Universal Studios Buys Wet ‘N Wild

Universal Studios Recreation Group has purchased the Wet ‘n Wild water park chain in a move that will make it more competitive with Walt Disney World.

The purchase of Wet ‘n Wild gives Universal the original Orlando Wet ‘n Wild - the busiest water park in the country with an estimated 1.3 million visitors last year - and water parks in Las Vegas, Mexico and Brazil.

The acquisition was announced late Thursday from the Seagramowned entertainment company’s Universal City, Calif. headquarters. Officials wouldn’t disclose the purchase price.

Universal is in the midst of a $2 billion expansion in Orlando. A second theme park and a resort hotel are expected to open next year, and an entertainment complex with restaurants and nightclubs will open later this year.

All added up, it makes Universal more competitive with rival Walt Disney World, which has four theme parks, 17 resort hotels, three water parks and an entertainment complex.

The water park will fit perfectly with Universal’s attractions, said Steve Baker, a theme park consultant in Orlando. “It’s sort of Disneyesque,” he said.

Added Abraham Pizam, a professor of tourism at the University of Central Florida: “There will be two giants in the community.”

Like Disney, Universal will be able to offer multiday passes and give visitors enough to keep them busy while staying several days in Universal’s lodgings. Five hotels are planned for the resort by 2005. The first, the Portofino Bay Hotel, opens next year.

Universal is expected to complete the purchase of 2,000 acres from Lockheed Martin by the end of the year. Plans filed with the state last year indicate Universal has plans to build theme parks, hotels and golf courses.