News broke yesterday of a 7th Disney theme park resort coming to Abu Dhabi. We covered that news and ended up with a somewhat bullish response to Abu Dhabi’s chance at being a well executed Disneyland. Of course, things aren’t as simple as “will the financial investment to make a great theme park be there?” There’s plenty of reasons why Disney made this decision and plenty of reasons why the announcement have been met with some cynical responses. In this post, I’ll break down why the decision was made before discussing some of the uphill social and political challenges of the move.

The quick and easy answer as to why Disney has decided on putting their next theme park resort in the UAE is money. If you strip away all the social factors, this is simply a good business decision. Miral, the partner who is backing Disneyland Abu Dhabi, will be paying for the resort and for the licensing to the Disney name. Once (some might say if) the theme park comes to fruition, Disney will get a cut of the gate entry and/or merchandise. Details of the contract aren’t known at this time, but it’s safe to assume that’s the framework.

Miral has already built several other theme parks in this exact area. Warner Bros. World generally receives warm reviews, with Ferrari World not far behind that reputation. There’s experience here and, likely, contract language that let’s Disney moderate quality control. Not to mention, Imagineering will be working on the project.

If an experienced architect offers to build you a new house for free (without taxes even!) that you can design, you do it. There’s no risk, no money coming out of your pocket and, better yet, the architect has decided to pay you for it existing! This isn’t that simple, of course, but will result in a steady cash flow without investment for Disney.

There may be one downside to this move from a business perspective – Imagineering will be stretched thin. There are major projects going on in Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo and Paris already. I’m not an Imagineer but I think designing a new theme park will add to the work load! In light of this move, and Miral paying Disney to use their employees, this would be a great time to announce an expansion of the Imagineering department. The company is going to need more brilliant people.

Outside of that creative risk, the business side of this move is a no-brainer. Sure, there’s a chance that Disneyland Abu Dhabi is incredibly successful, ala Tokyo Disney Resort, and the company will wish that they just built the parks themselves and reaped the rewards. But even if that happens, it’s a win-win for everyone.

So, why Abu Dhabi? Money. If a company from Australia or Brazil came to Iger and said we’ll fund an entire theme park resort and then give you royalties, I think he’d do it. That’s basically what happened here but in United Arab Emirates.

What a strictly business perspective misses on this topic is the social and political side of doing business in the Middle East. In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that Dubai and Abu Dhabi are generally seen as safe cities to travel in but chose not to go much past that. The reason being is that I’ve just started research on Abu Dhabi and the UAE. I’m far from an expert. Here’s a quick, and definitely not all encompassing, paragraph describing some of the structure and major issues the country has.

The UAE is generally seen as having an economically stable constitutional monarchy style of government with relatively little corruption (at least in the economic sense). Many outlets have referred to the country as an authoritarian state with multiple reports of detainment for critics of the country. Like most countries, UAE’s laws have (at least somewhat) been informed by past generation’s interpretation of the dominant religion in the area. While some progress has been made, women’s rights lag behind in several ways. LGBTQIA+ rights are close to non-existent and there major concerns over labor practices. I’ve read articles about progress on each of these concerns but progress can be slow and problems are persistent. Please go read more on the subjects if you are interested.

I apologize for the paragraph of links above but faking my way through a post about these topics after doing most of my research in the last 24 hours (after the Disney theme park announcement was made) seems disingenuous. It’s safe to say that I could form a paragraph about most countries and their concerns like I did the one above. But there are troubling facts to reconcile with for Disney, especially the LGBTQIA+ rights. Clearly, they think the business move outweighs the social issues when it comes to the new theme park resort. Bob Iger said himself that adding a theme park in a particular spot is an endorsement of that region.

There is a low-hanging fruit comparison to Florida here in some areas. Shanghai Disney would fit other comparisons. I genuinely can’t speak to how apt either one is. I’ve never had a first hand experience in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Even if I had, I’m a straight, white American man in his 30’s. This particular demographic that I fit in has very little (or zero) experience with oppression or discrimination. I want everyone treated fairly regardless of sexual orientation or gender and that doesn’t exactly seem like a brave stance to me.

Viewing these issues in terms of travel, or building a new theme park, has always felt like a gray area to me. If you disagree and think the move is awful, I completely understand. Boosting the economies of places that people view as unjust is the downside. I don’t think there’s any argument there. While I’m optimistic by nature, and do think that there are signs of progress in the UAE, it’s naive to say that everything is great.

On the other hand, would visiting (or building) encourage better working practices and more progressive values? This is a deal between Disney and Miral, not the UAE government, although I’m sure they were involved in a discussion or two. For their part, Miral has said all of the right things even before this Disney announcement. A late 2024 release vowed to lower their carbon footprint by 2030. A recent sustainable strategy release by the company says that the company will prioritize “ensuring the well-being of Miral’s employees through initiatives that champion diversity and inclusion, Emiratisation, professional development, and a healthy work-life balance. This responsibility extends towards upholding the highest standards for the welfare of construction workers, ensuring fair treatment, safe working conditions, and access to essential resources.” Sure, those could be empty promises but better to have on the record than not.

Another not-so-brave, and pretty bad blogging, take from me is that I don’t know what the answer is on the social side of things. Does visiting, or expanding, somewhere prop up their injustices or does it provide a positive impact to a culture? I really don’t know, usually I’m writing about whether some Marvel franchise belongs in Epcot. The unsatisfying answer is probably both are at least partially correct.

My final thought on this is hopeful and less of whether this is the right or wrong move by the Disney company. Please make up your own mind about the right or wrong aspect, and don’t do it just based on this blog post. Iger and D’Amaro have both pointed out how placing a theme park resort in Abu Dhabi will give far more people across the globe a chance to experience it. This makes great business sense for them but, at the core, it’s a beautiful sentiment.

If you’re reading this then you probably love Disney theme parks. I do, despite my sometimes pesky reviews. Whether this is a business move that includes some hypocrisy or not, my hope is that more people will get a chance to experience something I love. Maybe Disneyland Abu Dhabi can be a safe haven for women and members of the gay community in that region. Maybe the addition will help change cultural norms. That’s a tall ask, I know, and one that’s probably not at the forefront of this decision by Disney. But I hope this business move in United Arab Emirates has the same positive cultural impact that we see in Anaheim, Orlando and Tokyo.

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