Already hosted by several thematic parks, the United Arab Emirates are about to receive the “Crown Jewel”: In May, Disney announced that in the early 2030s it will open Disneyland Abu Dhabi.
The American entertainment giant said the park, which will be built on Yas Island, will be the most technologically advanced in the company.
The United Arab Emirates already house other large thematic parks, such as Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World, Yas Waterworld (with gigantic slides and swimming pools) and SeaWorld Yas Island Abu Dhabi.
“This is not about building another theme park,” said Saleh Mohamed Al-Gezirry, Director General of Tourism of Abu Dhabi, to the American station CNN. “It is about defining Abu Dhabi as a global destination where culture, entertainment and luxury meet.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger said the park will be “authentically Disney and distinctly Emiradense.”
Playing with Orlando the world capital of the theme parks is part of the search for Soft Power (influenced by other means other than the Emirates of the United States, a strategy that has as another of its main axes the major investments in football, such as those made on the English team Manchester City.
“The leaders of the UAE see cultural infrastructure not only as a tourism driver, but as a national soft power pillar. Hosting a Disney park sends a clear message: the Arab Emirates are safe, modern and receptive to families, reliable enough to house one of the most iconic entertainment institutions in the world,” said the expert policy and researcher over Persian Golf Persian Amit Yarom, in an article for the American Tank Atlantic Council.
Yarom pointed out that this strategy is also linked to another goal: economic diversification. “Like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the United Arab Emirates face a future in which oil recipes alone will no longer be enough to support national growth,” he explained.
However, as with football investments (the so -called Sportswashing), the emiradense authoritarian regime also seeks with the thematic parks to divert the world’s major problems in the country with regard to human rights.
In its latest Freedom Report around the world, the American NGO Freedom House only gave a note 18 (a maximum of 100) to the United Arab Emirates for their political rights violations and civil freedoms.
In the document, the NGO highlighted a collective judgment of 84 defendants in 2024, in which 43 people were sentenced to life imprisonment and ten others received penalties of ten or 15 years of detention on charges of having formed and supported a terrorist organization.
International entities pointed out that it was a facade trial to punish human rights activists and political dissidents, critics of the Arab country’s government.
“Human rights groups have identified serious violations of due process of law and the rights of defendants in the highly obscure judgment, as well as abusive conditions of detention,” said Freedom House.
Another case last year in the UAE mentioned by the NGO was the trial of 57 Bangladesh citizens sentenced to ten -year penalties to life imprisonment for participating in an unauthorized protest in Abu Dhabi against the government of their home country.
They were later forgiven and deported in September. There is Mickey and Goofy to hide so much repression.
