Abu Dhabi to add Harry Potter to its growing entertainment lineup

Miral is expanding Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, the region's largest indoor theme park, to include three new Harry Potter-themed lands, the latest in a string of moves that have turned Yas Island into Abu Dhabi's flagship wager on leisure and entertainment as a pillar of the emirate's post-oil economy. The new lands — Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, and the Forbidden Forest — will span roughly 63k sqm with construction targeted for completion in 2029.

It's part of a bigger build-out: The Harry Potter lands join two previously announced DC attractions — Kryptonite Collider and Superman Up and Away — in a combined expansion that will grow Warner Bros. World's footprint by more than 50%, adding some 70k sqm of new theme park space to a park that currently has six immersive lands.

The bigger picture: The Harry Potter-themed “lands” will be the first in the Middle East — another regional first to layer onto the upcoming Disneyland Abu Dhabi, which is set to take at least six years to build. It’s the same playbook Miral ran with Disney just over a year ago — fund, build, and operate the real estate while a global IP owner supplies the franchise and storytelling and takes a cut of the upside. Yas Island's existing roster — Ferrari World, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld, Warner Bros. World, and now Topgolf Yas Island — are all part of a strategy to make Abu Dhabi a leisure and entertainment hub and boost its tourist draw.