News Disney and Miral Announce New Seventh Theme Park Planned for Abu Dhabi

[SirLink]

Your personal views are irrelevant. We’re discussing the reality of the situation, not our own feelings on the matter. Like it or not, many tourists visit the Gulf, and those numbers are likely to rise.

They pay for vloggers and bloggers to "experience it" posting online, thus it makes it look popular add to that they can make up visitor numbers.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Love that Bob used the term “income qualified” to describe Disney’s target audience.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Well, it’s a good thing we’ll never have another financial crisis! Certainly not anytime soon!

After building Ferrari World during the 2008 financial crisis they then built SeaWorld during the pandemic. If somebody is going to power through, Miral seems a likely candidate.

 

[tanc]

The UAE is practically a perfect location geographically. Dubai is one of the busiest airports in the world, and India is only like a 4 hour flight (a place to houses 1/3rd of the world's population. Not to mention it services Europe as well. I just wonder if they will create an indoor park or not, it will be very fascinating to see how they go about it.

 

[SirLink]

Umm I am assuming you do no international business, as the gulf states are a frequent visitation spot for capital investment and international trade.

While maybe not for main stream US, the gulf IS a tourist location for Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. And for the higher end US market, parks of the gulf states have become what Aspen/Paris where in the past.

I'm British the gulf states 100% is NOT a tourist location for Europe .

 

[Comped]

From videos I’ve come to associate the UAE parks with the most underwhelming dark rides ever built.

As someone who's studied the industry in the Gulf for years, you're exactly right, Outside of WB AD, the dark rides are bad. And not like broken down Splash/Tiana's bad. Many rides have extremely simple AAs that do one or two motions and that's it. If that. Lots of screens as well. Makes even Six Flag's Justice League ride look like a Disney renaissance piece for a reason.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Looking at the map of Yas Island, I can't see Disney having the space they'd like for future expansion should this go well. But Abu al Jirab is right next to Ferrari World, and big enough for more than what they'd likely want. Or there are also other options that don't involve building in Yas itself...

I would assume it would be more Miral who would be deciding where they wanted to put it as part of their plans to develop the whole complex. I'm sure Disney would be happy for them to expand it and to take in more royalties and consultation fees, but I suspect it is more Miral's problem rather than Disney's as they are looking at this more as a licensing venture. I'm not sure, for example, how much thought Disney executives give to Tokyo Disneyland's expansion plans and opportunities.

By the way, thanks for your earlier post regarding tourism in UAE/Abu Dhabi vs Hong Kong!

 

[Brian]

Just a reminder that Chapek didn’t want to make a statement at all. He was pressured into doing so by the former Chair of the Board, Susan Arnold.

Companies must tailor their brand to appeal to local tastes, preferences, as well as those of their employees.

The same American employees that protested likely do not care whatsoever about anything outside of America.

Apple just released a new Pride band. Any bets on whether it gets sold in their new Saudi Arabia stores?

Apple introduces the 2025 Pride Collection

The new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Band, watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpaper celebrate the strength and beauty of LGBTQ+ communities.

www.apple.com

If the executives of Apple or Disney really cared about the values they espouse, in many cases, aggressively in the United States, they would promote those values in less amenable countries, or, ideally, not do business there at all.

The point being: it's always about the money at the end of the day. You're implied as much in your post.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

I like how the 'artwork' is the most ridiculously vague thing ever produced.

 

[rct247]

I'm surprised by this announcement, but not shocked. I think it was a matter of time that we would have seen another park/resort somewhere with the South Asia/Middle East region due to the population.

I think it is surprising to see some of the comments on this though. Regardless of local politics or culture, I think its important to step back and recognized the power of the Disney brand to permeate through all of the world's differences. The brand has always been a business, but that business is also spreading joy to the world.


I think it is exciting to see what will become of this project with the amount of technology they want to infuse into it. It may take time, but that same technology could also make its way back to the states as well. I'm also curious to see how it interacts with the other attractions in the area. Yas Island looks to market itself as a sort of Disney World, but instead of all the parks, resorts, and recreation being with one brand (Disney), it is with multiple brands (Warner Bros., Farrari, Sea World, Hilton). Also, IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai has a Marvel themed land. Will this create a similar Universal/WDW relationship?

I've also been looking at the potential location of the park. While there is some development there, the south eastern end seems to match the waterfront description on Yas Island.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

The UAE is practically a perfect location geographically. Dubai is one of the busiest airports in the world, and India is only like a 4 hour flight (a place to houses 1/3rd of the world's population. Not to mention it services Europe as well. I just wonder if they will create an indoor park or not, it will be very fascinating to see how they go about it.

Emirates is a far bigger airline, but Ethiad is not small and I know flies a lot between Australia and Europe. I assume they also fly between a lot of Asian and African destinations and Europe as well.

Miral would be smart to pair with Ethiad to offer 48+ hour stop-overs in Yas Island as those kinds of breaks are popular on these long haul flights. I think all the people I know from Australia who have spent time in the UAE have done so as part of a trip to Europe... or had some connection with an airline! Living in Europe, the one time I have stopped in the Gulf States was when Qatar was being blockaded by its neighbours and offered cheap stop-overs on connecting flights.

 

[Orange-Bird]

One Disney park has hurricanes the other has wild fires. France gets cold… if this new park has to deal with sandstorms Disney will be facing all the elements!

 

[DisneyHead123]

Very excited for this, although I have a hard time picturing the day my little will be ready for international travel, lol. Will have to enjoy watching it from afar. They do some amazing things with architecture and specifically theme parks in that part of the world, from what I can tell, so I expect this to be over the top in the best possible way and all around amazing.

 

[Comped]

I would assume it would be more Miral who would be deciding where they wanted to put it as part of their plans to develop the whole complex. I'm sure Disney would be happy for them to expand it and to take in more royalties and consultation fees, but I suspect it is more Miral's problem rather than Disney's as they are looking at this more as a licensing venture. I'm not sure, for example, how much thought Disney executives give to Tokyo Disneyland's expansion plans and opportunities.

By the way, thanks for your earlier post regarding tourism in UAE/Abu Dhabi vs Hong Kong!

OLC and Disney used to be quite close when it came to these sorts of things (and they enjoyed quite a friendly relationship). Nowadays, who knows. But I don't think Miral will be too vain to get Disney to suggest things, as this is really the first time that they've partnered with a firm that has actual experience in operating world-class theme parks (and not aquariums with rides, or whatever Legoland is).

And thank you very much! I enjoy writing about these kinds of things (and have thought about setting up some kind of substack to collect my thoughts on occasion), especially as it's an area not a lot of people know about. Always knew my interest in the area would pay off someday, even if it's just in likes haha.

I think it is exciting to see what will become of this project with the amount of technology they want to infuse into it. It may take time, but that same technology could also make its way back to the states as well. I'm also curious to see how it interacts with the other attractions in the area. Yas Island looks to market itself as a sort of Disney World, but instead of all the parks, resorts, and recreation being with one brand (Disney), it is with multiple brands (Warner Bros., Farrari, Sea World, Hilton). Also, IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai has a Marvel themed land. Will this create a similar Universal/WDW relationship?

I've also been looking at the potential location of the park. While there is some development there, the south eastern end seems to match the waterfront description on Yas Island.

I would bet IMG will lose their Marvel land if Miral wants it.

 

[durangojim]

They should call this "Disney's Arabia"

 

[durangojim]

Dubai wealth lifestyle is no joke. Vacationing there it makes American wealth look like just upper middle class. And the safety aspect is virtually No Crime in Dubai. Get caught being bad and it won’t end well.

Don't forget about the Dubai Porta-Potties

 

[Casper Gutman]

No one on this board “blindly supports Disney “

Sure I do! Haven’t you seen my posts on WDW?

 

[Justin Walker]

I didn't expect this. But what on earth does this mean for Bobby's contract that is set to expire in a year?

It means nothing. He said in the interview on GMA that he "hopes to be invited" to the Grand Opening.

This thing isn't opening for at least 5-10 years. No way he is sticking around that long.

 

[Justin Walker]

Characters in the theme parks work a 30 min ON 30 min OFF rotation. Its going to be a challenge being Goofy for 30 min in the Sahara heat at UAE without a water/AC break

The vast majority of character meet and greets occur inside in Florida for a reason. I'm sure they will here as well.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Just want to push back a tiny bit on this.

Money is typically priority one and no one should have any delusions about that. However, some companies do care. It is entirely possible to care about and push for different things in different parts of the world as you are dealing with different cultures, rules and regulations. It is also entirely possible to operate in an area you don't agree with while not forwarding the views you have issues with.

In reality, no company can be an absolute purist on their beliefs, or they would have difficultly operating in different states, let alone countries.

True, my statement was a bit of a blanket statement. Some companies like Costco and Patagonia have proven time and time again that they will often put people over profits and make decisions that might upset groups but they do it to stick to their morals, while others like Disney, Target, Amazon, etc. will be very flip-floppy on what they support in the interest of ensuring they continue to make profits. See how many American companies bent the knee to certain people at the end of January this year. I still think it's worth criticizing companies who will pretend to support marginalized groups but then make decisions that go against their "support". Even if that's "just business", you shouldn't take their money and then get chummy with people who want to hurt them. Disney might be making a good business decision here, but they shouldn't be exempt from criticism.