Uni now owns what is effectively a footprint as big as WDW, without having to own and run an entire municipality. They don't control the roads between their two properties 100% but they don't have to build and maintain them 100% either. They've got plenty of fellow taxpayers to help with that. Not to mention electrical, water, sewer, etc. They don't have to build a flyover and dedicated road, they could just deploy a fleet of luxury buses on Universal Blvd. Imagine if the windows used Hogwarts Express technology to put on a ten minute show or attraction/hotel previews. Who needs a monorail?
The existence of this plot of land is the biggest competitive threat to WDW since the 1960s ... biggest threat ever in other words. Everything else that's happened in Orlando until now has been an add-on competing for leftover scraps of people's time and cash. Universal, Seaworld, Legoland, Wet and Wild, you name it.
Assuming the new parks hit the right emotional notes, the question really is going to be, kids, where do you want to go this year?
Besides the effect on theme park competition that this implies, I imagine it will have a big effect on how Disney uses the land in between its theme parks. You may see a wall of condos around not just Seven Seas but Bay Lake as well. That's if that the credit bubble lasts. Failing that, Disney will actually have to build new and innovative theme park rides ... a lot of them ... and implement competitive prices in order to keep their market share in the healthy zone.