Thing is though... while I do enjoy Universal, Disney used to be different. The Universal parks don't really have underlying themes that unite them as a single creative thing. They're just collections of random lands and attractions. Disney used to not be like that. EPCOT had its own identity. Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom. Hollywood Studios. But Bob seems to want nothing more than to make Disney parks indistinguishable from Universal outside of the specific IPs they feature.
I still think there’s a definite difference beyond the governing theme, and while it’s a bit difficult to describe, I think it ultimately stems from the fact that they have more absolute control over the portrayal of their IP. In Universal’s parks, you tend to get slavish replication of the style of the source material, likely because you have very particular rights holders, like Nintendo, the Doctor Seuss estate, J.K. Rowling, etc. At times, this works well, as with the Wizarding World where the films already made Hogwarts into a realistic, compelling place to visit; other times, it’s less convincing, like with the weirdly lumpy shapes of Seuss Landing clearly crafted from fiberglass, or the large, lifeless walls of flat color at Simpsons attractions.
Meanwhile, while Disney obviously makes concessions based on operational realities and relies on illusions to create a sense of scale, they also smartly ask the question, “What would this look like in the real world?” For instance, the various castles only vaguely resemble their film counterparts and are more concerned with actually looking like castles.
The closest analogy I can think of is costuming, wherein lots of folks imitating cartoon characters match color and pattern perfectly but construct it all from polyester satin, resulting in a thoroughly unconvincing store-bought look. Others interpret the designs, supposing that a corset might be made of leather or a blouse of silk, ultimately ending up with something that feels genuine, even if the pattern matches less.
To me, that’s a differentiator that won’t go away no matter how confused their IP placement is.
