Will Harmonious Survive?

[graphite1326]

Sunday night my Dad went to a private dessert party in France. Only an edge view of the Stargate, can’t see projections on that at all. One taco is too far away, another is blocked by trees. He said he would not recommend viewing it from France. Which is a problem with event bookings if word gets out that it’s a bad place to watch.

Which means it will be more crowded toward the front.

 

[graphite1326]

Oh I dont know, the projections can be very pretty and add to the show.

No they don't. It's the cheap way of doing things. I also hope they don't do something like that at Spaceshipe Earth.

 

[KaliSplash]

I have not seen the show or the video of the show. But I will say, I Never saw anything in Reflections either. A ball in the middle of the lake changed colors. The end. Epcot hasn't had a good nighttime show in a very, very, long time.

 

[Cliff]

The written word doesnt always convey our meaning. I have had my thoughts misconstrued in the past as well. I am sure you meant no ill will

I just think that people often get defensive way too quickly sometimes and this can happen from assumptions that are made too early.

This is what the word "prejudice" is all about. It's literally pre-judging somebody without understanding more about the situation.

it was "assumed" that I was harassing somebody about their opinion of Harmonious. it was "assumed" that person didnt want to talk to me about it. All wrong assumptions and prejudice ones. We had a happy conversation and one that we were both willing to discuss with each other.

Moral of the story: Dont pre-judge people and call them names based on a tiny amount of information.

 

[Cliff]

Now what’s the deal with the daytime fountain shows and the constant running water features? Did they finally realize the fountains will destroy the hardware? And are these barges a ticking self destructive time bomb? Something tells me the screwed up because they don’t even run those fountains at full, they were impressive when they were being tested.

My guess is that would put a huge load of hours on all of those water pumps. I have to believe that replacing all of those pumps at once at "X" hours will be costly and kill the show for a week?

I dunno....

 

[gsimpson]

How can something be a total failure if it JUST launched a few days ago? I never understood this mindset. Things take time to work themselves out and people want it to be a success within the first 5 minutes or else it's deemed a fail. Nobody is willing to let anything flesh itself out anymore, it either has to be an instant success or it's instantly a flop.

I disagree with much of your premise. I was there within the first 10 showings of ROE and it almost brought me to tears it was so good, I didn't even know the story ahead of time but I realized what it was as the images were being shown on the old globe and was perplexed at the torches being one short (until of course the reveal at the end). What is the story of this show? How badly can we butcher music from our films? WOC out at CA was a hit from the very first showing. Fantazmic at DL was a hit on day one and only got better with age. BravaSEAmo at TDS was a hit from day one. The difference is that each of those had a story line and flowed easily from scene to seen as opposed to this travesty which is downright jarring. Have of the musical adaptations of "Disney Classics" are done with an emphasis on being new and edgy to the point they are had to recognize, and of course they had to use a myriad of languages so that most people can't even understand them in the name of being multicultural. The technology in the show seems to be there mostly for the sake of the technology, what do those slow moving arms coming out from time to time add to the story, especially since they do the same 3-5 movements over and over. What does the center projection screen add other than highlighting the fact that someone didn't understand this show is viewable from 360 degrees - only about 15-20 degrees in from of USA Pavilion and bridge to future world can see it. The musical score, the obvious reason being to promote as many Disney DVDs and downloads as possible doesn't even segue from song to song, it just cuts. I've heard better mixing on a bar jukebox at 1:30 in the morning. On top of that, it completely demolishes the beauty and the calm of the lagoon during the day with at best so so fountains. Speaking of which, I guess since WOC was a success they had to try doing WOCish water tricks in the lagoon even though they have been saying for years they couldn't. Turns out they were right. I tried very hard to keep an open mind but now that I've seen a bunch of videos I can say, without reservation, yuck! Disney might replace it earlier than you think though because if you remember from long ago Epcot Forever threads there reason for that show (which was better than this train wreck) was to keep people around to buy the expensive meals at the restaurants and this mess won't keep anyone around.

 

[britain]

Like all of Disney’s disasters (DCA, RoL) it will be more or less obvious to management pretty quickly, but they will give it a year or so to see if they will get lucky and fool the public.

Then it will simply be up to the willingness of whoever is currently in charge to do anything about it. Some managers will want to wait until there’s already a big thing with some budget money attached to it to address the issue (ironically like an anniversary).

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like this show does any “stop the presses, pull the plug“ type of harm, so you’ve got this on your hands for the next few years.

It’s POSSIBLE that they bring back Epcot Forever for the park’s 40th, But they might enhance it to include all the new infrastructure.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I disagree with much of your premise. I was there within the first 10 showings of ROE and it almost brought me to tears it was so good, I didn't even know the story ahead of time but I realized what it was as the images were being shown on the old globe and was perplexed at the torches being one short (until of course the reveal at the end). What is the story of this show? How badly can we butcher music from our films? WOC out at CA was a hit from the very first showing. Fantazmic at DL was a hit on day one and only got better with age. BravaSEAmo at TDS was a hit from day one. The difference is that each of those had a story line and flowed easily from scene to seen as opposed to this travesty which is downright jarring. Have of the musical adaptations of "Disney Classics" are done with an emphasis on being new and edgy to the point they are had to recognize, and of course they had to use a myriad of languages so that most people can't even understand them in the name of being multicultural. The technology in the show seems to be there mostly for the sake of the technology, what do those slow moving arms coming out from time to time add to the story, especially since they do the same 3-5 movements over and over. What does the center projection screen add other than highlighting the fact that someone didn't understand this show is viewable from 360 degrees - only about 15-20 degrees in from of USA Pavilion and bridge to future world can see it. The musical score, the obvious reason being to promote as many Disney DVDs and downloads as possible doesn't even segue from song to song, it just cuts. I've heard better mixing on a bar jukebox at 1:30 in the morning. On top of that, it completely demolishes the beauty and the calm of the lagoon during the day with at best so so fountains. Speaking of which, I guess since WOC was a success they had to try doing WOCish water tricks in the lagoon even though they have been saying for years they couldn't. Turns out they were right. I tried very hard to keep an open mind but now that I've seen a bunch of videos I can say, without reservation, yuck! Disney might replace it earlier than you think though because if you remember from long ago Epcot Forever threads there reason for that show (which was better than this train wreck) was to keep people around to buy the expensive meals at the restaurants and this mess won't keep anyone Disney did the projections on Fantasmic, live footage for Reflections of Earth, Happily Ever After. I like to use the beacon lighting on Spaceship Earth for example. That’s an old school way of entertainment there. Playing the music and what little they have to work with and make a show is incredible. Adding vocals and imagery has turned into an easy way out and there to reliant on that now. It’s hard to make a show without vocals and imagery and still get the story or at least the theme out there. That’s what made Disney so great. That’s why Reflections of Earth and Happily Ever After went over so well.

Like all of Disney’s disasters (DCA, RoL) it will be more or less obvious to management pretty quickly, but they will give it a year or so to see if they will get lucky and fool the public.

Then it will simply be up to the willingness of whoever is currently in charge to do anything about it. Some managers will want to wait until there’s already a big thing with some budget money attached to it to address the issue (ironically like an anniversary).

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like this show does any “stop the presses, pull the plug“ type of harm, so you’ve got this on your hands for the next few years.

It’s POSSIBLE that they bring back Epcot Forever for the park’s 40th, But they might enhance it to include all the new infrastructure.

Now that’s a show I’d love to see.

 

[No Name]

Like who’s to say that they’re capable of doing better on the second try? Even the HEA guy couldn’t save RoL.

 

[tl77]

It seems like this "movie character heavy show" was designed for the 50th, like the Pink Castle, it's aimed at people who come to WDW once in a while, or once in a lifetime. It's a reason for them to by a multi day pass, a multi night stay at one of the resorts, and of course the "Commemorative Merch", but the OP is right, it's too complex and expensive to maintain to last for very long... Rivers of Light is already gone right? but the cheap and reliable Electrical Water Pageant will live forever

 

[graphite1326]

Like who’s to say that they’re capable of doing better on the second try? Even the HEA guy couldn’t save RoL.

There was no hope for RoL. It was just bad and boring. Maybe that tells us something about the generation coming up.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

I’ll be honest, I was extremely underwhelmed and disappointed watching the live stream of Harmonius. However, after seeing it in person, I changed my mind. It gave me a lot of the same powerful “feels” that HEA gave. It gave me what Enchantment could not. I will happily go watch it again every trip. The tech is really really good. The music is well arranged. The talent is there.

I do wish it had a little more Epcot-y “unify” type feel. I feel like this show would fit an MK or HS better due to its content.

No show will ever make those barges worth it, however.

So that’s my two cents. Watching it live is far superior to anything online. To my party, this show is far and above better than Enchantment. I wouldn’t be opposed to some tweaking however.

The livestream definitely made me feel disappointed at first. After seeing many, MANY videos however my opinion did change and it's still changing. The finale definitely packs that emotional punch I was hoping for. The heart laser effect transitioning into a "wow" moment of the show and then into the finale? One of the best finale's I think Disney has pulled off, it's definitely up there for me.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

First I would like to say, and I am probably in the minority, I really didn't like illuminations. I thought the "earth" part was boring. That being said I watched videos of the new show. Your question is the same one I had. What does it look like if you are not straight on to the barges? Maybe you are at France?

I wish they would get away from projections and do more fireworks.

Good grief don't say that here. Illuminations is like a sacred subject, you risk your life saying anything negative about it lol.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

There was no hope for RoL. It was just bad and boring. Maybe that tells us something about the generation coming up.

RoL was plagued with technical problems that limited the scope of that show.

 

[wutisgood]

Tim tracker said this show was his top top fireworks show he had seen at wdw. Pete werner thought similar. These are opinions I respect. If they tweak this to make it even better that would be great.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Tim tracker said this show was his top top fireworks show he had seen at wdw. Pete werner thought similar. These are opinions I respect. If they tweak this to make it even better that would be great.

Of course not all are going to like/love it but HarmonioUS is definitely a hit with many people. The overwhelming positive comments in the livestreams every night up to this point, the crowd reactions, the show is definitely growing on many people (myself included). With some tweaks (some small some big), I think this show will be something truly special.

I am hopeful and confident that these changes will come too. Let's not forget, the peak quality of Reflections of Earth didn't even come until later in its lifetime.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Of course not all are going to like/love it but HarmonioUS is definitely a hit with many people. The overwhelming positive comments in the livestreams every night up to this point, the crowd reactions, the show is definitely growing on many people (myself included). With some tweaks (some small some big), I think this show will be something truly special.

I am hopeful and confident that these changes will come too. Let's not forget, the peak quality of Reflections of Earth didn't even come until later in its lifetime.

the laser show they had with Reflections of Earth towards the end was outstanding.

 

[Disone]

Happy one-week anniversary Harmonious. And they said you wouldn't last

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Happy one-week anniversary Harmonious. And they said you wouldn't last

Lol. Here's to many interesting weeks to come

 

[Tinkwings]

I love the new Spaceship Earth look and music. That's what we needed from Harmonious. Even Epcot Forever tugged at my heart strings. But Harmonious? Nope. Hope the find a new home for the barges.

That to me is the main thing......the thought behind leaving them out all day instead of designing something that can fit into waterway to be offsite until evening. I have not seen the show, we don't usually stay at Epcot to see the prior show.....once we had seen it multiple times.....I always see the fireworks at the MK but not every night either. No matter what bling you put on them, they are ugly during the daytime.....so somehow, I too hope they can find a new home for them.....dig a new canal.....