Disney Reveals Plans for New Theme Park

After 10 years of discussion among executives, a new Disney theme park is coming to the Middle East. Partnering with Miral, a tourism and real estate firm, Disney is building a new resort near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Not only will this be the company’s seventh park, but it will also be the first one in the region. Disney Imagineers will create the design, and Miral will build and operate the resort, which will open sometime in the early 2030s.

The resort will be technologically advanced beyond any other Disney park, matching the forward-thinking, future-oriented aesthetic of Abu Dhabi. Instead of the traditional castle taking center stage, this resort will feature a massive, crystal-like structure in the middle. The park will also be the entertainment company’s first with direct access to a waterfront.

“Every time we open a new experience or a theme park … 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,” Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, told CNN.

Yas Island, specifically, will be the location of the new Disney resort. The area is already home to several other theme parks, including SeaWorld Yas Island Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld, and Warner Bros. World. The island, which is roughly 20 miles from Abu Dhabi, also has a golf course, a marina, a shopping mall, and over 160 restaurants.

The Strength of Disney

Combined, Disney theme parks worldwide were visited by 140 million people in 2023. While both the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland annually see about 17 million visitors each, high inflation and simmering fears of economic recession have slowed business at the American parks. According to the company, international parks have been performing much better.

The entertainment juggernaut posted impressive second-quarter earnings, which revealed a noticeable uptick in theme park revenue. For the previous three-month period, Disney’s parks brought in $8.9 billion. The figure crushed analysts’ expectations of $7.98 billion and was above Q2 2024’s $8.4 billion.

Meanwhile, another domestic park is getting some attention — Universal’s Epic Universe. The park, scheduled to open in Orlando, Florida, on May 22, will be Universal’s biggest theme park and includes five themed worlds: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – The Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon – The Isle of Berk, Celestial Park, and Dark Universe.