Bigger parks:

Falcon City concept art. Art © Dubailand

Themed environments:

Sports City concept art. Art © Dubailand

City of Arabia mall and Restless Planet concept art. Art © Dubailand

Not to sound like an infomercial, but wait - there's more! Elsewhere in the Middle East, other theme parks are setting up shop. Namely:

You can see why there is excitement, and in fact building momentum, for Dubailand and neighboring projects. If the weakness in the United States dollar persists, as some experts are predicting, and middle-eastern tensions subside, then the international tourists may continue visiting WDW… until Dubailand comes on line and becomes compelling.

In the world of theme park design, all the focus is already on the Middle East. All the design companies are there. Except Walt Disney Imagineering, that is. And wouldn't you know it, the timing coincides with years of WDI downsizing as well as people leaving WDI for creative conflicts. That translated into a glut of consultants; many of the onetime great Imagineers still do design work, just not for WDI any more. And a ton of those folks are finding work related to the Middle East.

It's an exciting time. When you parse the reasons for why it's exciting, of course the first thing anyone says is that it's great to have so much work available. But the less obvious reasons are equally important. This is exciting because people are spending serious money on themed environments. When was the last time that happened in the United States?

One manager I spoke with thinks the attitude of "spare no expense" was last seen around here when the Magic Kingdom was being built. Partly that was because this park was designed with Walt around, and Walt wanted to correct the things that needed improving about Disneyland. Walkways were made wider, the castle was built taller, the park employees were put underground. The underground Utilidor is a great example of spending money just to make the project great. Another example could be the separation of the parking lot from the park, to create distance and build anticipation. This great idea on paper translated to extra cost to the company, which now has to run monorails and ferryboats in perpetuity.

Look at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. They lack Utilidors (well, Epcot has just one tunnel under Energy) and they lack a separation from the parking lot. In lots of ways great and small, the company decided after the Magic Kingdom that "spare no expense" was not going to translate well into profits (this also coincided with the company first having financial problems, then becoming a media powerhouse beholden to shareholders). A Utilidor was planned for Epcot, but it was cut before construction began to save millions of dollars. And could you imagine a park built now with monorail costs factored in? Seems pretty unlikely.

Well, the mentality of spending freely is back. Only it's happening in just one spot: Dubai and the Middle East. Talk to the folks who are building these themed environments, and you may well hear that "spare no expense" is back in vogue.

At one point Dubailand plans included a glass-domed snow park,
but current information omits this project. Art © Dubailand

Clearly, Disney's strategists have a dilemma. Should they go to Dubai? Could they get away with a minimalist park (like Hong Kong Disneyland) or would they have to build a lavish theme killer (like Disneyland Paris)? Personally, I think this is the one time and the one place they probably COULD get away with a smaller park featuring fewer attractions. Because any hypothetical Disneyland Dubai would be in close proximity to dozens of other parks, the tourists will ALREADY be enticed to come, and the Disney name alone would serve as lure. Hong Kong should have been built to the scale of Disneyland Paris, but Dubai could actually make it as a small park, as long as there was real quality to the environments.

But the Disney strategists will also have to wrestle with the larger picture. If they did build in Dubai, much of the international tourists would probably stop traveling to WDW altogether. That would transform WDW into a destination mostly made for American tourists (at present, it's geared for internationals as much).

There are alternatives. How about a "Location-Based Entertainment" concept, like an Animal Kingdom Lodge with tremendous theming and a single ride attached to it, perhaps Kali River Rapids? This kind of micropark wouldn't break the bank to build, but would give Disney a toehold.

Or brand new hybridizations. Would it work to build LBE hotels one at a time, right next to each other, until Disney has the equivalent of a full theme park, but with rides attached one at a time to individual hotels? You'd get something like Walt Disney World, but organized and spread out differently. And you could amortize the costs over time, and minimize risks more easily.

One thing is certain: the design folks are in Dubai now, and if the region's many tensions stabilize, the tourists of the world may follow them in the decade to come. Disney is going to have to decide, and soon, if it will jump into the fray. Which could all but seal WDW's fate as a declining asset, attracting dwindling numbers of American tourists. Especially if the fuel prices stay high over the long term!

Not an easy choice, if you ask me.

Kevin is the author of five books on Disney theme parks, including:

• Magic Quizdom offers an exhaustive trivia quiz on Disneyland park, with expansive paragraph-length answers that flesh out the fuller story on this place rich with details.
• 101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland is a list-oriented book that covers ground left intentionally unexposed in the trivia book, namely the tributes and homages around Disneyland, especially to past rides and attractions. Disneyland's rich history is kept alive today in little touches that are all but invisible, and this book shines a light on those tributes for all to enjoy.
• 101 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World follows the example of the Disneyland book, detailing tributes and homages in the four Disney World parks.
• The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World provides current menus and prices for all restaurants at Walt Disney World parks and hotels, including Downtown Disney and even the non-Disney restaurants in the area around the Disney property. Updated several times within each year, the Dining Guide makes for a perfect companion in the parks to avoid excessive walking. Its best feature is the collection of indexes, one for each park. You're standing in line for Space Mountain and crave spaghetti? No problem. Flip to "S" in the index and you'll find out which places in the Magic Kingdom offer it. No need to run around everywhere!

More information on the above books, along with ordering options are at this link. Kevin is currently working on other theme park related books, and expects the next one to be published in early 2008.