While Disneyland Paris is still struggling to get the worlds of Arendelle and the Lion King out of the ground for her future Disney Adventure World, Mickey and Minnie already have their eyes turned towards new horizons. For the first time since the announcement of Shanghai Disneyland in 2010, the Walt Disney Company has just formalized the development of its Seventh Disney Resort in the world: Disneyland Abu Dhabi. The positioning of this park is not surprised, since the Middle East remained until then one of the last major tourist areas without its own Disney destination. United States, Japan, Europe, China and now the United Arab Emirates: the themed parks launched by Walt Disney is now extending to the four corners of the globe.
The entertainment giant took advantage of the publication of a favorable financial report to share this advertisement to say the least. The press release shared by the company already presents Disneyland Abu Dhabi as a revolutionary destination, which will mark a new era for the themed parks industry. The resort composed of the new Disneyland park and a luxury hotel complex will take place on Yas Island, The artificial island which already welcomes some competitors, such as Ferrari World and Warner Bros. World, among other major tourist attractions.
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A project that will take time (and money)
Disneyland Abu Dhabi is a project born from a collaboration between the Walt Disney Company and a major local player in immersive destinations, the famous Miral group. Resort construction and management will be entrusted to Miral – Or a model similar to that applied to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea with the Oriental Land Company – While Walt Disney Imagineering teams will take care of creative design.
It will be the first Disney park built directly on a seafront (Tokyo Disney Sea being built in Tokyo Bay), a location which already promises to give birth to experiences never seen. Disneyland Abu Dhabi also promises to integrate unique immersive technological innovations.
The first concept art of the park actually reveals a very futuristic visual identity, with a masterpiece a modern castle with atypical aesthetics. The objective will be to offer a destination “Authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati“ said Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Company. The central building will therefore try to mingle with the contemporary architecture of the city to better merge Disney culture with local culture.
Despite these revelations with great fanfare, the park is still far from opening its doors. The director of the Disney Parks and Resorts division, Josh of Amaro, told Reuters that a project for this scale will still require one or two years of design, then four to six years of construction. Disneyland Abu Dhabi will therefore be inaugurated in the early 2030s, without further details.
The budget of the futuristic park also remains unknown, since Disney will not directly finance the construction entrusted to Miral. But knowing that the latest park dated – the famous Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016 – cost nearly $ 5.5 billion, the Abu Dhabi resort note may be even more astronomical. This investment at the other end of the globe raises many questions, while Disney probably decides to let its universal competitor walk on Florida and the United Kingdom with its last two projects to date.
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