Elon Musk’s tunneling firm The Boring Company has been tapped to plow connections among Universal’s Orlando theme parks.
The board of the Shingle Creek Transit and Utility Community Development District, a special purpose district encompassing Universal properties, voted Wednesday to begin contract negotiations with Musk’s firm to design and build the infrastructure improvements, following a monthslong competition.
The Boring Company was one of three bidders, alongside V2R and Sunshine Connection Partners. It is best known for its expertise in underground tunnels, having dug the “Vegas Loop” transportation network in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A system of tunnels linking Universal’s popular properties could be as iconic in the 21st century as Disney World’s monorails were in the 20th century. But little is known about how The Boring Company intends to proceed, including how it might approach constructing tunnels given Florida’s shallow water table.
The district sought bids from companies to design and build an innovative transportation system to provide connectivity between Universal’s parks and other assets.
The idea was to link the parks, including the popular new tourist draw, Epic Universe, to City Walk and Universal-owned hotels, according to Brian Gettinger, an executive for transit company Glydways, which helped Sunshine Connection Partners make its bid.
Currently, the only way to get from location to location among Universal’s growing complex is to take cars or buses on surface streets. In addition to its monorails, Disney has skyway and boat links, but Universal has nothing similar.
The district did not specifically define a mode of transportation. But The Boring Company, founded and owned by tech billionaire Musk, who also owns SpaceX, digs tunnels, and Gettinger said he assumes that will be their approach. The district board said it found the company to have made the most qualified proposal of the bidders.
“Board members determined that The Boring Company’s proposal best addressed the District’s request for an innovative, future-ready, point-to-point solution,” the district said in a statement announcing the decision. “The District will now continue collaborating with local stakeholders while exploring the operational and financial feasibility of the preferred proposal.”
The announcement posted on the district’s website made no mention of tunnels.
The district did not immediately respond to a request Wednesday evening for copies of the proposals made by The Boring Company and its competitors. Nor has it responded to a public records request submitted by the Orlando Sentinel in December.
Following the vote, The Boring Company posted a brief comment on X. “Though it is early, this is a great first step. Looking forward to working with the Shingle Creek Transit and Utility CDD in Orlando.”
Sunshine Connection Partners proposed an above ground, dedicated light rail system for “high capacity people movement” between Universal properties, said Gettinger.
He said he was disappointed not to be the first choice, but offered praise nonetheless for Universal’s plan.
“I think Universal/Shingle Creek deserves a lot of credit for considering alternative transportation technologies that are more cost effective,” he said. “All three teams that responded offered innovative, 21st Century solutions. They’re all different but they’re all in that transformative bucket.”
The Boring Company’s website says its mission is to build transportation, utility, and freight tunnels to solve traffic and allow rapid point-to-point transportation. The Vegas Loop has already transported more than 3 million passengers through 8 stations, according to the site. However, it is not a true mass transit system, using Tesla Model Y cars to transport passengers through its below- and above-ground network.
More recently, The Boring Company has touted plans for a Dubai Loop beginning construction in late 2026 and a Music City Loop in Nashville connecting downtown to the airport.
But a previous proposal from the company to tunnel through Florida never got off the ground. The company discussed in 2023 a $100 million project to tunnel from downtown Fort Lauderdale to the beach, but both the city and The Boring Company seemed to lose interest as obstacles arose.