Philadelphia, Friday, 24 October 2025.
Universal Destinations & Experiences will open a large-scale touring exhibition at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute on Saturday, 14 February 2026. The show packages attraction design, sets, props and tech-enabled interactives (AR/VR, ride simulators) into a museum format, signaling studios are monetizing IP through experiential licensing and museum partnerships. For retail leaders, the most intriguing fact is the exhibition’s role as a commercial testbed: themed retail, exclusive merchandise and time-ticketed programming are being used to measure visitation uplift and merchandising performance ahead of park investments. Operational implications include procurement from themed-entertainment contractors, crowd-flow engineering, capacity management, safety-compliant ride elements and sponsorship frameworks. The project highlights a growing channel for year-round revenue beyond parks and suggests a blueprint for scalable, tech-enabled exhibits that balance IP fidelity with museum operations. Expect insights on cross-sector merchandising strategies, pricing and partnership models valuable to retailers planning omnichannel IP collaborations and measurement.