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- The National
When Mickey Mouse first arrived in Arabia - a century before Disneyland Abu Dhabi
Mickey Mouse is ready to make his way to the Middle East after Disney announced plans to open its first new theme park development for 15 years on Yas Island.
The much-anticipated attraction is set to swing open its doors in the early 2030s, delivering a boost to tourism, jobs and the wider economy as well as a sprinkling of family-friendly magic.
The grand opening of Disneyland Abu Dhabi will come about a century after the world's most famous mouse first arrived on Gulf Shores.
It was back in 1932 that the short animated cartoon Mickey in Arabia was brought to the screen, in one of the earliest productions of its kind from Walt Disney.
Mickey in Arabia is seven minutes long and in black and white. This version of Mickey differs from the one used today. His earliest cartoon was Steamboat Willie in 1928.
There are some things that Disney got right about life in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf. Sand dunes. Palm trees. Camels. As for the rest? Well, to be charitable, not much was known about the region to the general public in the West.
The plot involves Mickey, voiced by Disney himself, visiting a 'typical' Arab town, while his nemesis Pete makes a doomed attempt to kidnap Minnie. Perceptions of the Arab world as viewed from Hollywood included snake charmers, the fez or tarboosh, and belly dancers. The people are depicted in a crude style that modern audiences would not recognise.
This orientalist view of not just the Arab world but the entire Middle East was narrow. The region was seen by the western public as exotic, mysterious, perhaps even dangerous thanks to films like The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, and songs such as The Sheik of Araby, performed by artists including Django Reinhart and the Beatles.
Arab children loved the Mouse, though, and from the late 1950s Mickey featured in Arabic comics, in particular Megalet Mickey (Mickey Magazine) by Dar Al Hillel, published in Cairo under licence from Disney and distributed across the Middle East.
For one cover, released around the time of the 1964 Arab Summit, he is shown in a variety of dress, including keffiyehs, turbans, djellaba and what appears to be a military uniform. In other versions, Mickey was shown playing the rababa, a stringed instrument, making kunefe, and celebrating the Prophet Mohammed's birthday in front of a building on where the banner 'There is No God But Allah' appears. A special Ramadan issue was published every year.
By the 1980s, the Disney corporation was beginning to explore bigger collaborations with the Middle East and in particular the Gulf countries. The Epcot theme park in Florida, opened in 1982, originally envisage a UAE pavilion in its World Showcase, although this was not realised.
Ten years later, Disney opened Disneyland Paris, then called EuroDisney. The park struggled to attract visitors in its early years and was making heavy losses. A rescue by Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud involved a $345 million injection into the theme park in exchange for a 24 per cent stake. The economic potential of the Gulf could not be clearer.
Moving forward, it emerged this year that Disney had begun exploring the possibility of a theme park in Abu Dhabi as early as 2017 with a pitch from the Miral Group, the entertainment and leisure company that developed Ferrari World, Seaworld, Yas Waterworld and others on Yas Island.
Bob Iger, Disney chief executive, said that negotiations began in earnest in February, concluding in the announcement of a Disney theme park in May.
Disneyland Abu Dhabi, he says will be authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati.
