President Donald Trump has high hopes for Disney’s seventh theme park.
“I see the new theme park is going to be incredible. Bob Iger was in my office the other day and he was showing it to me,” Trump said during a roundtable with business leaders in Abu Dhabi on Friday. “It’s going to be incredible.”
Earlier this month, Disney announced that it planned to build its seventh theme park in Abu Dhabi. Disney, working alongside immersive experiences company Miral, said the theme park would be built on Yas Island.
“Disneyland Abu Dhabi will be authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati — an oasis of extraordinary Disney entertainment at this crossroads of the world that will bring to life our timeless characters and stories in many new ways and will become a source of joy and inspiration for the people of this vast region to enjoy for generations to come,” Iger said in a statement.
Representatives for the White House and Disney did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Abu Dhabi was the final stop on Trump’s Middle East trip. Earlier this week, the president touched down in Saudi Arabia before traveling to Qatar and, finally, the United Arab Emirates.
Trump returned to the United States on Friday after securing a flurry of deals in those countries, including a deal for American chipmaker Nvidia to provide at least 18,000 Blackwell GPUs to Saudi Arabia and for Qatar Airways to pay Boeing $96 billion to build at least 160 jets. The US and Saudi Arabia also struck an arms deal worth almost $142 billion.
Disney has been a lightning rod in the culture wars in recent years, including its legal showdown with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Since returning to the company in 2022, Iger has sought to change this perception.
Although Iger publicly criticized Trump and his policies during his first term, his tune appears to have changed this time around. Disney, along with other companies like Meta and Amazon, for example, announced it would make changes to its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives — an important agenda item for Trump.
“I’ve always believed that we have a responsibility to do good in the world, but we know our job is not to advance any kind of agenda,” Iger said during a livestreamed meeting in 2024. “For as long as I’m in the job, I’m going to continue to be guided by a sense of decency and respect, and we’ll always trust our instincts.”
