have been spotted in Disney California Adventure Park).

By the way, I book vacations for Universal Studios as well as Disney World and Disneyland. So if you need your Marvel Superhero fix on either coast, I can hook you up. Feel free to reach out to me for a quote (or even to purchase Park tickets at a savings compared to at gate).