Disney confirms Abu Dhabi castle to feature first-ever water design
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For the first time in Disney history, water will be part of the design of a Disney castle that will rise in Abu Dhabi.
The detail was revealed in the latest episode of Disney’s We Call It Imagineering YouTube series. Senior executives at Walt Disney Imagineering shared the creative vision behind the upcoming Disneyland Abu Dhabi.
“In the context of building our future experiences something like a new region, such as Abu Dhabi, which we recently announced as our latest destination", said Zach Riddley, Senior Vice President of Global Creative Strategy.
Riddley confirmed the new park will follow the Magic Kingdom model. Its centrepiece will be a castle unlike any before.
“Abu Dhabi is a city on the water, and so we’re really excited about being able to incorporate water for the first time in the design of our Walt Disney castles”, he said.
Ali Rubinstein, Senior Vice President of Global Creative Show Design, underlined that the project goes beyond replication.
“For the first time, we're taking our iconic castle to the sea, literally with our newest ship, the Disney Adventure, and that castle is not a replication of any existing castle in the world".
"It's inspired by broader nature themes like water, also subtle nods to our princesses, Moana, Elsa and Anna”, Rubinstein explained.
Disney first announced its Abu Dhabi theme park plan last year. The new attraction will be built on North Yas Island in partnership with Miral, the developer behind several of the capital’s top destinations.
It will mark the first Disney-branded theme park in the Middle East. Alongside the water-inspired castle, the park will feature multiple themed lands designed to attract global visitors.
Riddley reflected on the responsibility of shaping such an iconic project.
“The things that we make have a lasting impact on so many people and that legacy is tremendously rich. But it means that every choice we make has so much weight on it".
With water at its heart, Abu Dhabi’s castle is to stand apart from Disney’s other legendary castles, establishing a new identity for the region’s first Disneyland.