Disney Adults vs. Abu Dhabi Disneyland

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On Wednesday morning, Disney announced it would build its seventh resort in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. 

The obvious reason that Disney is expanding into the Middle East is money. Miral Group, a government-run developer that has built multiple theme parks in the UAE, is financing the new Disneyland in full and paying Disney to design it. Disney will also profit from the park once it’s open, which CEO Bob Iger suggested will be more than five years from now. Disneyland Abu Dhabi will be built on the man-made Yas Island, a destination that is already populated with some of Miral’s other theme park properties, like SeaWorld Yas Island and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi.

Unlike these other American IP-driven theme parks, Disney and Miral have a separate interest group to contend with: Disney Adults. And a lot of them are not happy. It’s another fracture within one of the largest and most intense fandoms, one that I think signals trouble for Disney’s generational appeal.

But before we get into that, some great indie journalism this week:

• This Worcester, Massachusetts ICE kidnapping dispatch from Bill Shaner, published in Hell World, is essential and harrowing reporting. Quote: “An ICE agent opens the door and the woman's daughter shrieks—an unforgettable noise of agony. Her mother is about to disappear, into the purposefully vague bureaucratic world of forced removal. The opening of that door, to this shrieking girl... it must look like a life torn apart.”

• 404 Media reported that MrDeepFakes, the most popular website for nonconsensual sexually-explicit deepfakes of celebrity women, has shut down. Finally, some good news. I spent hours deep diving this horrible website for stories I wrote at NBC News, reporting that it took Visa and Mastercard payments despite clearly violating the credit card companies’ rules. They never got back to me.

• This week I tried my first-ever YouTube livestream. It was an opportunity to answer Spitfire News members’ questions and try out the live video format. I have a long way to go before it’s Hasan Piker level, but more people watched it than I expected (zero, maybe two) so I’m grateful!

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