Philadelphia, Wednesday, 10 September 2025.
Universal Destinations & Experiences will premiere an 18,000 m² touring exhibition at The Franklin Institute, opening Saturday, February 14, 2026, that turns theme-park IP into museum-grade content. For retail and experience leaders, the intriguing fact is scale: eight themed galleries, 25 interactives and 100+ original artifacts from franchises such as Jurassic World and Universal Monsters signal a deliberate shift from park-only engagement to multi-channel monetisation—tickets, sponsorship, licensing and retail activations. The exhibit packages ride tech, media systems, props and archives into a curated narrative that both educates and entices non-park audiences, offering a live case study in guest segmentation, experiential retail layouts, and long-term touring feasibility. Retail professionals should watch how Universal integrates physical merch pathways, sponsorship exposure, and collectible-driven demand within a science-museum context; the project models cross-sector partnerships that can extend IP lifecycles, inform destination planning and create new ancillary revenue streams beyond the turnstile.
A museum-calibre premiere in Philadelphia
Universal Destinations & Experiences will open Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition at The Franklin Institute with a world premiere on Saturday, February 14, 2026, presenting a touring, large-scale look behind the scenes of Universal’s themed-entertainment operations—an announcement issued in the companies’ joint release [1]. The exhibit is described by its producers as a deep dive into storytelling, design and operational craft drawn from Universal’s parks, framed for a museum audience at one of the nation’s leading science institutions [1][2].
Scale, artefacts and interactive design
The producers characterise the exhibition as spanning 18,000 (square feet in the source) and comprising eight themed galleries, roughly 25 interactive experiences and more than 100 original artifacts drawn from franchises such as Jurassic World, How to Train Your Dragon and Universal Monsters—elements that combine ride hardware, media systems, costumes and archives into a single curated visitor journey [1]. [alert! ‘source lists 18,000 square feet; the brief supplied by the editor used 18,000 m², which would be a different area measurement; cited source must be taken as authoritative on the figure’] [1].
Why this is a brand-extension play rather than a conventional exhibit
Universal’s framing of the project links intellectual-property assets with licensing, location-based strategy and experiential merchandising, positioning the exhibition explicitly as a multi-channel activation that reaches non-park audiences and creates ancillary revenue opportunities through admissions, sponsorship and licensing—language used in the official announcement and in Executive commentary accompanying the launch [1]. The collaboration with The Franklin Institute signals a deliberate cross-sector partnership between a major entertainment IP owner and an established science museum, turning themed-entertainment content into something presented and interpreted with museum conventions such as galleries, artifacts and interpretive interactives [1][2].
Operational and design takeaways for industry professionals
For operators, licensors and exhibition producers, the project functions as a live case study in integrating ride systems, media technology and archival props into a non-park environment: the exhibition’s promise of behind-the-scenes content and hands-on interactives requires translating attraction-grade engineering and show-control demonstrations into safe, repeatable gallery experiences—an engineering and health-and-safety challenge operators will want to inspect closely when assessing transferability to other venues or tours [1][3].
Retail and retail-planning leaders should watch how Universal deploys merchandise pathways and sponsorship exposure inside a science-museum footprint: the exhibition’s combination of collectible artifacts, franchise icons and interactive creation zones creates opportunities for limited-edition product runs, premium photo experiences and sponsor-branded activations that extend IP lifecycles beyond park visits—an approach explicitly signalled in the show’s design brief and media materials [1]. Local and national partners can leverage such activations to capture spending outside the turnstile and to test retail concepts in a lower-risk touring context [1][3].
Touring feasibility and guest-segmentation lessons
Because the project is conceived as a touring exhibition, it offers immediate lessons about audience segmentation, modular exhibit design and long-term routing: producers must balance portability with the fidelity of themed environments and the protection of original artifacts, while venue partners must evaluate load-in, climate control and security needs—issues raised by the exhibition’s touring premise and by general best practice in the themed-attraction community [1][3][4].
Context in Philadelphia’s 2026 event landscape
Hosting the premiere in Philadelphia—part of a wider year of high-profile public programming in the city tied to the Semiquincentennial and a busy 2026 events calendar—positions the exhibition to intersect with increased cultural tourism and major citywide events, an advantage explicitly noted in local event roundups that list the Franklin Institute exhibition among notable openings for 2026 [2].
Voices from the partners
Leadership statements accompanying the announcement underscore institutional intent: The Franklin Institute’s executive leadership framed the exhibit as an extraordinary world-premiere for the museum, and Universal’s senior executives emphasised the show’s promise to reveal the creative and technical craft behind the parks—direct quotes and attributions are published in the joint release [1].
How practitioners should evaluate the project
Design teams, exhibition producers and park planners should assess the show on several practical criteria extracted from the producers’ description: artifact provenance and conservation requirements, interface design for interactive technology, modularity for touring, sponsor-visible inventory and retail flow, plus how on-site programming can funnel visitors toward future park visits or secondary licensing purchases—factors implicit in the exhibition’s stated objectives and in thematic trade-community discussions about museum-tour crossovers [1][3].
Bronnen