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

[Sir_Cliff]

Virtually every Aussie I know goes home from the UK via the gulf now rather than Hong Kong or Singapore so there is a lot of competition between the various gulf carriers (Etihad, Qatar, Emirates, Saudia etc). A couple of days break at Disneyland will be a good incentive to travel via AD rather than the other hubs

100%. When I was younger, Singapore was the most common stop and, if not, it would be Hong Kong or somewhere else in South-East Asia (I remember a long, hot layover in Bangkok years ago). Now, the Gulf carriers dominate the market and there is a lot of competition. One of the main stadiums in Melbourne was Etihad Stadium for a long time, though, interestingly enough, Disney has been paying for it to be branded Marvel Stadium for the past decade or so.

Qatar Airlines in particular has been very aggressive in expanding into Australia and has just signed an agreement with Virgin Australia. This is where I could see stopovers including Disneyland Abu Dhabi being part of Etihad's pitch to customers as I get the impression they have been falling behind Qatar and Emirates.

 

[abaker1975]

I think Yas Island is going to become a bigger draw for people from the UK/Europe for a Theme Park holiday. With Disney joining the line up I can see Yas Island attracting some people away from Orlando.

 

[Robbiem]

I think Yas Island is going to become a bigger draw for people from the UK/Europe for a Theme Park holiday. With Disney joining the line up I can see Yas Island attracting some people away from Orlando.

I can certainly see some families from the UK saying lets give Abu Dhabi a try next year rather than Orlando, especially in the winter months. It also helps that AD is a couple of hours closer than Orlando as well.

 

[TXRob]

So odd - this news hasn’t been mentioned on Len Testas podcast for 2 weeks now. Seems like newsworthy item?! @lentesta

 

[lentesta]

So odd - this news hasn’t been mentioned on Len Testas podcast for 2 weeks now. Seems like newsworthy item?! @lentesta

We did an entire Patreon show on it! Jim Shull, who’s been working with Miral for 18 months, was on.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

So odd - this news hasn’t been mentioned on Len Testas podcast for 2 weeks now. Seems like newsworthy item?! @lentesta

You need the Premier Pass!

 

[NotCalledBob]

Prime advertising space in Piccadilly Circus, London.

Looks like the UK is a target audience.

 

[Lilofan]

Prime advertising space in Piccadilly Circus, London.

Looks like the UK is a target audience.


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What’s the odd of that billboard happening off of I-4 by WDW and also by downtown Orlando ?

 

[LittleBuford]

Prime advertising space in Piccadilly Circus, London.

Looks like the UK is a target audience.


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Piccadilly Circus is full of tourists, including many from the Arab world and from countries whose citizens visit the UAE. It’s not a place your average Brit passes through except when heading into the West End for entertainment or shopping purposes.

 

[Tha Realest]

Prime advertising space in Piccadilly Circus, London.

Looks like the UK is a target audience.


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London has a sizeable Muslim population

 

[LittleBuford]

London has a sizeable Muslim population

Being Muslim doesn’t automatically make you more inclined to go on holiday to the UAE. Most British Muslims are unlikely to belong to the demographic being targeted here.

 

[Lilofan]

Piccadilly Circus is full of tourists, including many from the Arab world and from countries whose citizens visit the UAE. It’s not a place your average Brit passes through except when heading into the West End for entertainment or shopping purposes.

My family loved that area and especially the seemingly endless Indian restaurants all over London.

 

[DisDude33]

Frozen, Star Wars and little mermaid are great indoor ideas. Off the top of my head a few more Disney owned IPs that might work well indoors could be

Avatarland
Tron
Alice in Wonderland (original animated version)
Wreck it Ralph
Winnie the Pooh
Finding Nemo
Ice Age
The Simpsons

All of these are good options. I particularly like the idea of Finding Nemo and Wreck It Ralph getting some parks love and think some cool stuff can be done with those IPs

 

[Disstevefan1]

See the UAE has a better human rights record that China...... Wait. Never mind.

 

[Robbiem]

Piccadilly Circus is full of tourists, including many from the Arab world and from countries whose citizens visit the UAE. It’s not a place your average Brit passes through except when heading into the West End for entertainment or shopping purposes.

The adverts at Piccadilly are probably the most famous and some of the most expensive in London, the equivalent to Times Square in NYC. Plenty of people from all over will see this, including Brits (fun fact my mother used to work at the Boots the Chemist in the photo so I know here really well - while its touristy there are lots of offices and some residential nearby as well).

It will be interesting to see if any more spring up in other cities. I am surprised though OLC aren’t allowed to advertise outside Japan but Miral don’t appear to have these restrictions

 

[LittleBuford]

The adverts at Piccadilly are probably the most famous and some of the most expensive in London, the equivalent to Times Square in NYC. Plenty of people from all over will see this, including Brits (fun fact my mother used to work at the Boots the Chemist in the photo so I know here really well - while its touristy there are lots of offices and some residential nearby as well).

It will be interesting to see if any more spring up in other cities. I am surprised though OLC aren’t allowed to advertise outside Japan but Miral don’t appear to have these restrictions

I’m not denying that locals will also see the advert (for what it’s worth, I’m a Londoner myself). I just meant that it is targeted at least as much (and I would say quite a bit more) at foreign visitors. It would be interesting—and telling—to see if Disney is putting such adverts up in less touristy areas too.

 

[Robbiem]

I’m not denying that locals will also see the advert (for what it’s worth, I’m a Londoner myself). I just meant that it is targeted at least as much (and I would say quite a bit more) to foreign visitors. It would be interesting—and telling—to see if Disney is putting such adverts up in less touristy areas too.

I think the advert is a statement on the part of Miral rather than trying to drum up business for something which doesn’t even have an opening fate. An advert in Picadilly is a statement that you are a ‘big player’.

I wouldn’t expect adverts in less central locales until much nearer to opening but it will be interesting to see if we bet similar ads in other major cities, at the very least it may tell us where tney are targeting as markets for the new resort. Will Miral do similar in cities like Singapore, Bangkok, Cairo, Istanbul etc? I wonder if they will be allowed to advertise in Paris?

 

[DisDude33]

It will be interesting to see if any more spring up in other cities. I am surprised though OLC aren’t allowed to advertise outside Japan but Miral don’t appear to have these restrictions

I was wondering if the ad was put there by Miral or Disney. TWDC has a lot of investors in the UK and I could see them putting it up to remind people that they are about to make a lot of money off a park they aren’t paying for.

I wonder if they will be allowed to advertise in Paris?

Extremely unlikely.