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

SoFloMagic

SoFloMagic

Well-Known Member
DarkMetroid567 said:
I'm not going to read through a 71 page thread because lol, but does anyone know if there were permit-related reasons to Illuminations closing? It just seems very strange that Disney would make a temporary show before a planned show that started the day *of* Illuminations: ROE's 20th birthday.
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No inside knowledge on this, but it looked to me like they were expanding/connecting the concrete forms that will likely hold the big screen things. My guess is that the large illuminations barges (and especially the globe) would have gotten in the way of that work.

But someone with knowledge can give you a much better answer, I'm sure.
 
Magic Feather

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
FullSailDan said:
It doesn't deserve a video. Husband and I saw it last week and we both turned to each other midway and said "What the actual __?". It's legit the worst showing of a nighttime show I've seen at a theme park aside from some unique fireworks. The music is atrocious, if you aren't a die-hard Figment fan then its completely lost on you. But even if you are, the kidz bop rendition is still a knife to the jugular.

The kites are... just... I don't even know. They belong in rivers of light in the far back as depth. 4 of them spread out across the WS lagoon is like when someone tries to use 2 strands of Christmas lights for a 20 foot tree. Also.. they weren't that exciting? Like.. DO SOMETHING WITH THEM! Chase each other, intertwine, I don't know, ANYTHING! Oh and when like 20% of your LEDs are out after a few weeks... thats a problem. WS2811s bullets are cheap and easy to splice together, theres no reason they shouldn't all be functional before showtime.

And then it's all just... over. Like no message, no story, just stuff in the sky and then done, like fireworks at a baseball game.

I can't believe they stopped running illuminations while we wait for the real deal and replaced it with this.
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Re: The Kites. Supposedly the Kite Choreography is a Little More visually interesting in the area near Norway/China due to space constraints for landing. Still have yet to personally verify, but it lines up.
mnelson3 said:
If Harmonius will look like this, I’m sold lol

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I mean... a LOT of that technology will find it’s way into HarmonioUS
 
FullSailDan

FullSailDan

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
Re: The Kites. Supposedly the Kite Choreography is a Little More visually interesting in the area near Norway/China due to space constraints for landing. Still have yet to personally verify, but it lines up.

I mean... a LOT of that technology will find it’s way into HarmonioUS
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If you're running a show in a theater in the round... you don't play to one direction. This whole show is just poorly designed.
 
MickeyMouse10

MickeyMouse10

Well-Known Member
I wish Horizons was actually back. I think Mission Space is a waste of space. But now that they have a restaurant nearby it looks like it's unkillable.
 
D

DarkMetroid567

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
Re: The Kites. Supposedly the Kite Choreography is a Little More visually interesting in the area near Norway/China due to space constraints for landing. Still have yet to personally verify, but it lines up.

I mean... a LOT of that technology will find it’s way into HarmonioUS
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Hopefully. Having seen Tokyo Fantasmic, the fountains are great, but I really feel like more pyro was needed. It's definitely the hardest Fantasmic to see.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
I didn't see this until tonight. Waited a while, I had to let the ending of IllumiNations settle in my mind.

My initial thought is that I would give this a "C". It's competent and well put-together for a temporary show. And honestly, still better than basically any other park can do. But I have mostly the same complaints as everyone else. Some seriously odd missteps, including but not limited to:
- Not having Figment as the announcer or at least doing part of the narration
- Kids doing the announcements and narration bits
- Some songs were arranged well, mostly the ones without vocals, but the ones that do have vocals sound like Kidz Bop versions and I think I'd have rather just had the original song.
- They could have used actual audio snippets from the attractions.
- As many have mentioned, the "Whole New World" ending.

My biggest issue is the pacing, or lack thereof. It's no different than any other modern, segmented nighttime show with no flow or emotional buildup. I know it wasn't intended to be an abstract visual interpretation of an overarching theme/narrative with cinematic pacing like IllumiNations, but I do believe they were attempting to squeeze some emotion out of it and, even as a fan of classic Epcot, it just feels like nothing.

My biggest annoyance with it is all the <s>basic b*****s</s> haters of IllumiNations are saying this is better because there's "more happening". Well, I don't agree. When shells are just firing off the entire time, it has no lasting impact, it becomes all just one big blur that you don't remember any specific part of. The one standout part is the kites.

Side note, the pre-show music is nice, I'm glad it is somewhat reminiscent of Illuminations pre-show music and not IP stuff.
 
trainplane3

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
- Not having Figment as the announcer or at least doing part of the narration - Never got why this or Dreamfinder didn't make the cut
- Kids doing the announcements and narration bits - When the first preshow announcement came on at 7:30 for the first show, the crowd reaction was pretty hilarious
- Some songs were arranged well, mostly the ones without vocals, but the ones that do have vocals sound like Kidz Bop versions and I think I'd have rather just had the original song.
- They could have used actual audio snippets from the attractions.
- As many have mentioned, the "Whole New World" ending. - 🤮 Friends were confused what Aladdin had to do with it so they just kinda stared at me during that part

My biggest annoyance with it is all the <s>basic b*****s</s> haters of IllumiNations are saying this is better because there's "more happening". Well, I don't agree. When shells are just firing off the entire time (or in some cases, when there is literally nothing happening at all. Sure you're limited on shells but you have lasers...), it has no lasting impact, it becomes all just one big blur that you don't remember any specific part of. The one standout part is the kites.
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My few thoughts and reactions. The high points for me was hearing the re-recordings of Magic Journeys, Living with the Land, Just begun to dream, Tapestry, Hand in hand, and Veggie Veggie.

Fun to be free was by far my favorite to hear of the classics. Good arrangement and the lasers and fireworks synced up well with the "wacky" version of it.

There's a good reaction to Epcot Forever out there but I can't share due to the hefty amount of swearing about the "Whole new world" part (it was a topic that came up on a gaming podcast).
 
azox

azox

Well-Known Member
FullSailDan said:
It doesn't deserve a video. Husband and I saw it last week and we both turned to each other midway and said "What the actual __?". It's legit the worst showing of a nighttime show I've seen at a theme park aside from some unique fireworks. The music is atrocious, if you aren't a die-hard Figment fan then its completely lost on you. But even if you are, the kidz bop rendition is still a knife to the jugular.

The kites are... just... I don't even know. They belong in rivers of light in the far back as depth. 4 of them spread out across the WS lagoon is like when someone tries to use 2 strands of Christmas lights for a 20 foot tree. Also.. they weren't that exciting? Like.. DO SOMETHING WITH THEM! Chase each other, intertwine, I don't know, ANYTHING! Oh and when like 20% of your LEDs are out after a few weeks... thats a problem. WS2811s bullets are cheap and easy to splice together, theres no reason they shouldn't all be functional before showtime.

And then it's all just... over. Like no message, no story, just stuff in the sky and then done, like fireworks at a baseball game.

I can't believe they stopped running illuminations while we wait for the real deal and replaced it with this.
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Love your comments above. I went into Epcot this week to see the show for the first time. I avoided any info about the show as not to ruin the experience. I thought the idea of Epcot Forever could have been decent, but I left after that show thinking that the kites were neat and the fireworks were pretty, but the show has no heart. It almost felt like the show was made following a basic formula: Lazers+ Fireworks + Music = Great show. It was nothing remotely close to Illuminations.

As things stand now at WDW, the only night time show I watch is Happily Ever After. I am holding out hope that Harmonius could be good, but I can't imagine it will ever be a worthy ROE replacement.
 

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