EPCOT Epcot Forever to debut as interim show before full Reflections of Earth replacement

Figments Friend

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
surfsupdon said:
How was the crowd reaction in person? Wild hysteria? Or stiff upper lip? What was the post show vibe in Park?
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I was viewing the Show from Japan in World Showcase lagoon side, and the crowd gathered had a high concentration of Epcot fans.
People were excited...reactions were of hopped up anticipation.

Once the Show began, crowd reactions were good.
Cheer went up during certain segments, but the finale song left many silent.
Some cheered for the big pyro-fest at the end, and people did clap at the conclusion.

The mood post-show was mixed.
The social media universe must have utterly exploded as I saw many typing furiously into their phones as I was walking around afterwards.
Fans were slightly dissapointed.
Overheard a lot of mixed comments in the restrooms post-show....didn't hear anything overly positive.

A LOT of Management Cast and 'plaids' were out talking to Guests on the WS Promanade afterwards.

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Yert3

Yert3

Well-Known Member
Figments Friend said:
I was viewing the Show from Japan in World Showcase lagoon side, and the crowd gathered had a high concentration of Epcot fans.
People were excited...reactions were of hopped up anticipation.

Once the Show began, crowd reactions were good.
Cheer went up during certain segments, but the finale song left many silent.
Some cheered for the big pyro-fest at the end, and people did clap at the conclusion.

The mood post-show was mixed.
The social media universe must have utterly exploded as I saw many typing furiously into their phones as I was walking around afterwards.
Fans were slightly dissapointed.
Overheard a lot of mixed comments in the restrooms post-show....didn't hear anything overly positive.

A LOT of Management Cast and 'plaids' were out talking to Guests on the WS Promanade afterwards.

-
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I was watching from Japan too!! Haha
 
M

Musical Mermaid

Well-Known Member
trainplane3 said:
My biggest thing to fix what the "story" we have: ditch the child chorus. I get the idea but man does it suck to hear in the lagoon. It just doesn't sound good.

I loved the kites. Something "simple" but very effective.
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I don’t hate the show, but that’s one of the things I would want tweaked. I forgot what else they sang, but the children singing “One Little Spark” in particular was dreadful. Like someone else (I’m sorry, don’t remember who) said, why not use Figment? He’s plastered on merchandise and the old Epcot fans would be cheering. Why not project Figment somewhere? They have projectors. (I also hated the Nigel quote from the current Imagination attraction. I recognized it right away during the livestream and was probably rolling my eyes.)

I wasn’t expecting full length songs, but I wish some were a bit longer and there was better transitions. As much as “Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit” is liked, it felt awkward to me in this show. I can’t tell you the reason why and I like the old song, but something was a little weird in there. I liked some of the instrumentals of classic Epcot songs. I liked the flashes around the lagoon, like camera flashes, during Makin Memories.

Mostly, I think the soundtrack needs some tweaking...and I don’t like “Whole New World” at the end.
 
drew81

drew81

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
For me the show fell short of expectations. Yes it may be a temporary show, but there are some glaring issues with the show that could have been avoided.

We have heard for decades from Imagineers that everything they do at Disney starts with a story. So what happened here? There is absolutely no story, other than trying to leverage nostalgia. The show is a collection of very short segments of past Epcot music, with none playing long enough to be effective. Just as the show starts to feel cohesive, it moves to something else. I don't know who the show is meant for. Real Epcot fans are unlikely to be impressed, and guests not familiar with old Epcot will be wondering what the heck is going on with the music. And for a show that is so baked into Epcot nostalgia, to suddenly switch to Aladdin just makes no sense.... until you understand that currently EVERYTHING must contain a movie IP.

The pyro design, which is normally a strength of all Disney's shows, felt lacking. The music didn't help. Unlike RoE, the music didn't have natural firework sync points, which resulted in a lot of the pyro design just being generic bangs. Very little of the precision sync and choreography that we got with Eric Tucker's RoE and Wishes designs. The only part that felt right was the Tapestry of Nations section - but it was sadly short.

The show felt small in scale and was lost in the lagoon. A lot of the pyro was angled in towards the center of the lagoon, which made it feel even smaller. Even the lighting and laser design felt very basic and generic - like it was just cycling through various modes. The torches and building outlines were almost being used randomly with no reason for their use other than they happened to be available.

Jetski driven kites were interesting and added at least something new, but I feel they would be more effective when combined with other show elements, and not being left as the main focus during those sections. Again during the kite sections, the lagoon looked very dark and empty.

The kids voices just sound very wrong for an Epcot show. The preshow announcements are horrible.

Disney often competes in the American Pyrotechnic Association events, where various companies do one-off shows for demonstrations. To me, this felt very much like one of those. Now those events are fine for one-offs, and are impressive in that context. But for a show that will play nightly for months, if not a year, I feel they could have done much better. Fingers crossed for HarmonioUS. Hopefully drones and new set pieces can save the lagoon show.
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Boom goes @wdwmagic
 
VJ

VJ

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
It was like a non-Epcot fan put the show together, and an Epcot fan put together the preview clips for the DPB.
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It's almost as if that was the point to the preview; to draw you in. It's like how movie trailers aren't an accurate indication of a film's quality, just something to get you to watch the movie.
 
Dizknee_Phreek

Dizknee_Phreek

Well-Known Member
I can't help but picture Disney right now as some diabolical cartoon villain cackling while saying "what do you think of your precious Epcot now?! Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaa"

Also, does anyone think maybe they were trying to pull another Figment 2.0 on us? We *think* we want classic Epcot back. And they give it to us, but make it so terrible we're then fine with anything they throw at us afterward. Of course, it backfired on them with Figment...but it may work this time.
 

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