The Walt Disney Co. will venture into the Middle East for the first time with a theme park in Abu Dhabi, the entertainment conglomerate and its local partners announced Wednesday.
Disneyland Abu Dhabi, the brand’s seventh theme park resort, will be built on Yas Island. Officials from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, were on hand for the surprise announcement, as were executives from Disney and Miral, the Abu Dhabi company that will develop, build and operate the resort.
“His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, has witnessed the announcement of the Disney Theme Park Resort on Yas Island waterfront,” the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism announced on X, captioning a video of the smiling dignitaries being greeted by an exuberant Mickey and Minnie Mouse on their way to meet with Disney execs.
The “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati ” theme park “will rise from this land in spectacular fashion, blending contemporary architecture with cutting edge technology to offer guests deeply immersive entertainment experiences in unique and modern ways,” Disney CEO Robert Iger said in a statement.
The entertainment company currently operates 12 parks in 6 resort locations. U.S. parks are Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World outside Orlando, Florida. Internationally, Disney operates Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disney Resort.
The new resort promises to be “the most advanced and interactive” of all Disney’s theme parks, Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro said. Miral CEO Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi called it a historic milestone for Yas Island, adding to an already rich panoply of family-friendly resorts already located there.
Yas Island draws millions of visitors annually from the Middle East, Africa, India, Europe and elsewhere, Disney noted, and it’s within a four-hour flight of a third of the world’s population. The new park could open sometime in the early 2030s, Disney told CNN.
The surprise announcement came after Disney reported strong second-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street predictions and boosted the stock price by 10% Wednesday morning, Variety noted.
With News Wire Services
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/05/07/disney-middle-east-theme-park-abu-dhabi/