What was the highlight of 2025 for theme park fans? I cannot decide between two stories: one that the community anticipated and another that took everyone by surprise.
This year brought the biggest new theme park opening in the United States in more than 20 years. In May, Universal Orlando officially opened Universal Epic Universe, the fourth gate at the resort. Featuring four lands devoted to single entertainment franchises, Epic Universe won initial praise for its stunning scenic design and innovative attractions. But another scorching Florida summer brought complaints about a lack of shade and long wait times, as Universal worked to get the park running at full capacity.
Like many fans, I had looked forward to Universal’s first theme park land devoted to its classic monsters, Dark Universe. The park also features Universal’s third Harry Potter land concept, Ministry of Magic, set in Wizarding Paris, and a Super Nintendo World. But the land that most captured my imagination when Epic Universe opened was its “How to Train Your Dragon” land, Isle of Berk.
Featuring the delightful family roller coaster, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Isle of Berk leans into the same traditional Scandinavian coziness that makes me love Disney’s World of Frozen lands so much. But Berk offers something that Arendelle does not — dragons, and lots of them. From animatronics on its roller coaster, puppets on its streets and Broadway-style stage, to dragon-shaped drones in the sky, Berk embraces its visitors with friendly dragons from the DreamWorks Animation franchise, providing one of the world’s best examples of how a theme park can bring filmed entertainment to life.
The stunner of the year also happened in May, but on the other side of the world. In between visits to Epic Universe, I flew to Abu Dhabi for the announcement that The Walt Disney Company will develop its seventh theme park resort worldwide, on Yas Island.
Yas Island developer Miral will build and operate the as-yet-unnamed theme park, under license from Disney. It’s the same type of deal that Disney has with Oriental Land Co. for the Tokyo Disney Resort.
Whatever one might think about Disney expanding to the Middle East, the company could not have found a better creative partner anywhere. Miral has developed the most financially and creatively successful theme parks in the region with Yas Island’s Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World and SeaWorld parks. The company has built relationships with Hollywood, with Yas Island serving as the climatic setting for recent big-screen releases “F1” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.”
Whenever the West goes to the Middle East, critics emerge, given the rough history between these worlds. But with Six Flags opening in Saudi Arabia later this month, and NBCUniversal executives talking with Saudi officials, Disney could not afford to cede the growing and lucrative Middle Eastern market to its rivals.
To its credit, Disney selected what might be the most hospitable partner available in the region. We will see if that satisfies the critics.