Universal paid off the WWOHP expense in a few months. We see how much they are doing and how fast they are moving. Universal is HUNGRY. I just saw an olfd friend this morning who did a Disney trip with a day of Universal and said that next time they were going to reverse the next vacation with all Uni and a dash of WDW. This is happening over and over to families everywhere. WDW isn’t waking up. Uni is buying land, building resorts, adding parks, adding lands. 2014 could be the momentum shift we are looking for.
This isn’t happening overnight but it can be a fascinating study of a hungry company and a once great company that has become fat and lazy. This could be a great MBA study in the near future. I love it.

CaptainAction It’s going to be tough as Universal still has a lot of barriers to that. 
1) They still have a major mountain to climb. IOA is about 2mil below AK and DHS and 3mil below Epcot. And USF is more than 3.5mil below AK and DHS. That park will get the next big boosts, with Transformers and Diagon Alley, so it’ll bring it even with IOA. It takes an increase of more than 10% in attendance to gain 1mil. Last year IOA rose 4% and USF rose 2.5, which puts that park just slightly over the 2.2-2.3% the WDW parks made. To get in range, they’ll both have to have ANOTHER 25% increase, what IOA saw after WWoHP opened. That’s not terribly likely.
2) They need more on-site hotels. Universal is finally figuring out that staying in the I-Drive area is even more annoying than WDW’s bus system. Building the budget Cabana Bay Beach Resort is genius, but it remains to be seen how much of an impact it will make. Best-case scenario: If it stays full all years long, it can add more than 2mil to Universal Orlando. Divide that and it’s an extra million per year to each park. BUT, supposedly hotel occupancy there is 85%. AND a new hotel would certainly drain people from the hotels nearby. Yes, the idea of hotels that are mere yards from two theme parks is a great offering to many tourists, but it’s still a drop in the bucket.
3) WDW is still a prison, both physically AND mentally. They take you there on their buses and if you don’t have a car, you’re there all week. Some people are figuring out that they need to see Universal or SeaWorld, particularly those with teenagers, but others like not having a car and don’t care what’s outside. And then there are the Disney Dorks who just refuse ANYBODY can compete with Disney. I’ve been surprised to see how many people are just now FINALLY deciding to give Universal a try. We all know how closed-minded people can be in this country. This is a MAJOR obstacle.
4) They need more offerings. The fact is, Universal just isn’t a week-long vacation. When the Busch parks were up for sale, I so wished for Comcast to buy them. With a huge company owning parks on both ends of I-Drive, maybe a monorail/train/light rail system would’ve finally been built. Disney stopped the last one, but Comcast is HUGE. And WDW isn’t physically IN Orlando. Regardless, Universal HAS to do a better job teaming up with SeaWorld. With their three park offerings, there’s a full week on offer, and people won’t worry about WDW. A decent shuttle system between the two complexes NEEDS to be created and advertised. Even so, Universal still needs to build out. Building up the parks is great, but that’s really only making them three days of a vacation instead of two. A new on-site water park will be great, but will Wet ‘n’ Wild go? Why dump one full-day activity for another? One more full-sized theme park would probably do the trick, creating a necessity for five days (if done right) but where would that go? The land they finally bought under Wet ‘n’ Wild is about half the size of IOA and anything less than a monorail between the two will not be viewed with any excitement.
Universal is doing everything right to finally pass up those parks, but there is a whole lot against them. It’s certainly not something that’s going to happen in the near future.

Testrack is really lame. Threr just aren’t very good rides at Epcot so people ride Testrack because, oh well, I’m here and I’m not hungry right now. Imagination, whew. Living Seas puts you to sleep (if they had benches there that would be a great napland). Soaring is great but after 6-7 times it’s lost its magic. Spaceship Earth  is one of those,”Hey there’s no line. Anybody want to ride?” things. Ellen’s – way old and not funny. So, folks ride Testrack or try not to vomit on Mission Space.  Carsland would have been a really cool themed Testrack. Haven’t made it to DLand since Carsland opened but friends say the ride is lame but theming is cool. Probably a good move for WDW to drop it.
Seems like even the biggest WDW fans are starting to agree and say that, “WDW better do SOMETHING! And fast”

How long do you guys think it might be before Universal attendance starts to beat AK? Disney Studios? Epcot?

I agree completely. Disney needs to start building a Star Wars land (and not take 10 years to do it).