Disney Story Realms, Part II: The Continued Journey Through a Reimagined Disney Adventure World at Disneyland Paris

Lest we forget after all this walking, our new “theme” for Disney Story Realms is that within it, we can set off into vivid worlds drawn from the pages of books and then made real by the imaginations at Disney. Along the way, we’ve also established another unique organizing principle – that our park is “timeline,” and by circumnavigating it, we’re passing through the “eras” of Disney filmmaking: the Golden Age (1940s & ’50s), the Silver Age (1950s & ’60s), the Bronze Age (1970s & ’80s), the Renaissance (1990s), and the Revival (2010s).

Now having finally filled in everything that came before Frozen, we’re left with just a little space to establish some lands that will have begun in literature, and were brought to life by Disney filmmakers and storytellers in the years after Frozen.

So our penultimate land will be…

Chapter Nine: CAMP HALF-BLOOD

Background

For whatever reason, nearly all of my Build-Outs end up having a land based on an IP that I’m actually not that well versed in. (For Islands of Adventure, it was Zelda; for Epic Universe, Lord of the Rings; for Animal Kingdom, Gravity Falls.) For Disney Story Realms, it’ll be this… the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. So just as you have been kind to me in other Build-Outs when I’ve waded into territory I want to know better but may not get right, please extend the same courtesy as I try to make this happen here!

We might as well begin by stating the obvious: not since the California Gold Rush of 1849 has there been such a race to stake property as in the wake of Harry Potter. Young adult fiction was back, baby, and there was a sincere land rush to find the next trio of plucky tweens whose fantastic adventures could become a film series. I don’t say that to suggest that series author Rick Riordan was cynically trying to create a new Harry Potter, but it’s probably fair to assume that’s why Disney’s publishing arm optioned it and published the first book (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) in 2005.

Though Riordan’s book series is mildly controversial (both for its focus on mythological gods [in the same way Potter’s “witchcraft” was vilified] and for the occasionally-irritating first person tween dialect it’s written in and the arguably groan-worthy modernization of that mythology), the series has been a hit. It follows Percy (initially twelve years old) as he comes to learn that he is a demigod – the offspring of a human and an Olympian’s tryst. (In Percy’s case, his father is Poseidon… no biggie.) Percy finds himself at “Camp Half-Blood,” a literal summer camp on Long Island in New York where demigods and magical creatures find sanctuary in a modern world and, of course, train in hopes of being worthy to be claimed by their immortal parent.

Even though Disney published the books, they were quite certain that their film adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia would be their Harry Potter and thus, sold the film rights to Percy Jackson to 20th Century Fox. (Disney abandoned Narnia after two entries, with Fox producing a third before deciding they were out, too.) Fox produced two Percy Jackson films, but declining critical and commercial reception convinced them that they hadn’t found their Harry Potter, either.

Anyway, Percy Jackson (and funny enough, that third Narnia movie) officially became Disney’s via their purchase of 20th Century Fox. One of Disney’s first promises upon regaining the screen rights was to give Percy Jackson the treatment it deserved: as a series on Disney+ where each book could expand to fill a season, with Riordan himself as executive producer. (The author famously disavowed the film series… which I don’t really get because the series he’s involved with doesn’t seem like it strikes any different tones or plot points than the movies he apparently disliked, but that’s just me and I guess fans of the book series also dislike the movies, so what do I know?)

A third season (based on the third book, The Titan’s Curse) has been greenlit and (based on the current tempo) would likely premiere in late 2027. So given that neither Percy nor Narnia made it past part two in their big screen incarnations, it’s probably fair to say that Disney is seeing what it wants from Percy Jackson in this form! I wouldn’t call it a Potter-sized phenomenon or anything, but there’s clearly some “there” there, which explains why many of you were asking me to make a Percy Jackson land for various Build-Outs, including frequently saying it should be the basis of a “mythological creatures land” for Animal Kingdom!

So listen, I have not read the Percy Jackson books, and though I have watched both seasons of the Disney+ series (2023 and 2025, respectively). I wouldn’t call myself a “fan” of this IP. But I do think it’s highly theme-park-able by way of its Camp Half-Blood (which is, of course, a uniquely American summer camp twist on the very British boarding school literary motif that produced Hogwarts), and by way of its focus on mythical creatures (which surely deserve a spot in a park based on books and legends, anyway). So let’s give it a try.

Build-Out

One of the key selling points for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was that it was pure wish fulfillment. We got to eat, shop, and live the way that Harry and friends did. Even if you had never read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, you’d almost inevitably be at the park with someone who had, and if somehow that weren’t the case, the vibe is so efficiently communicated (with a craggily-chimneyed stone village of owls and candy shops and magic wands and British food) that you could effectively enjoy it and marvel at its detail just the same.

I’m not sure Percy has the cultural penetration that Harry enjoyed, so your chances of visiting a theme park with friends who know and love the series is (to my estimation) substantially lower. But that doesn’t reduce the series’ fit for this model, nor this park. In fact, I think we’re lucky to be able to put Percy Jackson here, and that there’s a really nice “place” to serve as the series’ home base incarnate.

Camp Half-Blood is a beautiful place, because it’s this sort of Montauk forest of babbling brooks, mossy trees, flourishing ferns, and “summer camp” beauty inexplicably punctuated by Greco-Roman columned “cabins” (that look more like temples), ancient statues, flaming urns, and marble amphitheaters built into hillsides. I think it’s got a really strong sense of “place,” and just with Avatar or Cars Land or Nausicaä, I think it’s somewhat self-explanatory, which is always important for a theme park, but especially when we’re working with a property that’s maybe not as timeless and intergenerational.

But all the makings are there. We can use the waterwheel-powered CAMP FORGE as a sort of “Droid Depot” style retail space where you can pick and choose parts to build your own mythic sword, with an attached ARMORY for those who want to retail-friendly shields, bows, and clubs. Another “Living Land” element I added was the BESTIARY STABLES – a Triceratops Encounter-style meet-and-greet with Audio Animatronics of a collection of mythic creatures.

Just as we built a Wicked land centered on Shiz University (assuming that it’s our comfortable home base and that the land’s rides can take us out into the wider world as needed), I think a Camp Half-Blood is a very nice idea in that here, we get a MESS HALL (i.e., the land’s Quick Service restaurant disguised as the camp’s mess hall); a marble-adoned CAMPHITHEATER where demigods can engage in sword-fighting demonstrations akin to the old Jedi Training Academy…

There’s even an in-universe CAMP STORE offering the iconic orange Camp Half-Blood shirt as well as toothbrushes, enchanted wind chimes, postcards, and Mythomagic cards – all actual things sold at the Camp Store that really exists in the books! (I’m telling you, these post-Potter young adult authors really had theme parks in mind when they were writing.)

That’s what I mean when I say that this area is “theme-park-able,” even if it takes some condensing and rearranging to translate the camp from the books into this medium. The thing that will actually occupy this space in the real Disney Adventure World, The Lion King, is a much steeper climb. Because of course, there are no restaurants… or restrooms… or buildings… or humans in The Lion King. And ultimately, sure, who cares? No one’s going to walk into a Lion King mini-land and start grimacing that there’s a restaurant. But when a bounty like Camp Half-Blood falls in your lap as an armchair Imagineer, why not take it?

Anyway, the point of Camp Half-Blood is to prepare us for the mythological threats that reside beyond its boundaries (which are impenetrable thanks to an invisible barrier powered by the Golden Fleece of literary origin. If we were really students here, we’d engage in challenge courses filled with physical and mental obstacles, so we’ll add them in unique ways.

First, the DEMIGOD TRAINING CAMP rounds out the park’s “playground” style offerings alongside the younger-focused (and climate-controlled) Ohm’s Nest in the Valley of Decay and the larger-scaled Royal Ruins Adventure Trails in the Jungle Kingdom. Filled with slides, catwalks, caves, towers, bridges, and groves, this is an excellent place to burn energy on this side of the park.

Across the way, I added a camp-ready flat ride. It’s WAX WING RACE. For this, I chose a Gerstlauer Sky Roller. You probably already know about the closely related Sky Fly – the ride system incorporated into Universal Epic Universe as Dragon Racers Rally. A Sky Roller uses that same idea of individual riders controlling articulating wings so that their seat can fly steadily, rock, or even spin upside down. But rather than positioning those seats on a massive swinging arm that rises and falls…

The Sky Roller positions two dozen such seats around the perimeter of a ring that rotates and rises up a tower (it comes in 59′, 80′, and 116′ height). With a capacity of 24, this single tower ride’s capacity theoretically matches the paired Sky Fly rides at Epic Universe. We loose the thrilling rise-and-fall of the sweeping arm that a Sky Fly offers, but we gain something that’s maybe a little more family friendly. As a rider, if you take no action, you’ll have an experience equivalent of, say, a WindSeeker ride – just a pleasant aerial flight. But you can amp up the experience by experimenting with the position of the wings, making for a compelling re-ride.

The concept works well in How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk precisely because the land’s aesthetic is “carved wood” and its narrative is that you’re being trained. That allows flat rides to be disguised “in plain sight” as inventions meant to test you or give you opportunities to practice. So actually, the visual style of this “wooden” tower surrounded in stone columns and fluttering sun shades works in our “camp” the same way it does there, and our Wax Wing Racers can similarly be presented as a way to train, and an echo of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus.

For many years, Islands of Adventure’s Jurassic Park featured an up-charge climbing wall experience, which I realize is more aligned with a pay-extra midway game than an attraction proper. But I think we can create our own CLIMBING WALL experience here, with a few mini, columned seating areas in front of each supernatural slab so that adventurous visitors could tackle these challenges, maybe even with special effects like lava bursts that have been said to be part of Camp Half-Bloods climbing walls.

Finally, for the land’s headliner, we need an excuse to exit from Camp Half-Blood and explore the broader universe here. And this park has admittedly been a little toothless, anchoring most of the lands with a pleasant dark ride, or a boat ride. So I think we need something a little edgier and more thrilling. I think it’s a good excuse to finally use the unique ride system of Animal Kingdom’s Avatar Flight of Passage.

Often described as a thrill ride version of Soarin’, this ride has guests straddle unique “bicycle” style seats, with a rising back restraint. Though guests appear to be loading in small groups, it’s actually a very large, shared experience where 48 riders take to the skies on a shared, domed screen. While each individual seat can tip and tilt, the entire theater (made of three levels) can also quickly rise and fall, creating not just the visual illusion of soaring, but the real, stomach-twisting physics of dropping, rising, and swooping.

For our purposes as PERCY JACKSON AND THE WINGS OF OLYMPUS, we’ve ventured into the caverns outside of camp along the Long Island Sound. There just so happens to be a nice alignment with Flight of Passage here in that the Oracle’s cave is filled with prophesies and drawings scrawled on the rocky walls… We’d ascend through the cave, beneath starlit skies, and into an ancient temple built at the acropolis.

As those who’ve ridden it will tell you, the power of Flight of Passage is that it is a visceral and even emotional experience that “speaks for itself.” There is no stated objective or question aside from the foreknowledge that you are engaging in a Na’vi rite of passage wherein you must “rise to the challenge.” Even if you don’t buy into the Avatar lore, it’s beautiful and reflective and powerful. And frankly, it would be so much less so if someone was shouting orders or needed to continuously re-focus us on a goal. (I think of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey where the simulation moments involve a digital avatar of Harry riding ahead of us on a bad green screen composite and loudly expositing about where we’re going next and what’s happening around us.)

I don’t want that to happen here. I don’t really want this to be a “story ride” where we’re on a quest to retrieve a thing and return it to camp. Instead, I love that we can use the idea of the Oracle to briefly step into a prophesy. We can awaken on the back of a griffin, soaring through Olympus. “Nothing goes horribly wrong,” even if our flight is filled with challenge and discovery and thrill. It’s about the sensation of flight and the beauty of this place. And just as the sun rises over Olympus, our flight ends and we find ourselves back in the cave as if we never left, meant to consider what we’ve experienced.

Anyway, even if this is clearly not going to be as phenomenal a land as it could’ve been if created by someone with a deep understanding and admiration for the series, I actually have to give myself credit and say – it’s not that bad! I really think this is a nice collection of experiences that seems to me to have ended up a surprisingly nice embodiment of Camp Half-Blood and a pretty nice balance for the park.

That leaves just one land to go in our walkthrough of Disney Story Realms – taking a look at the land that began its life as the park’s Backlot before becoming Marvel Avengers Campus as one of the first steps in the park’s reinvention…