Disney Announces Plans To Open Theme Park In Abu Dhabi

[RAMROD 118,151]

Disney's announcement last week that its newest theme park will be in Abu Dhabi offers further confirmation of the status of the United Arab Emirates as a global consumer crossroads located in the Middle East. At the center of the UAE's economic engine is man-made Yas Island, located 20 minutes from the center of Abu Dhabi and which first began development in 2006 for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Since that 2009 debut for F1 in the region, Ferrari World, Yas Waterworld, Warner Bros. World, and SeaWorld Yas Island have followed. By 2024, Yas Island's traffic hit 38 million visitors.   

"The UAE in many respects is the crossroads of the world," Iger said of Disney's decision. "About 500 million people that are income qualified, meaning they can afford to visit one of our parks, live within a four-hour plane trip here." 

The UAE is the second-largest economy in the Arab world, after Saudi Arabia, and the more diversified market-based economy. Since the mid-2000s, Abu Dhabi has been actively pursuing new economic opportunities, with major efforts accelerating in the 2006–2008 period under its strategic Economic Vision 2030 plan, when Yas Island development began. A 6-8 hour flight from 80% of the world's population — and boasting the largest global airline hub in the world, clocking 120 million passengers each year — the strategic geography, massive investment, and major consumer attractions situate Yas Island to continue to expand its status as a global consumer epicenter. 

"Abu Dhabi continues to be a destination of choice for the world," said Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, and Chairman of Miral — the developer of Yas Island, which will fully develop and build the park working with Disney Imagineers.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/05/11/disney-abu-dhabi-and-theme-park-economy-at-crossroads-of-world.html

[NUTELLA 30,988]

1 minute ago, RAMROD said:

"Abu Dhabi continues to be a destination of choice for the world,"

[Killa 18,918]

Lol feels like every flop era Disney goes back investing on theme Parks. in4 theyll make more Money here than the original parks

[NibbCub 249]

Guess they'll be no Disney Gay Days at THIS property. 

[Roughhouse Dandy 13,923]

Yikes. 

[thatfoxyfeeling 13,433]

33 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

Gay sex? 

[FfFfFfFF 58,929]

The civilization clash

[Lucas 31,610]

The comments are exactly what I expected 

[CautiousLurker 19,973]

1 hour ago, NibbCub said:

Guess they'll be no Disney Gay Days at THIS property. 

Every day's a gay day at

1 hour ago, RAMROD said:

Yas Island

 

Right? 

 

[sarahb 17,254]

I hope the lines are indoors. Disney in Florida's summer was brutal enough 

[gagzus 25,494]

I’m pretty sure most of their material gets censored in the Middle East so girl how are they gonna do this nnn

[MonsterPaws 2,745]

40 minutes ago, gagzus said:

I’m pretty sure most of their material gets censored in the Middle East so girl how are they gonna do this nnn

As someone from the UAE it's so frustrating because the censorship and overall attitude to LGBTQ+ is very flip-floppy.

Sometimes entire gay scenes and innuendos are left uncut and even some streaming services like Netflix or shows on OSN+ (our version of HBO) are never censored or blocked here. But Disney+ and theatrical releases are censored and/or removed (e.g. Strange World still isn't available on Disney+ UAE).

In some cases you even have local queer art and film celebrated (though obviously the queer aspects are very subtle) like Only Men Go to the Grave made by an Emirati (and presumably gay) filmmaker.

Same goes with people's social and public life. On one hand the amount of queers™ who are out and about is very obvious (hell, one of the most popular MUA's back in like 2023 is based in Dubai--Hindash for those who know him) and technically well tolerated for an Arab country, but on the other hand you still hear stories of trans individuals getting stopped at the border, and dating apps (both straight and gay) are still blocked here.

It's like the government can't make its mind up on whether to decriminalize "threats to public morals" (read: anything gay) or not.

They're either waiting for the population to be more accepting of the LGBTQ (highly doubt this ever happens especially with the worldwide regress on gay rights) or the flip-floppiness is more indicative of the attitudes of the higher ups in government (can't spill too much but there have been discussions in government circles of officially decriminalizing "sodomy" aka homosexuality for a couple of years now but there's pushback from certain members of the ruling families).

It's all a mess tbh.

[Lord Mayhem 3,701]

The complete brand value disconnect...

My thing is this is clearly not going to make much money as the park is alleged to be smaller in size and licensed. So what was the reason?

Did they think this would distract any attention away from Epic Universe? 

Disney is such a flop...can we go back 10 years and pretend this all never happened?

[RAMROD 118,151]

1 hour ago, Lord Mayhem said:

The complete brand value disconnect...

My thing is this is clearly not going to make much money as the park is alleged to be smaller in size and licensed. So what was the reason?

Did they think this would distract any attention away from Epic Universe? 

Disney is such a flop...can we go back 10 years and pretend this all never happened?

Disney fans in South Asia,Middle East, and  Africa continents might be able to enjoy a part of disney world with this. Since it will be closer to them geographically. I don't think this was made with the Western audience in mind, although they would be happy to welcome them anytime.

[Red 99,627]

I don’t understand how Disney hasn’t built a park in Brazil or somewhere else in Latam