Spirit of Walt Disney in Dubai?

[GrumpyFan]

Okay, this may be stretching it a little, but looking at some pics of the Dubai Palm islands that they're building, it occurred to me that these projects are very reminiscent of the plans and ideas Walt had for Epcot. The scope and magnitude of what they're doing over there is huge, but it's the same kind of thing Walt would've dreamed of doing.

Has anybody else thought this? I'm curious now who the mastermind behind these projects is.

[Jasper]

The projects you are talking about are primarily being driven by the Dubai government itself. They are working with private companies to actually sell the lots and put up the huge new hotel that opened up a couple of years ago (the one that looks like a sailing ship.) but it is the Dubai government that is making the money available to the private companies through VERY low interest loans and the like. The government of Dubai has said that it wants to have another industry, in this case tourism, in place before the oil runs out and they are left with nothing for their people to do.

One of the next big projects they want to do is theme parks. There have been a few smaller facilities, like the indoor ski range that have opened in the last few years, but the Dubai government wants to go whole hog with Disney style theme parks. And while there have been rumors about various companies, Including Disney, that might be putting in a park in Dubai there has not actually been anything official announced so anything you might hear is nothing but speculation at this point.

You have to give the Dubai government credit for some serious forward thinking. They are using their current large windfall of oil money to prepare their country for when that all comes to an end. Most of the other middle east oil producing companies are not doing the same and run the risk of having serious problems when they no longer have all that cash in hand. Of course, depending on the country you are talking about anywhere from 50 to 250 years before they run out of oil.

And no, I am not an expert in these areas I just enjoy reading about it and staying up to date. And as far as the dates for the oil running out those are figures that OPEC itself has put out so you can decide for yourself how accurate those predictions might be.