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

[Lilofan]

Not related at all. It isn't Disney's capital.

What Miral has done spending billions of dollars transforming Abu Dhabi to a world premier destination is nothing short of amazing.

 

[Comped]

What Miral has done spending billions of dollars transforming Abu Dhabi to a world premier destination is nothing short of amazing.

Too bad they've often cheapened out on the details... See the "AAs" they have in many of their parks for an example.

 

[MK-fan]

Let’s take this ride at Warner Bros World Dubai for example:

The ride imo is kinda lame and doesn’t have a lot going for it in terms of pacing and execution. Is Warner Bros just licensing the IP and Miral has complete control over the design and budget of the ride? If this is the case, Disney dark rides for this new park will not be very interesting and only fun for the very young.

 

[dmc493]

The ride imo is kinda lame and doesn’t have a lot going for it in terms of pacing and execution. Is Warner Bros just licensing the IP and Miral has complete control over the design and budget of the ride? If this is the case, Disney dark rides for this new park will not be very interesting and only fun for the very young.

Wow that is pretty lame (and oddly crazy long too). I have no idea how the WB agreement is structured, but nothing about what has come out about the Disney deal indicates DLAD will end up like this. There's full Imagineer involvement and creative oversight over the park and I would expect something similar to Tokyo quality levels based on what others have said

 

[Centauri Space Station]

7DMT and Soarin’ Around the World were both developed for Shanghai but also cloned to other parks

Sorta odd MK got the better version with finale in the cottage all 7 dwarves, snow and the witch while SDL got a tree with a few woodland creatures and Dopey.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Abu Dhabi, not Dubai.

But I don’t think this new park is being built using Disney’s money.

That’s explains allot, this is why I wish the Walt Disney Company would just sell off the parks and collect a percentage like they do with the parks overseas.

 

[Comped]

The ride imo is kinda lame and doesn’t have a lot going for it in terms of pacing and execution. Is Warner Bros just licensing the IP and Miral has complete control over the design and budget of the ride? If this is the case, Disney dark rides for this new park will not be very interesting and only fun for the very young.

The role of WB besides cashing cheques has never been seriously explained - but IMO much of the design issue for that ride (and many others) lays as much at the hands of the design firm who designed the place as Miral. No competent firm would voluntarily agree to this being world-class (or even the best they could offer given their near limitless budget). Miral approving it makes me wonder as well... Doubt Disney would let that happen, but if I was Bob it'd be a huge red flag against working with them.

 

[Tha Realest]

Not related at all. It isn't Disney's capital.

I’d argue it will affect the stateside parks, unless they can do 1:1 copies here. It’ll draw Imagineering resources away on different projects, at the very least.

 

[peter11435]

I’d argue it will affect the stateside parks, unless they can do 1:1 copies here. It’ll draw Imagineering resources away on different projects, at the very least.

Not really. Imagineering isn’t a static finite resource. They mostly hire project based work forces and inflate and deflate accordingly.

 

[Go_Bears_80]

I’d argue it will affect the stateside parks, unless they can do 1:1 copies here. It’ll draw Imagineering resources away on different projects, at the very least.

It was Imagineering that came up with the disastrous D-land Tomorrowland rework. Granted it wasn't what Marty wanted, but it was what Eisner wanted and his toadies gave him what he wanted, even though they were bad. If Frank Wells hadn't passed away, the disaster never would have happened. Wells death exposed Eisner.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The role of WB besides cashing cheques has never been seriously explained - but IMO much of the design issue for that ride (and many others) lays as much at the hands of the design firm who designed the place as Miral. No competent firm would voluntarily agree to this being world-class (or even the best they could offer given their near limitless budget). Miral approving it makes me wonder as well... Doubt Disney would let that happen, but if I was Bob it'd be a huge red flag against working with them.

Warner Bros World was designed by Thinkwell, who was a major contributor to the creative development of Hogsmead, Diagon Alley and Dark Universe. The park cost $1 billion, which is nowhere near “limitless” when compared to Shanghai Disneyland, Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe.

 

[Comped]

Warner Bros World was designed by Thinkwell, who was a major contributor to the creative development of Hogsmead, Diagon Alley and Dark Universe. The park cost $1 billion, which is nowhere near “limitless” when compared to Shanghai Disneyland, Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe.

For a park in a country with significant cost differences compared to a major Western market, it may as well be, especially with major government backing involved and the lack of several major costs in usual construction projects, most notably land acquisition...

 

[lazyboy97o]

For a park in a country with significant cost differences compared to a major Western market, it may as well be, especially with major government backing involved and the lack of several major costs in usual construction projects, most notably land acquisition...

You just described Shanghai Disneyland and Universal Studios Beijing which both surpassed $6 billion.

 

[Comped]

You just described Shanghai Disneyland and Universal Studios Beijing which both surpassed $6 billion.

I'm pretty sure you can see why they spent an extra $5 billion in both parks, in terms of quality, size, and amount of offerings. Plus, construction in major Chinese metro areas is, as far as I'm aware, more expensive than it is in AD. A billion dollars in the UAE cannot compare to 6 billion in one major Chinese city, let alone two. Especially when the scale of either project is completely different.

 

[Robbiem]

The Abu Dhabi parks are also indoors which I imagine would substantially add to the building cost

 

[Bayou]

Abu Dhabi Concept Art

 

[Bayou]

Abu Dhabi Concept Art

Spoiler

Fan made

 

[rd805]

Now, the test will be if TWDC can effectively and efficiently split Imagineering's bandwidth between the new park and bringing to life the $60 billion dollar improvement plans...

If Disney isn’t paying then why would Miral allow them to clone brand new rides?

Both things I too have thought (and worried?) about.

Abu Dhabi, not Dubai.

But I don’t think this new park is being built using Disney’s money.

It is using their people, who get paid - their mind, their resources, some of their tech, their time. ETC. They are "paying" in diff ways.

 

[rd805]

Sorta odd MK got the better version with finale in the cottage all 7 dwarves, snow and the witch while SDL got a tree with a few woodland creatures and Dopey.

Some of those animatronics were from the recently closed Scary Adventures (I think -right?) - could be why!

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

It is related, it shows (regardless of who's investing) that they are willing to take on more imagineering projects and take focus off of already built spaces that are falling behind in more ways than one, than focusing on them beforehand. Remember how many Imagineers were lost and let go through Chapek, COVID and the fake-out move to Lake Nona and never rehired? They're stretched thin already with the ever-present projects in Tokyo and all of Disneyland forward, it 100% takes people away from focusing on WDW projects, which always seem to be bottom of the barrel to begin with. WDW's most recent "big debut attractions" were a reimagined ride that shared creative costs with Disneyland, a copy of a ride from Shanghai and a big metal box in Epcot that reused a building (that somehow is rumored to be the most expensive coaster ever built which seems like a waste to me). WDW still does not see the unique creative investment that any of the other parks around the world do. Of course, tropical americas and Cars and monsters inc and Villains are in the works but I'm not going to sit here and act like we've been receiving groundbreaking stuff here in WDW up to this point.

So what is your point?

That Disney shouldn't do anything new? That Disney shouldn't expand? That given a potential 10B spend, that Disney can't hire new imagineers if the work warrants it? If only there might be some people that have ride/land design experience that might be coming off a big project that has just finished up and might be looking for new work?