The Disney Resort That’s Getting Its Own Tram Network

Disney’s most high-tech theme park resort is due to get a tram network which will connect it directly to the local airport, homes and hotels according to an announcement today.

Anyone who has visited Walt Disney World in Orlando knows that getting around the sprawling site isn’t a walk in the park. The complex is comparable in size to San Francisco and it can often take an hour or more to get from one theme park to another using the network of buses, boats, cable cars and monorails. Getting a tram from your front door right to the park gates sounds like the stuff of fantasy but it will soon be reality at one Disney resort.

The lucky location is the Middle Eastern city of Abu Dhabi which is due to be home to Disney’s seventh resort over the coming years. When the park was announced in May, Disney’s chief executive Bob Iger forecast that the “resort in Abu Dhabi will be the most advanced and interactive destination in our portfolio.” The setting already looks like the backdrop for a science-fiction film.

Disneyland Abu Dhabi will sit on the sandy northern shores of Yas Island, which is already home to a portfolio of world-leading theme parks and attractions. Unlike almost all of its other parks, Disney won’t own or operate its outpost in Abu Dhabi. Instead, it will be built and run by Miral, Yas Island’s developer and the Middle East’s leading theme park operator.

Yas Island is comfortably the world’s most well-connected major resort as it is home to upscale residential communities, schools, a business district, deluxe hotels, a marina, a mega mall with 370 shops, an arena, a beach, an F1 racing circuit and a golf course which hosts a round of the PGA European Tour, all within walking distance of multiple major theme parks. They are based on some of the most well-known brands in entertainment including SeaWorld, Ferrari and Warner Bros. No expense has been spared.

The parks are all indoors to shield visitors from the searing heat which soars north of 110 degrees in summer. However, the buildings are anything but box-shaped.

Ferrari World can be best-described as having the shape of a starfish and a giant version of the automaker’s shield sits atop its sleek silver and red shell. The towering entrance to Warner Bros. World is formed from the studio’s famous yellow logo while one of the nearby hotels looks like an alien mothership as its curved walls are clad in color-changing LED lights. Soaring sculptures of giants stick out of the sparkling sea and manicured hedges line the spotlessly-clean sidewalks.

Abu Dhabi is already a hotbed of high-tech transport with electric trackless trams and driverless robotaxis already operating in the city. However, its most spellbinding solution was revealed today at the Global Rail Transport Infrastructure Exhibition and Conference.

At the event, the government’s Abu Dhabi Transport Company (ADT) announced the development of Tram Line 4 which will run through Yas Island and residential areas of the nearby Al Raha district connecting them with the city’s Zayed International Airport. It should be a gamechanger as Abu Dhabi doesn’t have a metro system like neighboring Dubai and although many of Yas Island’s attractions are in walking distance of each other, the uncomfortable climate makes this all but impossible in the summer months.

The trams will be able to carry up to 600 passengers and will of course be air-conditioned. They will be complemented by the Urban Loop Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) self-driving system which debuted at the Paris Olympics last year. It consists of pod-like vehicles which each accommodate up to 12 passengers enabling them to ferry up to 1,500 passengers per hour. The pods will connect into the tram hubs creating a door-to-door transport network which links neighborhoods with offices, cultural sites and attractions.

At the conference ADT unveiled a map of the tram network showing it connecting Yas Island’s major landmarks like Yas Mall, SeaWorld, Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World and Disneyland. The map, which can be seen here, revealed that Disneyland will be located on the beach in the north of Yas Island.

This confirmed reports by Themeparx, the leading source of attraction construction photos. It noted that Disneyland Abu Dhabi was announced at a location which has been described as the future site of the park. Themeparx correlated the buildings in the background of the announcement photos with ones on Google Maps and concluded that it was on the beach in the north of Yas Island.

As this report explained, it happens to be the largest area of clear land on the coast of Yas Island so it makes sense for the new park to be located there.

It reflects comments from Ben Crompton, Managing Partner at Abu Dhabi’s leading real estate agency Crompton Partners. He told the Khaleej Times newspaper that property prices on Yas Island have increased by 20% over the past year which is in line with the information obtained by this author.

Crompton added that buyers are not yet paying a premium for a view of Disneyland Abu Dhabi but demand surged immediately after the project was announced. He explained that “the Disney theme park will most likely open in North Yas, close to the Fahid Bridge, but it hasn’t been confirmed yet. We know it will be on the water and so this area is one of the few beach locations left on the popular island.”

The tram network should enable visitors to get from the gates of Disneyland to the airport in little more than 20 minutes. They won’t have to wait long to do it as construction work is reportedly due to start next year, with the network expected to enter service by 2030. Perhaps not coincidentally, that’s right around the time that Disneyland Abu Dhabi may open as this report revealed. That’s not all.

The tram network is also expected to connect to the upcoming Etihad Rail hubs which will enable travelers to get from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in just 30 minutes. A total of 11 cities across the region will be on the rail line which will begin operations next year with a standard speed service connecting Dubai with Abu Dhabi in 50 minutes. Each train has a capacity of 400 people with volume expected to hit 36.5 million people by 2030.

In contrast, Urban Loop is expected to begin trials in the next six months. It can’t come soon enough.

Abu Dhabi Airports is reportedly “working feverishly” to improve the public transport connections between the airport, downtown and other local areas according to Cheryl Chan, its strategic adviser in planning and Development. “We wanted to link up the airport with the rest of Abu Dhabi and have ADT provide that connectivity for us,” she told The National. “Right now in terms of public transportation, there are only a few bus lines that come from downtown.”

She added that “I don’t think the connectivity can happen to the airport until the technology is proven. It is self-driven, so it is slightly different from having a traditional light rail line.” The National reported that Abu Dhabi Airports is also considering implementing a PRT system for VIP customers and an automated peoplemover for future expansion.

Coincidentally, Disney World is also home to an attraction called the PeopleMover in the futuristic Tomorrowland area of its Magic Kingdom park. Thanks to some high-tech wizardry, the attraction doesn’t generate any emissions. Ingeniously, magnets underneath each ride car repel against ones with opposite poles on the floor in order to propel it along the tracks.

It is one of many innovative forms of transport at Disney World and that’s because Walt Disney himself realized that progress in this area could help to reduce pollution and congestion in cities. It makes the tram all the more relevant to Miral, especially as it is aligned with Abu Dhabi’s Net Zero 2050 goals as it reduces emissions and improves accessibility. Miral began looking into it long before it signed the deal with Disney earlier this year.

In 2018, at the opening of Warner Bros. World, Miral’s chairman Mohamed Al Mubarak told my colleague in an interview for the Daily Telegraph that Yas Island was planning to implement a skyTran network of sleek pods suspended from rails. “We are in discussions with our partners in regards of the system itself. It is being tested and trialed right now and very soon we will see some movement on that,” he said.

“It is kind of like a cable car. It will connect you from point to point so if somebody at Ferrari World wants to get to Warner Bros. he can or if somebody wants to get to the water park he can. So it works as an attraction because you are zooming over these fantastic developments looking at these fantastic projects and it will get you from point A to B fairly quickly and smoothly.”

It was not to be, though it wasn’t for want of trying. In September 2023, skyTran was shuttered after its majority shareholder, the Indian conglomerate Reliance withdrew funding for it.

The tram plugs that gap in Abu Dhabi and is ultimately expected to be expanded to further residential areas. Highlighting this vision at the recent conference, Saeed Salem AlSuwaidi, chief executive of ADT, said that “mobility is no longer about reaching a station or a stop. It is about the entire journey – from homes and schools to workplaces and cultural destinations. Our aim is a single, interconnected journey where passengers do not think of modes or transfers, only of reaching their destination with zero friction.”

The Khaleej Times added that officials from ADT also said that the tram could feature unified ticketing, AI-driven demand management and predictive algorithms to make commuting smoother and more efficient. It makes the tram a fairytale partnership for Miral which is also always looking to streamline its guest experience.

As Miral’s chief executive Mohamed Al Zaabi explained to me ahead of the opening of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, one of the key areas he focuses on is the online booking system as that is the very start of the customer’s journey.

“We built a system over the last five years that people can use to come to Yas island. They can buy rooms plus theme park tickets plus Formula One plus access to the Louvre. That’s all in one experience. Can I add airline tickets? Can I add golf? Can I add a dinner experience? Can I add boat rental? Can I add X and Y and Z? So eventually you need to add all of that to customize it and allow people to personalize their experience. That’s our vision.”

Additional reporting by Christian Sylt