Disneyland Abu Dhabi
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When I first joined Miral in 3rd of Jan 2022, as the head of Group Strategy & Transformation Mohamed Al Zaabi asked me to (...) Finalise ‘Project Mars’ the code name back then for Disney Abu Dhabi.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/abdulazizalkhoori_the-visionaries-behind-disney-abu-dhabi-activity-7326904834085830656-THJs/

Originally Posted by AALTJ

Potential location but still nothing is confirmed

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zi4GqVggk3hjeySV8

it is said to be that this Disney theme park and resort will open its doors to visitors in around 7 to 8 years time from now.
While an opening date for the Disney theme park is far from being announced, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney’s Experiences theme park segment, has given us a rough timeline of what's going to happen.He said that given the scale of the project, it could take a year or two to design, plus four to six years to build.So best case scenario it will take one year to design plus four years to build and five years in total, which sets the opening date to 2030.However, if things take longer to design and build, we could be looking at a 2032 to a 2033 opening.

If we’re considering fitting a circular space — positioned in the middle (to the right of the school) — it could only accommodate Hong Kong Disneyland, including the new Frozen land, but that’s without accounting for backstage areas. So, realistically, only a small park could fit unless they design something much more linear stretching along the beach. However, I believe the available space is more likely to be used for hotels, parking, or related facilities.

It could easily face the same challenges as Hong Kong Disneyland due to its limited size — and on top of that, getting there from Dubai without renting a car is quite inconvenient. Honestly, I often find these kinds of parks mostly empty most of the time, without anything particularly exciting or attractive to draw crowds.

Potential location but still nothing is confirmed

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zi4GqVggk3hjeySV8

it is said to be that this Disney theme park and resort will open its doors to visitors in around 7 to 8 years time from now.
While an opening date for the Disney theme park is far from being announced, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney’s Experiences theme park segment, has given us a rough timeline of what's going to happen.He said that given the scale of the project, it could take a year or two to design, plus four to six years to build.So best case scenario it will take one year to design plus four years to build and five years in total, which sets the opening date to 2030.However, if things take longer to design and build, we could be looking at a 2032 to a 2033 opening.

Disney and Miral held a special fireworks and drone show to celebrate the announcement

So there are only two spaces really on Yas Island. https://maps.app.goo.gl/vae2LEK3vF4ooZM98 seems much more likely given that they've been clear that it's going to be "on water" but it does put it apart from the other attractions and will need some sort of transport infrastructure between them.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/n5uV3kkjfdgXHkWb7 is pretty small but it would be about the same size as WB which is enough for a smaller indoor park in line with something like Hong Kong Disneyland but it would give them no options for expansion (and reduce any expansion space for WB also).

Worth noting that the area on the coast was intended for housing in an earlier Yas Island masterplan so it could still be a smaller part of that with housing etc around the edges or just a lot of expansion space.

Originally Posted by Guest

I'm quite stunned by this announcement, I didn't expect a new Disney resort anytime in the next decade and not the UAE.

Yas Island does seem to do much better with their parks than any of the ones in Dubai, still though the standard of the existing parks isn't up to Disney quality, so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I can only imagine the licence fee Miral agreed to pay Disney is astronomical.

Ferrari World is probably showing its age but both Warner Bros and SeaWorld are amazing, especially considering they're indoors.

Ferrari World is probably showing its age but both Warner Bros and SeaWorld are amazing, especially considering they're indoors.

This empty area by the sea is most likely the project’s location https://maps.app.goo.gl/WkAhMsqeK7YxSnvr7

Where exactly on Yas Island will that Disney park go?

There's almost no empty space left.

The best part of this is that the population in the area is small. I expect visitor numbers to be similar to HKDL, maybe less, and that is a good thing in terms of ride queue wait - no one wants to be in line for 120 minutes. My only hope is that it's a quintessential Disneyland, not Bob's IP World.
Less Star Wars and Marvel, more Mystic Manor and Exhibition Everest.