With the announcement of Disneyland Abu Dhabi and the renaming of Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris to Adventure World in 2026, Disney shows no signs of slowing down. These developments show a broader strategy to refine, reorganize, and strengthen their parks, especially with increased competition from Universal around the corner. In addition, the land-use agreement in Paris has been extended by ten years, giving Disney a decade to begin development on a third park. While the exact concept for the new parks remains uncertain, existing parks offer important clues.
A likely possibility is that Disneyland Abu Dhabi will follow the traditional format of Disney’s Castle Parks. These parks typically center on lands such as Main Street, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland, with local variations on the castles, lands and attractions being common. For instance, Disneyland Paris replaces Tomorrowland with Discoveryland, reflecting European influences like the works of Jules Verne. Albeit with a rebrand of Space Mountain with Hyperspace Mountain, resulting in mixture of two seperate themes. Regardless, new Castle parks could do the same.
In contrast, the secondary parks in Florida, California, and Paris have a larger focus on movies, with the latter two even called Hollywood Studios and Walt Disney Studios. However, the latter is undergoing a major expansion and will be renamed Adventure World in 2026, brining it more in line with California Adventure. No plans for a Florida Adventure have been announced though. These parks typically feature a Hollywood-style entrance and highlight the worlds of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and animation. Since Paris already has a park of this type, a third park is unlikely to follow the same format.
Not all Disney parks fit these two models though. EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and DisneySea take a more original approach. They don't feature traditionally themed or movie lands, but instead have lands inspired by cultures, environments, and concepts from around the world. EPCOT focuses on community, discovery, nature and the world, Animal Kingdom on animals and nature, and DisneySea focuses on different nautical environments. This more world-focused design philosophy may offer insight into what a third park in Paris could look like.
The third park could take inspiration from EPCOT's World Showcase, with focus on continents inspired by Animal Kingdom and DisneySea instead of cities. This would also set it apart from the nearby Europapark. Lands based on Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania could borrow from Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront (and New Orleans Square, Liberty Square & Grand Avenue), Lost River Delta, Asia & Arabian Coast, Africa, and Mysterious Island repectively. With no clear naming convention for these parks, the new park's name is uncertain.
Competition to consider
Disney’s long-term planning must also account for competition mostly from Universal. Universal Studios parks typically feature themed lands based on Hollywood, the Wizarding World, Minions, New York City, DreamWorks properties, Jurassic World, and Super Nintendo World, along with signature attractions centered around Transformers, The Mummy, and the Waterworld stunt show. While individual parks vary in specifics like Disney, Universal Studios is a major competitor in theme parks based on movies. Especially in locations such as Hollywood, Florida and Japan.
This competition is set to intensify even more with Universal’s newly planned theme parks in the United Kingdom and India. Although no plans have been revealed, the parks could draw from the aforementioned themed lands, shows and attractions. It thus would feature these seven core themed areas, the Waterworld stunt show, and two signature attractions. The UK park could swap out New York City for London, and incorporate British icons such as Paddington and James Bond instead. The latter perhaps even in a stunt show reminiscent of Bourne Stuntacular found in Florida.
Finally, competition also comes from Warner Bros. In particular Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi, where Disney also looks to open a location. Moreover, Warner Bros is also currently under bid. If a subsequent deal is approved by shareholders and regulators, the new owner could choose to expand the themed parks with their own IPs, develop new parks, or even rebrand them. What this means for planned DC expansions in Universal parks is unclear though. Either way, both Universal and Warner Bros present strong competition for Disney to take into account in future planning efforts.