Wanted: builders to make Disney and Potter dreams come true
- Online Team
- Jul 8, 2025
- 2 min read
Abu Dhabi developers have embarked on an arduous quest, seeking specialist contractors to build theme parks and other entertainment destinations.
The Mission Ferrari ride at Ferrari World – one of several theme parks on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island
Theme parks planned for Yas Island
Aldar: ‘Challenging to find right partners’
Miral sets July deadline for Potter tender
The emirate’s project pipeline includes Disneyland Abu Dhabi and a Harry Potter-themed expansion at Warner Bros World, as well as the long-delayed Guggenheim Museum and sports and adventure sites on Hudayriyat Island and in Al Ain.
“We have more and more niche requirements [for] specialised supply chain contractors,” Adel Albreiki, CEO of Aldar Projects, told the Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit last month.
“It’s becoming challenging to find the right people and the right partners to execute that vision.”
ADX-listed Aldar is behind much of Abu Dhabi’s residential and infrastructure development. It is also the master developer of Yas Island – home to the emirate’s major theme parks, such as Ferrari World, Yas WaterWorld, Warner Bros World and SeaWorld.
Miral, another state-backed developer, operates the completed parks on Yas Island.
It has issued a main construction tender for the AED3 billion ($816 million) Harry Potter attraction at Warner Bros World, according to MEED. The development will add 40,000 square metres to the park and bids are due this month.
A gentler ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom park in Florida. The Abu Dhabi site will be ‘distinctly Disney’ and ‘distinctly Emirati’, says its developer
Miral’s next major project will be Disneyland Abu Dhabi, an indoor theme park on Yas Island announced in May. It will be Disney’s seventh destination and its first in the Middle East.
The UAE company will develop and operate the park under licence from Disney.
“The agreement is that this would be a distinctly Disney theme park, but distinctly Emirati theme park,” Miral’s group CEO Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi told the same infrastructure conference in June.
There will be close collaboration “with Disney and local institutes to design the park”, he said.
Abu Dhabi plans to invest $10 billion in infrastructure under its Tourism Strategy 2030, which aims to generate $24.5 billion in GDP contribution by the end of the decade. It is targeting 39 million annual visitors
Badr Al Olama, director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, said the emirate was prioritising partnerships with technical specialists and investors that align with its development goals.
“There is no shortage of financial capacity or capability in Abu Dhabi,” Olama said. “It’s more that [we are] looking for technical partners – people that have the same vision and values.”
He added: We measure the return, not on investment, but on economy. We look at GDP impact.”
By Megha Merani
July 7, 2025, 3:25 PM
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