Mickey Mouse is heading towards the Middle East.
The Walt Disney Company said Wednesday it had reached an agreement with Miral Group, the government's arm of the Abu Dhabi government, to build a theme park resort in the Persian Gulf. The seventh property in Disney's global portfolio features several classic Disney ride castles and modernized versions, along with new attractions tailored to the climate and local culture.
“If you're going to build it, you're not just building it,” Disney's CEO Robert A. Igar said in a brief phone interview with Abu Dhabi. “You need to build it right. And quality means not just scale, but quality and ambition. We plan to be very ambitious about this.”
Disney and Miral refused to provide details on the area, budget or construction timeline for what is called Disney's Abu Dhabi, except that it would become a full-fledged property on par with Disney's other “castle” parks. Miral is making an entire bill to build the park. (New theme parks of this size typically cost over $5 billion.)
Arab leaders have long courted Disney, which expanded their theme park business to Japan in 1983, expanded to France in 1992, Hong Kong in 2005, and mainland China in 2016. At the 2018 Diplomatic Relations Council, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman said he had “elaborate judiciary” to build a theme park in Disney.
“When making these decisions, I explained that I looked at cultural, economic and political issues,” Iger refused to detail the “very honest” argument. The region added that at the time, “we weren't at the top of our list in terms of markets we're going to be open to.”
What has changed?
Initially, the United Arab Emirates grew into a tourist destination. The capital, Abu Dhabi, attracted around 24 million visitors in 2023, according to government figures. The country's president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has set the goal of attracting 39 million visitors to Abu Dhabi each year by 2030. Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017, was a hit. Warner Bros Discovery opened a modest indoor theme park in the city in 2018, and Sea World Abu Dhabi arrived in 2023.
The Miral Group, which built Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, has made Disney a repetitive financial offer. In addition to payments for construction, Miral pays Disney to design rides, shops, restaurants and accompanying hotels. Once the park is opened, Disney will receive royalties for using characters as a percentage of their revenue, according to securities applications. Disney also receives other fees.
At the same time, Disney is under pressure to find new areas to grow at cable TV and at box office. By opening a theme park in Abu Dhabi, Disney wants to create an engine that will drive demand among the 500 million residents of other Disney products, including Princess Dolls, Disney+ subscriptions, cruise ship vacations, Marvel movies, and touring stage productions.
“After carefully studying the area, engaging with potential partners and visiting three times over the past nine months, it has become increasingly clear that the area was not only correct and prepared for us, but the construction site was in Abu Dhabi.”
Disneyland Abu Dhabi can enable Disney to take advantage of India's growing middle class. A direct flight from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi takes 3 hours 17 minutes. Currently, the closest Disney post base to Mumbai is Hong Kong Disneyland, a six-hour flight.
“After looking at some of the research we've done recently, we decided that for everyone who visits one of our parks, the world has a desire to visit,” Iger said. “One of the biggest reasons why they aren't. Everyone immediately thinks it's affordable. That's not. Accessibility. It's a long trip that we arrive for a lot of people.”
There is a disability. There is one climate. Disney should design parks that allow for visits to compete for the desert heat.
Disney is also ruled as a dictatorship with freedom of expression, speech and press restrictions, and could face criticism of its partnership with Emirates, which provides weapons to fighters accused of atrocities in Sudan's catastrophic civil war. In November, Human Rights Watch denounced the National Basketball Association, which made Abu Dhabi the Middle East hub, helping the country distract from the human rights record.
To attract more tourists and foreign investors, the Emirates in 2020 improved protection for women, relaxed regulations on alcohol consumption, and reduced the role of Islamic legal norms in its judicial system. However, criticizing the government or its leaders remains illegal and could lead to long prison sentences. Migrant workers are often subject to inhumane circumstances, according to human rights groups and the State Department. Homosexuality is illegal.
In 2022, Emirates joined other Persian Gulf countries to ban Disney's Pixar's major film, Light Ear, due to a quick-mistakes kiss between lesbian couples. “Lightyear” will not appear on Disney+ in this region, along with other content featuring LGBTQ characters.
In a statement, a Disney spokesperson said, “We are always following our own standards and values, while respecting the country and culture in which we operate.”
Disney faced a similar situation when they worked with the Chinese government to build Shanghai Disneyland. In addition to the troublesome optics, the park's construction required the controversial relocation of thousands of suburban Shanghai residents. (Disneyland Abu Dhabi doesn't have that headache. It rises on artificial Yas Island.)
But Wall Street could be praised. Especially considering the situation where there are other Disney business issues, including cable television.
“Is theme parks now the best business in the media?” Craig Moffett, founder of Moffettnathanson's research company, wrote in a report last year. “The answer is almost certainly yes.” ”
