The Middle East is set to gain its first Disney theme park, in the United Arab Emirates, in a partnership between the Walt Disney Company and leisure and entertainment firm Miral. The resort is planned for Yas Island, 20 minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi and 50 minutes from Dubai.
Announcing its latest park development, slated for opening in the early 2030s, Disney pointed out that the UAE is a “significant gateway for tourism”, situated less than a four-hour flight away from a third of the world’s population. What’s more, around 120 million passengers travel through Abu Dhabi and Dubai every year.
“Authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati”
Disney already has six theme parks around the world, in North America, Europe and Asia. The Shanghai facility was the entertainment giant’s most recent launch, dating back to 2016. Hailing the new UAE venture as “thrilling”, Disney’s chief executive, Robert Iger, said Disneyland Abu Dhabi would be “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati”.
Those words were echoed by Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, in an exclusive interview with CNN. He noted the bespoke nature of each park and said, “it’s really important not just to take a theme park that might exist somewhere else and plop it into the ground in that new area that we would be going into.”
What that Middle East tailoring might mean is not entirely clear, but Disney has said the new park will reflect Abu Dhabi’s future-oriented development and be the company’s most technologically advanced offering yet. The castle that sits at the heart of every Disney park will be futuristic too, if architectural renderings showing a monumental crystalline structure are accurate.
Supporting sustained economic growth?
Miral chief Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi said the new park resort would be a “milestone in our journey to further advance the island’s position as a global destination for exceptional entertainment and leisure” and would “support sustained economic growth in Abu Dhabi and beyond”.
When it comes to Disney’s finances, they look in good shape too. The announcement of the new park follows stronger-than-predicted results for the firm, with quarter one revenue up by 7% to $23.6 billion (€21.5 bn). Not only were streaming services growing, with 1.4 million more customers, but visits to the US parks were up, as was visitor spending. The company’s cruise arm is also doing well, according to booking data that shows an increase following the reveal of a new ship.
Some might still urge caution. Dennis Speigel, owner and founder of International Theme Park Services consultants told CNN that Dubai had previously “overbuilt” theme parks that ad “struggled and showed no profit for at least 10 years.” Nonetheless, he added, the “critical mass” of leisure development in the region could now be considered sufficient to support the project.
