Disney to open its first theme park within the Center East

Walt Disney has introduced plans to open its first theme park within the Center East.

The resort, which can be within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, is a collaboration between Walt Disney and native leisure and leisure firm Miral.

Disney already has six theme parks spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Its most up-to-date opening was in 2016 in Shanghai.

Miral is answerable for the event of Yas Island as a vacationer vacation spot and already operates SeaWorld and Warner Bros World the place it’s growing a Harry Potter-themed park.

In a press release asserting the brand new facility, Disney stated the UAE was situated inside a four-hour flight of one-third of the world’s inhabitants, making it a “important gateway for tourism”.

It added that 120 million passengers journey via Abu Dhabi and Dubai yearly, making the Emirates the most important international airline hub on the earth.

Disney chief government Robert Iger described the plans for the brand new park as a “thrilling” second for the corporate and stated Disneyland Abu Dhabi can be “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati”.

The ten-sq-mile (25-sq-km) Yas Island is 20 minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi and 50 minutes from Dubai.

Miral’s boss Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi stated bringing a Disney theme park resort to the world marked a “milestone in our journey to additional advance the island’s place as a worldwide vacation spot for distinctive leisure and leisure”.

He stated the event would “help sustained financial development in Abu Dhabi and past”.

The corporate’s first theme park, Disneyland, opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. It was adopted in 1971 by Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Worldwide growth started in 1983 with a park in Tokyo; Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, then got here Hong Kong in 2005 and, most just lately, Shanghai in 2016.

Additionally on Wednesday, Disney introduced higher than anticipated outcomes for the primary three months of 2025, with income up by 7% to $23.6bn (£17.7bn).

The Disney+ streaming enterprise added 1.4 million clients. Beforehand Disney had predicted a slight decline in subscribers attributable to a worth enhance.

Attendance rose at US parks with guests spending extra and there was additionally an increase in cruise ship bookings following the launch of the brand new ship Disney Treasure.

“Regardless of questions round any macroeconomic uncertainty or the affect of competitors, I am inspired by the power and resilience of our enterprise,” stated Mr Iger.

Danni Hewson, head of economic evaluation at AJ Bell stated at a time when so many companies within the US have been “frightened concerning the potential affect of tariffs on client spending, on family budgets, Disney is feeling assured”.