Disney is planning a brand new theme park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. To date, particulars are scarce — and one massive query is how a lot tickets will price when the park lastly opens, which might take seven years or longer.

The park, introduced Could 7, 2025, would be the Walt Disney Firm’s first-ever vacation spot within the Center East and the seventh globally. It is going to be constructed on Yas Island — already house to SeaWorld, Ferrari World and Warner Bros. World — and guarantees to mix Disney’s characters with “distinctly Emirati” cultural parts.

Past these particulars, there’s rather a lot we nonetheless do not know:

When the park will open. Disney CEO Bob Iger stated in an interview with CNBC that it sometimes takes roughly 18 months to 2 years to design plus 5 years to construct a park, however famous Disney wasn’t making any commitments on timing for the time being.

How massive the park can be, and the way a lot of it will likely be indoors. Summer time temperatures can climb as much as 120° Fahrenheit, so an indoor park would make it a extra interesting vacation spot within the hotter months. SeaWorld Abu Dhabi and Warner Bros. World are each indoor theme parks.

How a lot tickets will price. The United Arab Emirates is understood for its lavish shows of wealth, and Disney parks are additionally identified to be expensive — so that you may suppose the 2 mixed may very well be tremendous costly. However at the moment, Abu Dhabi’s theme parks are a bit cheaper than their U.S. counterparts.

If present developments maintain, the brand new park may additionally be barely cheaper than U.S. Disney parks when it lastly debuts. However that is an enormous if. Building prices, inflation, trade charges and different financial elements might all have an effect on the ultimate value. And with a number of years to go earlier than opening, rather a lot might change.

Whereas Disney remains to be removed from revealing pricing for tickets to the Abu Dhabi resort, we checked out different theme parks within the United Arab Emirates to see how the costs in comparison with U.S. costs.

Take SeaWorld and Legoland, two manufacturers that function parks each within the U.S. and within the UAE (Legoland Dubai is a couple of 45-minute drive from Yas Island). NerdWallet analyzed base, one-day grownup ticket costs on the market on-line in Could 2025 and located that tickets to their UAE places are persistently cheaper. We transformed the UAE costs in dirhams to USD for comparability.

Whereas the worth variations aren’t huge, they’re noticeable — particularly for households shopping for a number of tickets.

There’s additionally the Huge Mac Index, a metric developed by The Economist to check buying energy parity across the globe. As of January 2025, a Huge Mac prices simply 18 dirhams (about $4.90) within the UAE, in comparison with $5.79 within the U.S. Which means a UAE Huge Mac is 15% cheaper than one within the U.S. — a proxy suggesting items and providers (like theme park admission, meals and lodging) might price much less within the UAE.

In fact, Abu Dhabi is a long-haul journey for many People — about 7,000 miles and 13 hours within the air from New York. That’s not a weekend getaway like Disneyland or Disney World.

However airfare may not be a dealbreaker for those who’re strategic.

For starters, there are various choices for getting there. The deliberate Disney theme park within the UAE is shut to 2 main airports. Mixed, they make up the world’s largest world airline hub with 120 million passengers touring via Abu Dhabi and Dubai annually.

• American Airways AAdvantage: Use miles to guide flights on Etihad, with off-peak award pricing from the U.S. to the Center East beginning at 35,000 miles one-way in financial system.

• Capital One miles: Switch Capital One miles to companions like Etihad Visitor or Flying Blue (KLM/Air France), each of which steadily run promotions to the Center East.

And when you’re there, lodging may not break the financial institution both. Abu Dhabi gives a sturdy collection of points-friendly accommodations, together with Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt properties.

(Prime picture courtesy of The Walt Disney Firm and Miral)