Summary
Disneylandfans will have a new destination to visit in a few years, as the Walt Disney Company has just announced plans for a new park in Abu Dhabi. This will be the company’s seventh resort and is expected to open within five years.
The Walt Disney Companyhas been expanding its investment in parks — in 2023, Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Josh D’Amaro announced that the company plans to double its investment in parks within ten years in order to expand its parks.
This expansion includes enhancements to parks that are already open, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that the company had plans to build new parks around the world — in fact, back in 2018, Bob Iger stated that new parks were “an inevitability.” While that statement was made many years ago, there have been many expectations since then thatDisney would eventually announcethe construction of a new park. There were even some rumors in 2018 that it would be in Australia, which ended up being completely inaccurate.
According toForbes, a new Disney resort and a new park will be built in Abu Dhabi. It will be located on the artificial Yas Island. Due to the heat, it seems that this new Disneyland will be a hybrid of indoor and outdoor parks. Yas Island is already home to many indoor theme parks, including a Warner Bros. theme park with an upcoming Harry Potter area.
What We Know About Disneyland Abu Dhabi So Far
The project is part of a partnership with Miral, a UAE government-backed leisure operator that operates Yas Island and its parks. Miral will not onlyoperate Disneyland Abu Dhabi, but it will also be in charge of its construction, similar to how Oriental Land Company operates Disneyland Tokyo. It will be the first Disney park in the Middle East, and the first on the water - there are even plans to build an icy version of Disney’s iconic signature castle right on the beach, but more details are to be announced in the future.
Bringing a Disney theme park resort to Yas Island marks a historic milestone in our journey to further advance the island’s position as a global destination for exceptional entertainment and leisure. Together, we are creating a place of boundless innovation, where the vision of our leadership continues to inspire the world.
— Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi, CEO of Miral Group
The UAE has been investing money from the oil industry into tourism — in fact, many countries whose GDP is heavily dependent on oil are now looking to tourism as a new potential source of national wealth as energy transitions have become a more prominent issue in recent years. With Disneyland, the UAE expects to boost its leisure tourism venture even more. D’Amaro describes the upcoming resort as groundbreaking and “the most advanced and interactive” destination in Disney’s portfolio.
Disney currently owns twelve theme parks, located at six resorts around the world:The Disneyland Resort in California(USA), The Walt Disney World Resort in Florida (USA), Tokyo Disney Resort (Japan), Disneyland Paris (France), Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (Lantau Island), and Shanghai Disney Resort (China).
Disney
Disney is a conglomerate and media company that owns a variety of television stations like ABC, Disney Channel, and Disney XD. They are also owners of the Marvel and Star Wars franchises and own the ever-popular Disney theme parks found all around the world.
