Busch Gardens/SeaWorld? Check.
Six Flags? Check.
And now... Legoland?
Merlin Entertainments, Legoland's owner, announced a deal with Tatweer, which will build and operate Legoland Dubailand, a 3 million square-foot theme park to open in 2011 as part of the Dubailand project.
So, of the big five theme park operators, that leaves only Disney off the map in the rush to make Dubai the Orlando of the Middle East.
At right: Legoland California Master Model Designer Eric Hunter with a 17-foot-9-inch-tall Lego replica of The Burj Dubai, which will be the world's tallest building when completed. Image courtesy Legoland.
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Then... imagine the amount of money that Disney (might be)/(is) holding out for. ;-)
I suspect that Disney also has Disneyland Paris influencing its decision whether or not to go in Dubai. Dubai's primary market seems to be Europeans, and Disney's got its Paris franchise to protect in that market. (Which is why I found the Legoland announcement a bit curious. Perhaps Merlin's taking a counter-intuitive approach and hoping that its presence in the heavily-hyped Dubailand project drives interest back to the closer-to-home European Legoland parks?)
The name "Cedar Fair" has no brand value. Cedar Point has limited brand value outside the Midwest and the Peanuts franchise has lost much of its brand value over the past decade. So I can't see CF as a player in Dubai. I think that Six Flags has that market niche covered.
Maybe this whole Dubai thing is just some very secret US Government plot to further Westernize the Middle East?
You heard it here first....
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