Disney Picks Abu Dhabi For its Seventh Theme Park
- Editor OGN Daily
- May 9
- 1 min read
Disney has announced plans to open its first theme park in the Middle East.
Disney already has six theme parks spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Their next resort will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, in a collaboration between Walt Disney and local leisure and entertainment company Miral.
The company's first theme park, Disneyland, opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. It was followed in 1971 by Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. International expansion began in 1983 with a park in Tokyo; Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, then came Hong Kong in 2005 and, most recently, Shanghai in 2016.
In a statement announcing the new facility, Disney said the UAE was located within a four-hour flight of one-third of the world's population, making it a "significant gateway for tourism". It also noted that 120 million passengers travel through Abu Dhabi and Dubai every year, making the Emirates the biggest global airline hub in the world.
The 10-sq-mile (25-sq-km) Yas Island is 20 minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi and 50 minutes from Dubai.
Disney chief executive Robert Iger described the plans for the new park as a "thrilling" moment for the company and said Disneyland Abu Dhabi would be "authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati".
