Disney News, Discussion & an Element of Fun - 2025 Edition

[HokieRaven5]

CNBC has Iger on and Josh too right now. Says will be funded the closest to Tokyo; Disney designs it but doesn't build it.

Correct, anything to Disney will be licensing and Royalties similar to what OLCs agreement is

 

[OKW Lover]

Correct, anything to Disney will be licensing and Royalties similar to what OLCs agreement is

Basically, there is little downside for Disney. Just a question of how much they negotiated for the $$$.

 

[fatmanatee]

Not that surprised about this, they’ve been really ramping up with trying to make it a vacation destination, have likely been pushing for Disney for awhile.

 

[DeeBee3]

Don't think this announcement will work out as a positive for them as it pertains to U.S. parkgoers. Definitely catering to a higher-end client to even consider getting to Abu Dhabi.

I just don't get their marketing/communications decisions right now.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Don't think this announcement will work out as a positive for them as it pertains to U.S. parkgoers. Definitely catering to a higher-end client to even consider getting to Abu Dhabi.

I just don't get their marketing/communications decisions right now.

I don't think this is about marketing to US consumers. It's about reaching new audiences

 

[DeeBee3]

I don't think this is about marketing to US consumers. It's about reaching new audiences

Agree completely, but seems like they are making a mess of things in the U.S. They already have issues with Epic coming and all the lackluster stuff going on in the parks. Lots of divisive decisions about Frontierland, maintenance issues, etc. They should at least attempt to fix those things before abandoning a large chunk of business.

 

[lowlight]

Abu Dhabi is a very inclusive place, so no worries about violating the 5th key for Disney.

 

[OKW Lover]

Don't think this announcement will work out as a positive for them as it pertains to U.S. parkgoers.

Agree that the US park goer is not the target audience for the new park. Disney has a world-wide draw. That's the target.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Agree that the US park goer is not the target audience for the new park. Disney has a world-wide draw. That's the target.

Exactly. From WDWNT:

The UAE is located within a four-hour flight of one-third of the world’s population, and is home to the largest airline hub in the world; 120 million passengers travel through Abu Dhabi and Dubai each year.

 

[OKW Lover]

Agree completely, but seems like they are making a mess of things in the U.S. They already have issues with Epic coming and all the lackluster stuff going on in the parks. Lots of divisive decisions about Frontierland, maintenance issues, etc. They should at least attempt to fix those things before abandoning a large chunk of business.

There is no reason that they can't do both. Perhaps some of what they are designing for the new park can also be put into their existing parks here and around the world.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Agree completely, but seems like they are making a mess of things in the U.S. They already have issues with Epic coming and all the lackluster stuff going on in the parks. Lots of divisive decisions about Frontierland, maintenance issues, etc. They should at least attempt to fix those things before abandoning a large chunk of business.

They’re not abandoning anything in the U.S. Parks by doing this. Miral is funding and building this park. Disney is just providing guidance and design.

Also Disney has been rather consistent that they really aren’t all that concerned over Epic.

Just from Q2 data Comcast had a reduction across their parks while Disney had an overall increase.

We shall see if Epic truly has any negative impact on Disney

 

[bryaalre]

Agree completely, but seems like they are making a mess of things in the U.S. They already have issues with Epic coming and all the lackluster stuff going on in the parks. Lots of divisive decisions about Frontierland, maintenance issues, etc. They should at least attempt to fix those things before abandoning a large chunk of business.

This quarter they just reported was great for the parks in terms of revenues and income, especially compared to Universal. Obviously, we will see if Epic has an impact on them when it open but right now Universal has been hit a lot harder than Disney has with the lead up of Epic.

I also don't think the decisions lately are all that divisive and it is more a small minority that try to be vocal about certain things. I do agree though that they need to focus more on maintenance and upkeep as well as filling in the parks barren spots that have popped up in the last few years.

 

[DeeBee3]

There is no reason that they can't do both. Perhaps some of what they are designing for the new park can also be put into their existing parks here and around the world.

Let's what will open first, Villains Land or Abu Dhabi?!
Don't blame them though, money is money.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I don't think it's very applicable to think about this news as taking away from anything they could do in the US Parks. Disney is not financing this, imagineering is just contracted to build it. But it doesn't have to take away from future expansion in the US--that would or would not happen regardless of Abu Dhabi. Imagineering built Epcot at the same time as Tokyo Disneyland. These are separate things.

ETA: the influx of cash might also help in paying off Disney debt from IP acquisitions, which could indirectly benefit US Parks and consumers

 

[DeeBee3]

I don't think it's very applicable to think about this news as taking away from anything they could do in the US Parks. Disney is not financing this, imagineering is just contracted to build it. But it doesn't have to take away from future expansion in the US--that would or would not happen regardless of Abu Dhabi. Imagineering built Epcot at the same time as Tokyo Disneyland. These are separate things.

ETA: the influx of cash might also help in paying off Disney debt from IP acquisitions, which could indirectly benefit us Parks and consumers

I agree. When another company is in charge of construction, it will definitely happen sooner than if Disney were to be building.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I agree. When another company is in charge of construction, it will definitely happen sooner than if Disney were to be building.

Speaking of construction, this might lead to Miral (the Abu Dhabi company) paying for a lot of ride technology development that we might eventually see in the US, like how Tron ended up at Magic Kingdom after originally debuting in Shanghai!

 

[Brian Noble]

Don't think this announcement will work out as a positive for them as it pertains to U.S. parkgoers. Definitely catering to a higher-end client to even consider getting to Abu Dhabi.

Less than 5% of the world's population lives in the US. The US is not a consideration for this.

And, it wasn't for any of the other non-domestic resorts, either.

 

[Smugpugmug]

So I looked into the company that is building this park and found their portfolio:
https://miral.ae/miral-portfolio/

They seem to focus on hotels/resorts but the closest things I can find that could be similar to a Disney park are Seaworld, Ferrari Land and Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi. All 3 of these parks are indoor theme parks (due to how insanely hot it is climate wise) so I wonder if Disney will go the same route? I'm 100% ignoring that concept art; Disney are the masters of NOT following that LOL

I'm also wondering if this will ever be built to begin with. Six Flags and Universal had plans to build theme parks in the MIddle East but both were eventually canceled.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I also wonder if it'll be indoors, despite the concept art. The heat is pretty oppressive in the desert!

 

[Brian Noble]