News Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

rangerbob

Well-Known Member
They should have called the show Humongous.
A good friend of mine, former CM in Florida (who is a brilliant CAD designer and really should be an imagineer) said to me:
"Why couldn't they build a few of those bridge pier building sites in the lagoon? Flood them and the barges float up for the show. Drain them and the barges disappear. You could even hide them with fountains or something"
I don't know if the lagoon is deep enough for that because the barges are pretty tall. I thought it was an interesting solution.

Something similar to this but "Disney-pretty":
View attachment 523636
Why couldn't they do it similar to the show at Cali Adventure with a sinkable show. I know not possible with the screens but can sink them partly. I know not a good example after the floats sprung a leak. So many different ways that they could have done it now that I'm thinking about this.
 

gsimpson

Well-Known Member
I am normally quite loathe to post an opinion before something is done but I am really having a hard time imagining how these things are going to be anything but an obtrusive eyesore. Assuming they are "hidden by fountains" (and World of Color running in full show mode wouldn't really obscure these heinous things) you still lose the ability to relax and enjoy some food or a beverage and look across a peaceful/tranquil lagoon to the other picturesque side of world showcase. In addition, any fountains substantial enough to mitigate those machine-room style sight lights will make a lot of noise.

Since Disney is now fully onboard with the progressive/woke train, how do they explain the environmental impact of something losing thousands of gallons of water an hour to evaporation while burning up megawatts of electricity that is simply there to hide something who's only fault is that it is oppressively ugly? Seems like they are into pandering to the progressive/woke crowd but don't really care to be all that environmentally friendly. I guess they could put paint or better still display some politically correct slogans on the displays and everyone would be happy.
 

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
Thinking here...
What if after RoE was done, they built a temporary non-moving bridge off to the side? Then during that they remove the current drawbridge, widen the gap, and build a new larger drawbridge. They would then have much more space to work with and have less risk of collision with the bridges "bumpers".

The EF barges are small enough to be stored in WS off to the side of by one of the unused WS lagoon boat docks. Obviously, not loaded at that point. FW loading would've taken place out in the lagoon itself...just like this mess.

But I know...."budget". Also, explain to me how a coaster has ballooned to $500+ million.
 

Jwhee

Well-Known Member
Looking at those massive chains that run off the sides of the barges down into the lagoon makes it seem as if the whole “they were designed to be moved” theory is false.

There is no way with those gigantic chains that these were designed to be moved daily. Just illogical

also, they’re huge. No way they’d be able to push them with a twin engine outboard boat. These things were clearly never designed to be moved daily
 

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
Looking at those massive chains that run off the sides of the barges down into the lagoon makes it seem as if the whole “they were designed to be moved” theory is false.

There is no way with those gigantic chains that these were designed to be moved daily. Just illogical

also, they’re huge. No way they’d be able to push them with a twin engine outboard boat. These things were clearly never designed to be moved daily
Moving them daily was ruled out once the size of the barges was set.
 

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
Thinking here...
What if after RoE was done, they built a temporary non-moving bridge off to the side? Then during that they remove the current drawbridge, widen the gap, and build a new larger drawbridge. They would then have much more space to work with and have less risk of collision with the bridges "bumpers".

The EF barges are small enough to be stored in WS off to the side of by one of the unused WS lagoon boat docks. Obviously, not loaded at that point. FW loading would've taken place out in the lagoon itself...just like this mess.

But I know...."budget". Also, explain to me how a coaster has ballooned to $500+ million.

Or better yet -

How about they originally thought this out a bit more and built SMALLER barges ?

There is no reason why these 'tacos' could not have been built at a slightly smaller scale instead of the oversized gigantic monstrosities they became.
The scale, in my option, is far too large for the lagoon size at Epcot.
Someone decided that these needed to be 'bigger and better' which resulted in oversized units incapable of doing what they should be doing - moving off stage and on stage.

Bigger is not always better....
Sometimes, 'less is more' especially in show business.


Just looking at the size of those flippin' screens....
The glare off of the water at night time is going to require clearance from MCO before each show !

o_O

-
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
legit question...

if Harmonius turns out to be epically awesome, does that outweigh the tragically awful eyesore of the barges?
Nope. Something fundamentally flawed from the start can not be awesome. I’ve already said it’ll be a technical tour de force. Some will find it excellent. Some will find it meh. But it already looses points, content notwithstanding.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
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