Let's do the "insider" thing and talk about my crazy week.
It actually started April 30, when I received an email from Miral's press relations agency, inviting me to a celebration of Miral's 15th anniversary on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi - in five days. (Update:: Miral CEO Mohamed AlZaabi confirmed on May 12 that they signed their deal with Disney on April 29.)
That is an absurd amount of lead time for an international press event, and if I had not had a long relationship covering Miral and its theme parks (Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi), I might have dismissed the invitation as a scam. I already had scheduled three press trips in three weeks in May. A trip around the world to Abu Dhabi would make it four in a row. But I have not known Miral to waste my time. I could clear my schedule this week, so I put aside my reflexive skepticism and accepted.
Within a day, I heard from a friend in the UAE who has been on Miral press events with me in the past. Asking around, we confirmed that we were not last-minute additions to a long-planned press event. This one really was coming together at the last minute - an observation that Miral's press agency representatives confirmed after we arrived in Abu Dhabi.
My friend also voiced his suspicion that this was to be a Disney announcement, under the guise of a Miral anniversary event. I had known for years that landing Disney as a partner was the ultimate goal for Miral. But every destination in the world wants to work with Disney, so that is not anything unusual. I reached out to one of my Disney representatives, on a bit of a fishing expedition to see if I could get a denial of any involvement in the Abu Dhabi event.
Instead, I got what amounted to a confirmation, to be held under embargo until the official announcement release time of 4pm Wednesday, Abu Dhabi time. But before I agreed to the embargo, I decided to have a little fun with everyone and posted my cryptic Discussion Forum thread teasing a Wednesday announcement. I wanted to see both what Theme Park Insider's wish lists for a major industry announcement would be... and to see if the Disney news had leaked.
It had.
Yet I held off confirming anything, or posting to the front page - holding to the embargo agreement that I had by then made. Monday afternoon, I headed to LAX for the 16-hour flight to Dubai, from which I would take a 90-minute drive to Yas Island. The UAE is 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles, so it was late Tuesday night there when I arrived.
Wednesday was the big day. Only one other report from the United States made the trip - an Orlando-based correspondent for the UAE-based ThemeparX. A third American had been invited and accepted, but was unable to attend due to a flight cancellation. That made me the only U.S.-based writer for a U.S.-based publication physically at the announcement. Still, several acquaintances were there, and we started guessing who from Disney would have made the trip for the announcement.
Ultimately, I saw Walt Disney Imagineering Chief Creative Officer Bruce Vaughn enter the room, followed by Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro. I sat two rows directly behind Josh, who exchanged introductions with a woman I did not recognize who said her name was Martina. A hunch and quick Google search confirmed her to be US Ambassador to the UAE Martina Strong. Yet no one saw any sign of Disney CEO Bob Iger until he was introduced to the stage by Chairman H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak of Miral and the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi.
And with that, all was confirmed to everyone in the room. Disney Abu Dhabi was real. After the presentation, it was a rush to finish my story and upload video to be ready for publication at 4pm. See Miral is bringing a Disney theme park to Abu Dhabi for that post, in case you missed it.
As I write this, I am flying home to Los Angeles, on another 16-hour flight. It has been a honor and a pleasure to bring this news to you this week. I hope you have appreciated my on-the-ground reporting and perspective. And yes, I did speed-run Warner Bros. World before the announcement on Wednesday, pausing only to record a 169,000 score on AniMayhem - still my favorite interactive attraction in the world.
But the news keeps coming here on Theme Park Insider. Next week, it's just a drive down to Disneyland for the opening of the original Disney resort's 70th anniversary celebration.
As I often do, I will conclude with a pitch to subscribe to Theme Park Insider's free weekly newsletter. With social media algorithms minimizing news websites these days, email and RSS subscriptions are the most reliable ways to connect with the websites you love, so I hope that you will continue to support Theme Park Insider by following us through those.
One more thing to add. Miral invited every business partner they had to the celebration show. They handed out swag bags, but there was not one item with Disney Abu Dhabi branding. No shirts, hats, bags or even cards. The prep for this was tight. No time for making merch. And no leaks that a big merch order might cause.
Fascinating stuff. Thanks again Robert for your ever intrepid commitment to our collective theme park nerdery
I think everybody has their one "thing" that's not that great, but they are obsessed with, to the perplexity of all the people around him/her. For Robert that is the UAE lol.
Definitely appreciated. Your dedication, commitment, and obvious love for the industry, as well as your thoughtful and insightful well written perspectives make TPI a must daily read.
No mention of the human rights abuses that take place in UAE. It's clear that Robert has been bought by Miral. He has lost all credibility in reporting.
It's really interesting to me how quickly this deal came together. It makes me wonder how much negotiation had been going on in the shadows and how long talks may have been occurring. The fact that Miral didn't have any Disney-branded merch for the assembled press leads me to believe that this is something that was not official until less than a week before it was announced.
The other question is what specifically impacted the timing and suddenness of this announcement. You would think something of this magnitude, while wanting to still be secretive, would have some level of advanced planning to ensure marketing teams could hit the ground running with releases, materials, and most importantly branded merchandise. That confirms that this was set up at the last minute, but why would Disney feel the need to do this so suddenly? I think there are 2 clear reasons for this. The first is the obvious boost that this type of announcement would make on Wall Street, particularly during earnings report time. While Disney's May earnings were generally positive, this announcement gave the tone of those earnings a more jubilant feel at a time when the overall sentiment towards investing in the Walt Disney Company has been muted at best. There was also the way in which this announcement was made with Bob Iger and Josh D'Amaro delivering it in-person and side-by-side, suggesting a potential successor role for the current President of the Parks and Experiences Division. Given Iger's formal announcement that his tenure was running down, this show of a clean transition certainly helped to boost Wall Street's perception of the future of the company as a whole.
The other primary explanation for the timing of this announcement is the ongoing tit-for-tat (whether real or perceived) between Universal and Disney. I'm of the mind that this is more coincidence and perception than reality, but the timing of this announcement mere weeks after Universal announced their UK project and just 2 week prior to opening of Epic Universe feeds the fire of those that wish to believe that the 2 companies are in a constant war of one-upmanship. I do think that Universal's UK announcement provided opportunity/encouragement to Disney to expand their theme park empire. I think it's very likely that while negotiating on their UK project, they also investigated potential sites and partners in the Middle East, and that when Universal selected the UK project, it meant other potential suiters were left disappointed and pushed harder to score the "big fish", Disney. That meant rapid and complex negotiations that would have materialized over just a couple of weeks and the need to seal the deal rapidly to ensure Universal would not circle back and short circuit or undermine the announcement. I think that's why so much of this announcement was so vague and generic, while Universal's UK project has clear nods to the anticipated attractions for that park. I don't necessarily think that Disney was left scrambling, but I do think Miral pushed hard to get this announcement made ASAP, which also tailored to Disney's desire to tag this onto their May earnings announcement - quid pro quo.
Nevertheless, it's amazing to think that Theme Park Insider was the ONLY US-based publication cover this massive announcement, and should further the credibility and reputation of the best source for industry news and perspective.
@MightyIrish, it is Robert's job to be a neutral reporter on the theme park industry, a job he excels at. It just so happens that UAE has become the second most important theme park destination on the planet behind Orlando. Heck it may surpass Orlando someday (and some would argue by pure volume it already has). So just ignoring the UAE, or ignoring the most influential theme park company in history building its 13th park, would be a dereliction of duty.
You may not like that UAE has become such a major theme park hub, but it is, and it needs to be reported on. Robert can give his opinion and bring up human rights concerns in OpEd articles, as he did in a separate article detailing how UAE is much different on accepting others and prioritizing the comfort of tourists compared to other Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar. But in articles meant to be news not opinion, it's his duty to report the facts on the theme park industry in the region.
You must be registered and logged in to submit a comment.
I love behind-the-scenes stories. Thanks much for that.