Now that Disney and Miral have announced their Disney Abu Dhabi project, what's next?
The first task will be a hiring spree by Walt Disney Imagineering. Although Miral win own and operate Disney Abu Dhabi, Walt Disney Imagineering will be in charge of designing it. To do that, WDI will need to staff up with hundreds of additional Imagineers in Southern California. Disney CEO Bob Iger has promised that the new park will be "distinctively Emirati," so WDI will need to establish and staff a large office of Imagineers in Abu Dhabi, as well.
With Miral ultimately paying the bills here, hiring the people that Disney wants for this project should not be a problem. RIP WDI Chief Creative Officer Bruce Vaughn's in-box this morning. So many resumes must be filling it right now.
At some point in the next few months, I suspect that UAE flag carrier Etihad will resume its non-stop flights to LAX from Abu Dhabi's new Terminal A at the Zayed International Airport. At this moment, the only nonstop flight between LAX and the UAE is Emirates' daily flight to its home airport in Dubai. That's a 90-minute drive from the Yas Island Resort in Abu Dhabi. It's better than connecting to get to AUH, but that drive is gonna get old, fast. Having secured an agreement to develop a Disney theme park, Abu Dhabi does not want to be the only Disney theme park resort destination without nonstop flight access to Disney's headquarters in the Los Angeles area. Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, and Orlando all have that.
The big question that many of us on the ground here in Abu Dhabi have been asking this week is, "Where on Yas Island will Miral build its Disneyland?" Miral has been developing its property aggressively over the past decade, filling it with three indoor theme parks, a water park, a Formula 1 track, an NBA-sized arena (that has hosted NBA games), a golf course, hotels, and multiple residential developments. There's also the massive Yas Mall in the center of everything. Let's fire up the Google Map.
You can see how convenient Yas Island is to the Abu Dhabi International Airport, which is less than a 10-minute drive from the resort. The obvious blank space here is on the northwest corner of the island, around the Yas School. That appears to have been platted for residential development, however, and is surrounded by homes, removed from the tourism and commercial infrastructure elsewhere on the island.
That has drawn attention to Abu al Habl Island, to the southwest of Yas. Could that space be annexed into the resort, via roads from Yas Waterfront? That space would give Disney Abu Dhabi a connection to Yas Island's current tourism infrastructure while also allowing Disney some separation that would give it a more exclusive feel that Disney certainly would find attractive. No officials on the ground here are talking about sites yet. But their decision should become obvious within months, as contractors come on board to begin preparing the site for construction.
Miral has the resources to build this project swiftly. Miral typically selects the "good" and "fast" over "cheap" option in the cliched, business-school "pick two" scenario. That requires a big budget to cover those costs, and Miral is backed by the governments of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. That said, Miral announced a Harry Potter expansion to its Warner Bros. World Yas Island park over two years ago, and not one shovel of dirt has moved on that yet. So it's not a given that Disney Abu Dhabi will get an express pass to its opening date, whenever that might be.
Yet this announcement came together quickly, which I will detail in a future post. Perhaps that is part of the reason for the vagueness of Disney's released concept art for the park.
We are getting to know about this park relatively early in its development process, which is likely due to Disney working with a development partner on this rather than keeping everything in house. But the excitement here in the UAE and on Yas Island is obvious. This is a huge "get" for Miral, Abu Dhabi, and the UAE. Everyone here wants Yas Island to become the world's next great tourism destination. They have the resources, and now the agreements, to help make that happen.
The next step is to do it.
Coming up: Why did Disney choose Abu Dhabi for its next theme park?
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I think another question is what types of rides and attractions will the resort have? Also, what lands will be built there.
I think the precise "where" is not as important as the "how" in this development. I'm really more interested to see how WDI figures out how to build an impressive "Disney" park that can operate in the heat. Will they put the entire park under a dome/inside like other parks in the area, or they use other techniques to manage temperatures for guests? How can they make this park scream "Disney" if it's inside or has limited sightlines. Can WDI come up with a design that doesn't have a "weenie" (though the concept image suggests some type of castle/tower) or some type of icon that is not viewable from everywhere in the park?
The question has always been brought up..."What could WDI actually do if they had an unlimited budget?" The answer had always been met with chuckles because it's feasibly impossible.
This might be the first time we see an actual answer. If there's any time that could happen...this is it.
All I want is the sultan's palace from Aladdin to be the castle but sadly that's probably not happening! :(
I'm with Russell. More than anything, I really want to know how much of this park is going to be indoors vs outdoors.
The only other example of "Disney level themed shops/restaurants/rides all within a single indoor location" I can think of is the Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT, and I honestly really do love that place. The high ceilings, the projections in the background, and the kinetic energy of the whole area is breathtaking to behold.
I really hope Disney designs something closer to that than something like Warner Bros Movie World, which looks cool but appears to be closer to Universal-level theming that Disney-level theming.
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This is really exciting. Living in Australia, the UAE is a perfect stopover in the way to Europe. One less reason to visit the US.