Disney To Give “Early Glimpse” Into Next Theme Park Resort

Disney will be introducing fans to its Abu Dhabi park in a new documentary. (Photo Joshua Sudock/Walt Disney World Resorts via Getty Images)

Walt Disney Resorts via Getty Images

Disney is set to give fans an early look at its next theme park for the first time on Thursday in its Worldbuilders documentary about the design of its resorts according to one of the executives involved with the project.

It comes just days after the theme park presentation at Disney’s biennial D23 bash which yielded a slew of announcements. Surprisingly, one of its most high-profile projects got less exposure than the others.

This could be seen on the walls of the show’s pavilion dedicated to Imagineering – the Disney division that designs its theme parks. Video screens hung on the walls underneath signs for each of its coming attractions. The screens played footage which gave a behind the scenes look at the development process and underneath them was a plinth with a model of the attraction standing on it. Some models were added after they were announced at the theme park presentation and in previous years, some have remained under a cloth until the announcement as shown in the images below that this author took of the models of the characters in the Avengers: Infinity War movie at D23 in 2017.

However, completely unexpectedly, the space remained empty underneath the screen for Disney’s park in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Fans were convinced that the gap would be filled with a model but it was not to be. As this report explained, ahead of D23 a number of prominent theme park pundits hoped there would be announcements at the show about the Abu Dhabi park and it initially looked like there would be. At the start of the presentation, Thomas Mazloum, chairman of Disney’s theme park division, mentioned that development of “an entirely new theme park resort in Abu Dhabi” is underway but no further details emerged after that.

The video in the pavilion yielded news about the locations of the research trips that Imagineering went on during the development of the Abu Dhabi park but that’s all. With the eyes of the theme park industry on it, Disney had a perfect opportunity to lift the veil a little more on its plans for Abu Dhabi, especially as D23 only comes around every other year.

That said, a number of its theme park projects didn’t get displayed in the pavilion or mentioned in the presentation. Following the event, Disney distributed press releases about a new parade coming to Disneyland Paris and a new show for Hong Kong Disneyland which weren’t mentioned beforehand. Nevertheless, the reason why fans expected to hear more about Disney’s Abu Dhabi park it the presentation is that it has far bigger billing. Disney’s chief executive Josh D’Amaro put it best when he described it as “the most advanced and interactive destination in our portfolio.” The park has a trick up its sleeve to ensure it pulls this off.

It will be run by Abu Dhabi government-backed Miral which, in just the past 15 years, has become the world’s leading theme park operator, alongside Disney and Universal. Miral has built up a portfolio of world-class theme parks on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island including Warner Bros. World, SeaWorld and Ferrari World. As this report explained, Miral has followed a magic formula to hit these heights.

At the top of the list is an insistence on the highest standards to tempt tourists from far and wide. No corners are cut so the guest experience is unparalleled, from the service to the scenery which is equally elaborate inside and outside the rides. That’s because the parks on Yas Island are all indoors, which shields guests from Abu Dhabi’s intense heat and enables the scenery to be more intricate than if it was outside as there is no danger of it getting damaged by wind, overgrown with foliage or faded in the sun.

To keep guests returning, Miral insists that each of its parks is a step up from its predecessors. As its supremely-skilled chief executive Mohamed Al Zaabi told me, the “next experience will be better than the previous one. That’s what we do always at Miral. We keep pushing the bar.”

I have been reporting on Miral’s trailblazing journey since 2018 and broke the news about its Disney park on social media the week before it was announced. It was followed by a report for Forbes previewing the announcement and another revealing the involvement of Imagineering luminary Zach Riddley.

Other than that, news about the development has been thin on the ground. In September Riddley revealed that the park’s centerpiece castle will have water at its heart, as it will sit on the coast. Likewise, in January, Disney’s former chief executive Bob Iger hinted at the park’s location in an Instagram post of him striding along the beach on Yas Island.

However, the following month dark clouds gathered over Middle East thanks to the onset of the war on Iran by Israel and the United States. The conflict is still gripping the region and no resolution is in sight. At the heart of the dispute is the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping route to the UAE which Iran has effectively closed by firing on passing ships that it doesn’t approve of.

This month alone it has hit three ships connected to Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC bringing the total number of its vessels attacked by Iran to 18. Just today the UAE government announced that its air defence systems detected two missiles launched from Iran towards the country. No damage was done, no one was harmed and one of the missiles fell within the UAE’s territorial waters while the other fell outside.

The remarkable resilience of the UAE’s defences has kept Abu Dhabi’s parks packed with visitors throughout the conflict and helped the occupancy in its hotels to hit a healthy 66.8% in the first six months of the year with the average daily rate coming to a respectable $182 (AED668.30).

Some events have had to be canceled such as a concert which was due to take place on Yas Island in November featuring Shakira and singing sensations the Jonas Brothers who were inducted as Disney Legends at D23 last week. However, it is otherwise business as usual.

Testimony to this, as I reported, Miral renewed its commitment to the Disney park soon after the war began. Initial reports suggested that Disney appeared to be wavering but it cleared that up earlier this month when its chief financial officer Hugh Johnston said “we are fully committed to seeing that project through.” There is good reason for this.

Not only is Miral a fairytale partner thanks to its spellbinding track record, but the deal involves no financial risk to Disney. Miral develops, builds and operates its parks and pays the brands in return for using their Intellectual Property. So Disney isn’t committing any capital, just its brand and characters. It takes more than the wave of a magic wand to bring them to life.

D’Amaro has said that a project of this scale could take a year or two to design and another four to six years to build. The broadness of this timeframe has played into Disney’s hands in light of recent developments. In short, as it hasn’t given an opening timeframe, no one can rightly claim that the park has been delayed. The actual opening timeframe of any major new UAE construction project which relies on sea freight depends on when the Strait of Hormuz reopens and no one knows when that will happen.

Disney’s strategy of keeping its cards close to its chest has led to it only releasing two pieces of concept art for its Abu Dhabi park. Another piece of art was recently revealed by this author and, as industry title Blooloop reported, it suggests that the Disney park will have fireworks displays so won’t be entirely indoors. There is more on the way.

It comes in Worldbuilders, a documentary which debuts on Thursday on the Disney+ streaming platform. Made by Academy Award and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, it looks at the development of Disney’s parks and features interviews with movie-making moguls including James Cameron, Jon Favreau and Kevin Feige. Worldbuilders had its worldwide debut at D23 and media received advance review copies which revealed that it has a segment at the end about the Abu Dhabi plans.

Lasting for around four minutes, the segment largely focuses on two interviews. The first was done with Iger during his visit to the Yas Island site in January where he discusses why Abu Dhabi is the right location for Disney’s next park. The segment also feature’s Miral’s dynamic chairman Mohamed Al Mubarak talking about why he is excited to work with Disney. A number of famous franchises get name-dropped in the discussions which are accompanied by scenes from an Imagineering creative review session looking at the park’s potential. Don’t expect major spoilers but eagle-eyed fans should catch a glimpse of more concept art for the park which was blurred in the media screeners but will be clear when the documentary drops on Disney+.

As Chris Buker, Miral’s vice president of strategic planning and revenue management, explains, the segment casts a powerful spell. “On August 20, Disney Worldbuilders arrives on Disney+, taking viewers behind the scenes of how Disney creates its extraordinary destinations around the world,” he said in a LinkedIn post. “For the first time, audiences will get an early glimpse into something particularly meaningful to me: Disneyland Abu Dhabi.”

Buker is a tremendously talented veteran of the entertainment industry with a career stretching back to the late 1990s when he worked in merchandising for Paramount Pictures. Proving his credentials as an innovator, he went on to found K.A.B. Productions which pioneered the theme park industry’s first digital video platform. This enabled digital photo sales, custom DVDs and downloadable content which were rolled out across Cedar Fair, Six Flags and Paramount, culminating in a successful acquisition by a major media company.

More recently, he worked as a strategy director for Disney where he operated across Imagineering, consumer products, franchise ownership, brand growth, destination and commercial strategy. In April this year he switched to Miral and moved to Abu Dhabi. It came at just the right time.

“Having spent years of my career at Disney and now leading Strategic Planning at Miral, it is difficult to describe how proud I am to play a role in the broader journey happening here in Abu Dhabi. Miral has built something remarkable on Yas Island. It is a destination where world-class entertainment, hospitality, culture and experiences increasingly work together as one ecosystem. The opportunity to help shape the strategy for what comes next, as Disney prepares to become part of that story, is extraordinary.

“What excites me most is that this is bigger than another theme park. It is an opportunity to think about how an entire destination evolves around one of the world’s most powerful experience brands, how existing and future products reinforce one another, and how Abu Dhabi continues building its position as a global destination for generations to come.

“That requires more than attractions. It requires long-term thinking across the guest journey, commercial strategy, infrastructure, hospitality, technology, operations and the broader destination ecosystem.” For most leisure destinations implementing that would be a whole new world but for Miral it’s a walk in the park.