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Planned Disney ( DIS ) theme park to be located on Yas Island

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New park to blend Disney ( DIS ) stories, Abu Dhabi culture

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Abu Dhabi park is Disney's ( DIS ) first in the Middle East

By Dawn Chmielewski

May 7 (Reuters) - Walt Disney ( DIS ) announced plans on

Wednesday to open a Disney ( DIS ) theme park in United Arab Emirates'

capital Abu Dhabi in collaboration with regional developer Miral

Group, representing its first major new theme park in nearly a

decade and its first in the Middle East.

The planned Disney ( DIS ) waterfront resort will be located on Yas

Island, a popular tourist destination that is home to other

family-friendly attractions, including Warner Bros World Yas

Island, SeaWorld Yas Island and Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi.

The city of Abu Dhabi has a population of about 2.5 million,

but Yas Island recorded more than 34 million visits in 2023, a

38% rise compared to the year before, Miral has said.

"We've always been interested in this part of the world -

to bring our Disney ( DIS ) stories to new, younger fans," Disney's ( DIS )

Experiences unit Chairman Josh D'Amaro told Reuters, adding,

"Abu Dhabi was an ideal location for us."

Miral, the Abu Dhabi-based leisure and entertainment group

responsible for developing Yas Island, will finance, build and

operate the resort. The creative and technical professionals who

design Disney's ( DIS ) theme parks, known as Imagineers, will lead

creative design and provide operational oversight.

The U.S. entertainment company will earn royalties based on

the park's revenue, according to a regulatory filing.

The Disney ( DIS ) park "will be authentically Disney ( DIS ) and distinctly

Emirati - an oasis of extraordinary Disney ( DIS ) entertainment that is

at the crossroads of the world," Disney ( DIS ) CEO Bob Iger said in a

statement on Wednesday.

Abu Dhabi is known for its oil wealth, though last year it

announced plans to invest more than $10 billion in

infrastructure to grow its tourism business. The international

airport in UAE's commercial hub Dubai aims to boost its capacity

to accommodate 120 million passengers a year by 2026.

Disney ( DIS ) did not announce the opening date for the new park,

though D'Amaro said a project of this scale could take a year or

two to design, and another four to six years to build.

Once complete, the resort will offer Disney ( DIS )-themed

attractions, dining and retail experiences, in a way that blends

the Burbank entertainment company's storytelling and Abu Dhabi's

heritage, D'Amaro said.

INVESTMENTS IN EXPERIENCES UNIT

The Abu Dhabi park, Disney's ( DIS ) first since Shanghai Disneyland

opened in 2016, represents a continuation of the company's plans

to "turbocharge" its Experiences unit, which includes its six

global theme park resorts, a cruise ship line and a family

resort in Hawaii.

In 2023, Disney ( DIS ) announced it would commit $60 billion over a

decade to double the size of its Disney ( DIS ) cruise ship fleet and

invest in its theme parks. It also took a minority stake in Epic

Games, creator of the online game Fortnite.

Miral initially approached Disney ( DIS ) to talk about their plans

for creating a tourism hub in Abu Dhabi, said D'Amaro. That

conversation led Disney ( DIS ) executives to visit the prospective

theme park site last September.

"We saw where our potential park might go, and had some

serious conversations about what this could mean to our

'turbocharging'," D'Amaro said.

After a return trip to the region in February, D'Amaro said

the parties entered into serious discussions that culminated in

a deal. The amount of Miral's investment was not disclosed.

Miral Group CEO Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi issued a statement

hailing the addition of a Disney ( DIS ) theme park to Yas Island as a

"historic milestone" in the company's efforts to build the

island into a global entertainment destination.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter

Henderson and Muralikumar Anantharaman)