While Disneyland Paris is still struggling to bring the worlds of Arendelle and The Lion King to life for its future Disney Adventure World, Mickey and Minnie already have their sights set on new horizons. For the first time since the announcement of Shanghai Disneyland in 2010, the Walt Disney Company has just officially announced the development of its seventh Disney resort in the world: Disneyland Abu Dhabi. The positioning of this park is no surprise, since the Middle East remained one of the last major tourist areas without its own Disney destination. United States, Japan, Europe, China and now the United Arab Emirates: the theme park empire launched by Walt Disney now extends to the four corners of the globe.
The entertainment giant took advantage of the publication of a favorable financial report to share this colossal announcement. The press release shared by the company already presents Disneyland Abu Dhabi as a revolutionary destination, which will mark a new era for the theme park industry. The resort, consisting of the new Disneyland park and a luxury hotel complex, will take place on Yas Island, the artificial island that already hosts a few competitors, such as Ferrari World and Warner Bros. World, among other major tourist attractions. A project that will take time (and money) is a project born from a collaboration between the Walt Disney Company and a major local player in immersive destinations, the famous Miral group. The construction and management of the resort will be entrusted to Miral – a similar model to that applied to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea with the Oriental Land Company –while the teams of Walt Disney Imagineering will be in charge of the creative design.
It will be the first Disney park built directly on a waterfront (Tokyo Disney Sea is built in Tokyo Bay), a location that already promises to give rise to experiences never before seen. Disneyland Abu Dhabi also promises to integrate unique immersive technological innovations.
The first concept art of the park reveals a very futuristic visual identity, with a modern castle with an atypical aesthetic as the centerpiece. The goal will be to offer a destination that is “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati” said Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. The central building will therefore try to blend in with the city’s contemporary architecture to better merge Disney culture with local culture.
Despite these grand revelations, the park is still a long way from opening its doors. Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney Parks and Resorts, told Reuters that a project of this scale will still require one or two years of design, followed by four to six years of construction. Disneyland Abu Dhabi will therefore be inaugurated in the early 2030s, without further details.
The budget for the futuristic park also remains unknown, since Disney will not directly finance the construction entrusted to Miral. But knowing that the last park to date – the famous Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016 – cost nearly $5.5 billion, the bill for the Abu Dhabi resort risks being even more astronomical. This investment on the other side of the globe raises many questions, as Disney likely decides to let its competitor Universal march on Florida and the United Kingdom with its two latest projects.
0 Comments