This is a small side question possibly.
Disney seems to have a huge lifestyler community. Seriously, if the Disflix fiasco taught me anything, it's how large and loud the Disney fan community is. Universal has their fans, but I don't think the community is as big/obsessed/rich on average/etc as the lifestyle community. There's a ton of Disneybounding / retail / events and the like that seems precision-focused towards the lifestyle community. Disney seems to do a lot to cater to this community, especially with Club 33 coming up.
So, why doesn't Universal have a lifestyle community or is just that Universal doesn't cater to them as much?
First, let me stress, I think the Disney lifestyler community is loud, but not necessarily as large as you make it out to be. I forget who, some NYC sportscaster used to say hockey wasn't that big a sport. People would counter, "what, the Rangers routinely sell out the Garden for big games!" And his response was, "yeah, because every Ranger fan in the tri-state area is there!" Deep but not broad support. While I think that was an exaggeration, some truth to it, and I think the same applies to Disney lifestylers. It really is the same 2,000 (if that) people at every special event, every Star Wars Weekend, etc.
That said, I know plenty of lifestylers.
@Disneyhead is right, Universal made very little effort to court them its first decade of operation. But I'll go further--I think lifestylers were a little bit scared of the park up the road. I know plenty of Disney fans who never set foot in UOR until Potter opened. It was seen as all roller coasters and heavy drinking and a scary Halloween event. They even make fun of Disney in their shows!
Potter is one of the cornerstones of "geek" (how I hate that term in this context) culture, along with Star Wars, Monty Python and maybe Dr. Who if you think you're smart and cultured. And of course Disney if you're a Disney fan. WWoHP made it socially acceptable for the "indoor kids" to go to UOR. It wasn't just roller coasters for jocks anymore.* It's taken years, but starting to see the effects of this influx at UOR--particularly on HHN, which has had its rough edges smoothed off (AoV would have been booed off stage 10 years ago). But this is all past 6 years or so.
But until Potter opened, Universal was viewed as a regional park--Six Flags Orlando, basically. Regional theme parks tend attract broad but not deep support. We'll buy an AP because it's cheap, but if Sea World buys a better coaster, we'll go there. Also, to be blunt, UOR wasn't terribly successful numbers-wise. I've heard from multiple sources had WWoHP underperformed, GE was ready to shutter the parks. Nobody grew up going there on special vacations and equated a move to Florida to be closer to the park with somehow recapturing their childhood. When people say WWoHP was a game-changer, it's not just because it drove attendance--it's because it changed the local fan community landscape.
* Yes, I know IoA opened as the most highly themed park in the U.S. I'm talking public perception--or at least Disney fan perception.
There's actually more sites that started out as Disney sites that get invited to Universal events than Universal focused sites, ironically.
I think this was sheer desperation. Any site lives and dies on content. And for the past decade (until just this year), WDW hasn't done a lot particularly newsworthy. The company held a press conference over new benches.
On the flip side, UOR seemed to figure out early access and some free drinks can buy you gobs of free, positive P.R.