Latest news with #DisneyPark
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Walt Disney's granddaughter denounces animatronic portrayal of animation legend
Walt Disney's granddaughter has condemned the entertainment giant he founded for re-creating the late entrepreneur as a soulless 'robotic grampa' for the 70th anniversary celebration of California's Disneyland theme park in July. Disney, who died in 1966, will appear as an animatronic figure in a new attraction called Walt Disney – A Magical Life in the park's Main Street Opera House that commemorates the resort's 17 July 1955 opening. When the project to show 'what it would be like to stop by Walt's office' was announced last year, company officials said it would be 'a fitting tribute' to one of the pioneers of modern entertainment. But in an interview with the Los Angeles Times published on Tuesday, Joanna Miller said her grandfather would have hated his regeneration into a talking mechanical replica – and accused the company of ruining the legacy of her beloved 'Grampa'. 'I think I started crying,' Miller said of the moment she first saw the figure. 'It didn't look like him to me.' She said she laid out her fears in a letter to Disney's chief executive, Bob Iger, when the venture was first proposed and later met him and members of the team creating the attraction. 'He was very kind. He let me do my spiel,' Miller recalled, but she said her plea to drop the animatronic fell on deaf ears. She also spoke out in a Facebook post in November, in which she said Disney was 'dehumanizing' her grandfather, who loved to meet crowds at the park in person and would spend hours chatting with them. 'The idea of a robotic Grampa to give the public a feeling of who the living man was just makes no sense,' she wrote. 'It would be an imposter, people are not replaceable. 'You could never get the casualness of his talking, interacting with the camera, [or] his excitement to show and tell people about what is new at the park. You cannot add life to one empty of a soul or essence of the man.' On a personal level, she said she remembered magical childhood days with her siblings when their grandfather would take them to his studios and let them play with whatever he had been working on. 'He's ours,' she said. 'We're his family.' As for the public's experience of watching the animatronic and hearing Disney's computerized voice, Miller told Iger: 'I strongly feel the last two minutes with the robot will do much more harm than good to Grampa's legacy. They will remember the robot – and not the man.' Miller told the Times she was not speaking on behalf of her five siblings or other descendants of her grandfather. 'I do speak for my grandfather and my mother,' she said, adding that it 'pains' her to be speaking out about the company he created. 'When you get older, you just start to get pissed off. And you get tired of being quiet. So I spoke up on Facebook. Like that was going to do anything,' she said. 'The fact that it got back to the company is pretty funny.' A spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company on Tuesday directed the Guardian back to a press release about the attraction issued in August 2024. Josh D'Amaro, chair of Disney Experiences, told attendees of D23, the company's annual fan event, that the company would strive to create an authentic version of Walt Disney using animatronic technology more advanced than 60 years ago, when he introduced a figure of Abraham Lincoln at the 1964 New York World's Fair. 'Creating our first Walt figure is an idea that's been whispered in the hallowed halls of imagineering for years, decades, even,' D'Amaro said. 'We just had to wait for innovation to catch up with our dreams. And we're finally ready.'
The National
09-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Abu Dhabi's Disney theme park 'good news for home owners and landlords', experts say
Yas Island property owners can expect an increase in the value of their homes and in rents when the planned Disney theme park opens in Abu Dhabi. The park, which was announced on Wednesday, will have a wide-ranging impact on the local economy, especially in the property sector, experts have told The National. It is expected to lead to a surge in demand for properties on the island and nearby, with the value of villas and apartments going up in tandem. An increase in the development of luxury homes on Yas Island is also expected. "The surge in interest from tourists and potential residents will likely drive up demand across various property types, including apartments, villas and commercial spaces," said Nada Osman Jaouhar, Abu Dhabi branch director for property firm Betterhomes. "Consequently, we anticipate higher property values, positioning Yas Island as an even more compelling investment opportunity. "To accommodate the growing demand, we foresee developers introducing a more diverse range of properties, potentially including more luxury apartments and landmark developments offering varied options for sale and rent. Property owners can also anticipate increased rental yields due to the heightened demand for both short-term and long-term rentals." The announcement that Disney was coming to Yas Island was made on Wednesday by Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), and Disney chief executive Bob Iger at W Abu Dhabi - Yas Island. The theme park will have a significant impact across a range of sectors, added Ms Jaouhar. "Existing property owners on Yas Island are well-positioned to benefit from increased property values and rental yields," she said. "Developers with a presence on the island, such as Miral, are also likely to capitalise on the increased demand for properties and the growth in tourism. Furthermore, local businesses, including restaurants, retail outlets and entertainment venues, can expect a rise in customer footfall and revenue." However, she warned of the risk of saturating the property market on the island. "One potential challenge could be market saturation," she said. "If the increase in property supply is not carefully managed, it could impact property values and rental yields." News of Disney coming to Yas Island came after the emirate of Abu Dhabi was experiencing a significant boost in the value of its properties. Earlier this year, The National reported how Abu Dhabi's residential sale prices and rents rose in 2024 against a back drop of higher demand and a supply shortage in the emirate. Home sale prices increased by 11 per cent annually last year, while rents rose 20 per cent, a report by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield Core found. The same report said Yas Island had made gains of 14 per cent during that period. "From an estate agent's point of view, the eyes of the world are going to be more on the Emirates, particularly Abu Dhabi and especially Yas Island [with Disney opening a theme park there]," said Mario Volpi, head of brokerage at Novvi Properties. "Anybody that's already bought there will of course see an uptick [in value]. Disney is a massive, massive brand and it's an affirmation that the Emirates have made enough noise on the world stage to be a destination of choice." The level of employment the theme park is likely to create will have a major impact across the board, not least in the real estate sector, said another expert. Disney's theme parks each tend to employ several thousand people. "This is going to bring new jobs to the island and [this many] new jobs obviously create additional demand for residential new housing," said Matthew Green, head of research at real estate company CBRE Mena. "It will have a positive knock-on impact on various parts of the real estate market." Disney's announcement that it is opening a theme park in Abu Dhabi comes at a time when demand for property at Yas Island is already significant. Property developer Aldar recorded sales of more than Dh1.4 billion ($381 million) for residential units at a project on the island last September. Prices of units at Yas Riva, which comprises 151 canal-front villas, started from Dh8.3 million and the project sold out within 24 hours of its launch. It stands to reason, Mr Green said, that Disney will want its staff members living near the theme park, which would mean a substantial increase in those looking to live on Yas Island or nearby. "Operators tend to want to have their staff within relative proximity. You don't have to be immediately on site, but they generally still want you to be comparatively close," he said.
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Disney announces location of new theme park
Walt Disney announced plans on Wednesday to open a Disney theme park in United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi in collaboration with regional developer Miral Group, representing its first major new theme park in nearly a decade and its first in the Middle East. The planned Disney waterfront resort will be located on Yas Island, a popular tourist destination that is home to other family-friendly attractions, including Warner Bros World Yas Island, SeaWorld Yas Island and Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi. The city of Abu Dhabi has a population of about 2.5 million, but Yas Island recorded more than 34 million visits in 2023, a 38% rise compared to the year before, Miral has said. "We've always been interested in this part of the world - to bring our Disney stories to new, younger fans," Disney's Experiences unit Chairman Josh D´Amaro told Reuters, adding, "Abu Dhabi was an ideal location for us." Miral, the Abu Dhabi-based leisure and entertainment group responsible for developing Yas Island, will finance, build and operate the resort. The creative and technical professionals who design Disney's theme parks, known as Imagineers, will lead creative design and provide operational oversight. The U.S. entertainment company will earn royalties based on the park's revenue, according to a regulatory filing. The Disney park "will be authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati - an oasis of extraordinary Disney entertainment that is at the crossroads of the world," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement on Wednesday. Abu Dhabi is known for its oil wealth, though last year it announced plans to invest more than $10 billion in infrastructure to grow its tourism business. The international airport in UAE's commercial hub Dubai aims to boost its capacity to accommodate 120 million passengers a year by 2026. Disney did not announce the opening date for the new park, though D´Amaro said a project of this scale could take a year or two to design, and another four to six years to build. Once complete, the resort will offer Disney-themed attractions, dining and retail experiences, in a way that blends the Burbank entertainment company´s storytelling and Abu Dhabi´s heritage, D´Amaro said. The Abu Dhabi park, Disney´s first since Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016, represents a continuation of the company´s plans to "turbocharge" its Experiences unit, which includes its six global theme park resorts, a cruise ship line and a family resort in Hawaii. In 2023, Disney announced it would commit $60 billion over a decade to double the size of its Disney cruise ship fleet and invest in its theme parks. It also took a minority stake in Epic Games, creator of the online game Fortnite. Miral initially approached Disney to talk about their plans for creating a tourism hub in Abu Dhabi, said D´Amaro. That conversation led Disney executives to visit the prospective theme park site last September. "We saw where our potential park might go, and had some serious conversations about what this could mean to our 'turbocharging'," D´Amaro said. After a return trip to the region in February, D´Amaro said the parties entered into serious discussions that culminated in a deal. The amount of Miral's investment was not disclosed. Miral Group CEO Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi issued a statement hailing the addition of a Disney theme park to Yas Island as a "historic milestone" in the company´s efforts to build the island into a global entertainment destination. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Henderson and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Harpers Bazaar Arabia
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Harpers Bazaar Arabia
Disney Theme Park Announced For Yas Island Abu Dhabi
The most magical kingdom is set to open on Yas Island Waterfront His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, have announced a partnership that will see The Walt Disney Company open a new Disney theme park on Yas Island. The park will open on Yas Island waterfront, perfectly located as a hub for major tourism markets across the Middle East, Africa, India, Asia and Europe. This project will become Disney's seventh theme park destination worldwide, following its parks in California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Miral, said: 'Abu Dhabi stands as a unique model where authentic heritage meets a bold vision for the future, where we preserve our past while laying solid foundations for a promising tomorrow. The collaboration between Abu Dhabi and Disney demonstrates the remarkable results of combining visionary leadership and creative excellence,' he explained. 'What we are creating with Disney in Abu Dhabi is a whole new world of imagination — an experience that will inspire generations across the region and the world, creating magical moments and memories that families will treasure forever. Through the development of unique attractions and experiences, Abu Dhabi continues to reinforce its position as a leading global destination for cultural and family tourism.' Miral will oversee the full development and construction of the new resort, while Disney will spearhead the creative design, attraction development, and operational leadership to deliver a world-class guest experience. Bob Iger, Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company said: 'This is an extraordinary opportunity for Disney to bring its renowned storytelling to yet another region of the world with a completely new theme park experience that will be a cultural, entertainment and technological marvel.' While there is no official date confirmed for the project build or indeed its big reveal, we're certain that there will be plenty of fans young and old waiting with baited breath—get your mouse ears at the ready.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Disney announces location of new theme park
Walt Disney announced plans on Wednesday to open a Disney theme park in United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi in collaboration with regional developer Miral Group, representing its first major new theme park in nearly a decade and its first in the Middle East. The planned Disney waterfront resort will be located on Yas Island, a popular tourist destination that is home to other family-friendly attractions, including Warner Bros World Yas Island, SeaWorld Yas Island and Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi. The city of Abu Dhabi has a population of about 2.5 million, but Yas Island recorded more than 34 million visits in 2023, a 38% rise compared to the year before, Miral has said. "We've always been interested in this part of the world - to bring our Disney stories to new, younger fans," Disney's Experiences unit Chairman Josh D´Amaro told Reuters, adding, "Abu Dhabi was an ideal location for us." Miral, the Abu Dhabi-based leisure and entertainment group responsible for developing Yas Island, will finance, build and operate the resort. The creative and technical professionals who design Disney's theme parks, known as Imagineers, will lead creative design and provide operational oversight. The U.S. entertainment company will earn royalties based on the park's revenue, according to a regulatory filing. The Disney park "will be authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati - an oasis of extraordinary Disney entertainment that is at the crossroads of the world," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement on Wednesday. Abu Dhabi is known for its oil wealth, though last year it announced plans to invest more than $10 billion in infrastructure to grow its tourism business. The international airport in UAE's commercial hub Dubai aims to boost its capacity to accommodate 120 million passengers a year by 2026. Disney did not announce the opening date for the new park, though D´Amaro said a project of this scale could take a year or two to design, and another four to six years to build. Once complete, the resort will offer Disney-themed attractions, dining and retail experiences, in a way that blends the Burbank entertainment company´s storytelling and Abu Dhabi´s heritage, D´Amaro said. The Abu Dhabi park, Disney´s first since Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016, represents a continuation of the company´s plans to "turbocharge" its Experiences unit, which includes its six global theme park resorts, a cruise ship line and a family resort in Hawaii. In 2023, Disney announced it would commit $60 billion over a decade to double the size of its Disney cruise ship fleet and invest in its theme parks. It also took a minority stake in Epic Games, creator of the online game Fortnite. Miral initially approached Disney to talk about their plans for creating a tourism hub in Abu Dhabi, said D´Amaro. That conversation led Disney executives to visit the prospective theme park site last September. "We saw where our potential park might go, and had some serious conversations about what this could mean to our 'turbocharging'," D´Amaro said. After a return trip to the region in February, D´Amaro said the parties entered into serious discussions that culminated in a deal. The amount of Miral's investment was not disclosed. Miral Group CEO Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi issued a statement hailing the addition of a Disney theme park to Yas Island as a "historic milestone" in the company´s efforts to build the island into a global entertainment destination. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Henderson and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
