Footage of the Disney team visiting Al Ain Oasis and Qasr Al Hosn was shared this weekend at Disney's annual D23 convention.
Although it is not clear when the visits took place, they point to potential research into the culture, heritage and architecture of the UAE for the company's planned theme park and resort in Abu Dhabi.
Disney has not said that either landmark will directly inspire an attraction, building or themed land at the theme park. However, when the project was announced, former Disney chief executive Bob Iger said the park would be “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati”.
The footage was shown at the fan convention in California, displayed throughout the weekend at the Imagineering pavilion. Imagineers are the creative and technical designers who build Disney theme parks, resorts and cruise ships. The title was coined by Walt Disney, and blends “imagination” and “engineering”.
The short video shows members of the team walking around Al Ain Oasis and standing in front of the distinctive double-storey arches of Qasr Al Hosn, the Abu Dhabi fort and landmark built in 1761.
The visits could offer an early insight into how Disney is approaching the design of its first theme park in the Middle East, which was announced in May 2025.
The company has also said the park will blend contemporary architecture and cutting-edge technology with the culture and character of Abu Dhabi.
Who are Disney Imagineers?
Walt Disney Imagineering is the creative division responsible for designing and developing Disney's theme parks, resorts, attractions and immersive experiences around the world.
Imagineers bring together a range of disciplines, including architecture, engineering, storytelling, landscape design, animation and technology, to turn Disney stories and characters into physical environments.
For the Abu Dhabi project, Disney and its Imagineers are leading the creative design and providing operational oversight. The resort itself will be developed and built by Abu Dhabi entertainment company Miral, which will also operate it.
What is Al Ain Oasis?
Al Ain Oasis could provide Disney's designers with a link to thousands of years of life in the emirate.
The sprawling oasis covers about 1,200 hectares and contains about 147,000 date palms as well as more than 100 varieties of vegetation.
Its history stretches back thousands of years, with settlement in the area dating back about 4,000 years. The oasis is also notable for its traditional falaj irrigation system, a network of underground and surface channels that carries water from the mountains to farms and palm groves.
Al Ain's oases have been part of a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2011, alongside archaeological sites including Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Jebel Hafeet.
The landscape is particularly distinctive because of the contrast between the surrounding desert and the dense canopy created by thousands of date palms, with narrow pathways running beneath them.
Disney has not disclosed what its Imagineers were specifically studying during the visit.
Why Qasr Al Hosn?
The team's other stop carries particular significance to the story of Abu Dhabi itself.
Qasr Al Hosn is the oldest surviving building in the capital, with its origins dating to a watchtower built in the 1790s to protect the settlement that had developed around Abu Dhabi's freshwater source. It subsequently grew into a fort and became home to the ruling Al Nahyan family and the seat of government.
The complex consists of two major structures: the Inner Fort, dating to circa 1795, and the Outer Palace, built between the 1930s and 1940s. After an extensive conservation programme, Qasr Al Hosn reopened as a museum in 2018.
Its architecture is markedly different from the futuristic landmarks that have come to define modern Abu Dhabi, making it a particularly interesting stop for a design team tasked with creating something Disney has promised will feel distinctly Emirati.
What we know about Disney's Abu Dhabi theme park
The park will be built on the waterfront along Yas Island, joining attractions including Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi, SeaWorld Yas Island and Yas Waterworld.
It will become Disney's seventh theme park resort destination worldwide, following existing resorts in California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Miral will finance, develop, build and operate the resort, while Disney Imagineering will lead its creative design.
Disney has yet to reveal the park's lands and attractions, and no opening date has been announced.
However, the company has repeatedly emphasised that the destination will draw on its location, as well as Disney's existing characters and stories.
At the original announcement, Iger described Abu Dhabi as a place with a “rich appreciation of the arts and creativity”, while Miral chairman Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak said the emirate was a place “where heritage meets innovation, where we preserve our past while designing the future”.
The newly revealed research footage offers one of the clearest indications yet of how Disney's designers are familiarising themselves with that heritage before those plans take physical form.
