I'd really not like to get in on this whole "Universal is better..." "No, Disney is..." keyboard commando stuff, but coming from somewho who works at Universal (Entertainment), guests do in fact think that Universal is part of Disney. Guests, not all but some, are really uninformed. I get asked where The Haunted Mansion is or where Mickey is all the time. And just take this board for instance, I know there was a post last year that asked if there was a shuttle that ran from one of Disney's Resort Hotels to the Universal parks. :brick: This is a good marketing move by Universal. For so long they've tried to make a name fore themselves as being the other big park in Florida. Both Disney and Universal have a symbiotic relationship in which Disney needs Universal and Universal needs Disney. It's competition! Without Pepsi there'd be no Coke and vis versa. Without Burger King, no McDonalds. Yes they could each survive without the other, but it wouldn't be nearly the same. Disney would be the only park in Florida and would have not much of a reason to create rides like Evervest if there wasn't competition building similar rides (Mummy). It's all healthy and fun!
And just for the record, when Universal opened they had Hanna-Barbara, Kong, Earthquake and ET. JAWS opened a few weeks later and was up and down for two years before being replaced with a new show system. BTTF came about a year after the park opened.