Disney theme parks are in Los Angeles and Orlando. Universal Studios theme parks are also in the same two cities. Coincidence? In fact the two organizations had a rivalry ever since Walt Disney’s new studio lost the right Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons to Universal (who pulled their license.) Universal developed their L.A. theme park almost accidentally, from a popular and growing backlot tour; their Orlando location actually inspired Disney to speed up the building and opening of its own.

On this day, June 7th, in 1990, Universal Studios, Florida, opened with several attractions like Jaws and Kongfrontation mirroring their Los Angeles ones. Along with USF the park, Nickelodeon studios, producers of iconic children’s programming, opened as a working facility and an attraction.

USF opened a year after Walt Disney World in Orlando, and faced considerable technical glitches that alienated a good portion of the park’s early visitors. Eventually all the kinks were ironed out, and the park became a popular destination. Nickelodeon studios, on the other hand, found that changing viewer tastes made the Orlando location superfluous, and by the mid 2000s closed and moved much of their production to Hollywood.