So today we have a midweek news update. This Sunday, we will continue our discussion of Epic Universe.

In fact, today I'm trying to finish recording up that episode. But also this morning,

Disney dropped a major piece of news. With truly significant news, I've been trying to slot in some short announcements into our podcast

feed midweek. These midweek announcements aren't full episodes, simply a way to keep you

up to date on significant developments as they happen. So early this morning, Bob Eiger and Josh Tomorrow announced that Disney

had reached a deal with the Moral Group and the Abu Dhabi government to collectively create

a Disney park in Abu Dhabi. It will be located on Yaws Island, which is a 10 square mile area

that hosts a number of leisure and

entertainment developments already created by the Moral Group, including Ferrari World Park,

Wanner Brothers World, SeaWorld, and Yaws Waterworld. The region continues to grow, somewhat like

Orlando, as a themed entertainment center.

This will be Disney's seventh theme park resort location in the world, also the first to serve the Middle East and West Asia.

Aside from residents of the UAE, Yaz Island sees significant international travel from within the region, including,

among others, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and India.

Yaz Island also sees significant visitation from Russia, Germany, and the UK.

But beyond this, a park in Abu Dhabi can be an anchor that will help Disney

expand awareness in the region of its characters, films, streamer, and other products

for the half billion people who live in the Middle East. This will be by far the warmest

location where Disney has built a park. Yaws Island has average high temperatures

from May to September above 100 degrees. A typical daily high in August is 109. There was limited

concept art for this presentation, but there was a typical bird's eye map of the whole park.

The concept is muddy, not very clear, but very colorful.

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