Disneyland Abu Dhabi: What It Means for Yas Island Real Estate

The project was announced on 7 May 2025 as a partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Miral Group. The following details have been confirmed by Disney and Miral directly:

• It will be Disney’s seventh theme park resort globally and its first in the Middle East
• The resort will be located on Yas Island, on the undeveloped coastal land near Yas North
• Miral will develop, build, and operate the resort; Disney’s Imagineers will lead creative design and operational oversight
• The resort will include a waterfront element, themed accommodation, dining, and retail
• Disney has described it as “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati” and “the most advanced and interactive destination in our portfolio”

On timeline, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro has stated that projects of this scale typically take one to two years for design and four to six years for construction, placing an estimated opening between 2030 and 2033. No official opening date has been confirmed.

What Changed After the Announcement

Arabian Business reported in May 2025 that the week following the Disney announcement saw a noticeable uptick in investor enquiries for Yas Island properties. This wasn’t a market reacting to a single headline — Yas Island was already on a strong growth trajectory, and Abu Dhabi’s property market as a whole had been expanding steadily for several years prior.

Yas Island: A Destination Already in Growth

Yas Island is one of Abu Dhabi’s most active residential markets, with transaction volumes driven primarily by off-plan sales. It is already home to Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld, and the Yas Marina Circuit, with Disneyland Abu Dhabi confirmed for the island’s northern coastal stretch.

The island’s visitor numbers reflect consistent growth. Miral reported over 34 million visits in 2023, a 38% increase on 2022, rising to 38 million in 2024 — a further 10% year-on-year increase. In summer 2025, visitation grew another 15%, with international visitors up 50% year-on-year and hotel occupancy averaging 85%, peaking above 90% in August. 

Yas Island held the title of World’s Leading Theme Park Destination at the 2025 World Travel Awards for the fifth consecutive year. Moreover, Topgolf Yas Island is currently under construction and targeted for completion in 2026.

The Abu Dhabi Market in 2025

According to ADREC’s Q3 2025 market report, Abu Dhabi recorded AED 94 billion in total real estate trading volume across 29,400 transactions in the first nine months of 2025. This represented a 43.3% increase in value and a 48% surge in transaction volume compared with the same period in 2024.

Of that total, AED 61.8 billion was generated from sales and purchases through 16,887 transactions, while mortgage activity contributed AED 32.2 billion across 12,666 transactions. The real estate sector’s contribution to Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP rose 9% to AED 21.9 billion in the first half of 2025, up from AED 20.2 billion a year earlier. Combined with construction activity, real estate and construction together contributed AED 79.5 billion, representing 24% of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP in H1 2025.

The growth cycle began well before Disney. Abu Dhabi’s property market has been expanding since 2021, supported by freehold ownership rights for foreign nationals in investment zones, Golden Visa eligibility tied to property purchases, zero property tax, and zero capital gains tax on residential real estate.