News EPCOT's Harmonious to be replaced with new nighttime spectacular Luminous

[HauntedPirate]

Yesterday, I watched Martin's video on this atrocity. I tried. I really tried. I still got nothing from it but what he posted above. Starting off with a song from a movie that has absolutely zero connection to Epcot (no, I don't count the under-construction-for-4-years walkthrough as 'connected' to the park), other movie clips that have no connection to the park, zooming through some movie clips... it's just bad. BAD. Some clips have lots of comets, which is just a boring way to increase shell count. Others have full-blown fireworks, but with no rhyme or reason as to why.

Sure, restaurants with low ADR's had nothing to do with anything, it was all about the daytime views (which are horrendous). And DisTwitter is always the level-headed mob when you need an accurate opinion on something. FFS... Quit grasping at straws. This show was bad, and will not be missed (by anyone with taste). I'm out.

 

[jrhwdw]

Harm is still out on WSL...Not Shocking At All!! If Harm was as easy to move as ROE... WSL would be clear every day !

The Tacos are Black So I'm guessing Power has been permanently cut!

 

[marni1971]

Of course you do, and I respect the heck out of your work and opinion.

I hope the new show meets your standards.

I always said it would be a technical tour de force way before the show opened. I’m sure some do like it, and it would have been better suited in a purpose made amphitheatre in a studios park. There would still be issues that would need addressing but this would solve half the problems. Not that that’s going to happen of course.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I always said it would be a technical tour de force way before the show opened. I’m sure some do like it, and it would have been better suited in a purpose made amphitheatre in a studios park. There would still be issues that would need addressing but this would solve half the problems. Not that that’s going to happen of course.

I know it won’t happen (and I’m not particularly wishing it would), but I feel like with only a little editing Harmonius could have totally worked in the forthcoming lake at Disney Studios Paris.

 

[marni1971]

I know it won’t happen (and I’m not particularly wishing it would), but I feel like with only a little editing Harmonius could have totally worked in the forthcoming lake at Disney Studios Paris.

That was indeed the original Plan.

 

[jrhwdw]

That was indeed the original Plan.

Before TDS F! went to WDSP(we think)?????????

 

[mattpeto]

Yesterday, I watched Martin's video on this atrocity. I tried. I really tried. I still got nothing from it but what he posted above. Starting off with a song from a movie that has absolutely zero connection to Epcot (no, I don't count the under-construction-for-4-years walkthrough as 'connected' to the park), other movie clips that have no connection to the park, zooming through some movie clips... it's just bad. BAD. Some clips have lots of comets, which is just a boring way to increase shell count. Others have full-blown fireworks, but with no rhyme or reason as to why.

Sure, restaurants with low ADR's had nothing to do with anything, it was all about the daytime views (which are horrendous). And DisTwitter is always the level-headed mob when you need an accurate opinion on something. FFS... Quit grasping at straws. This show was bad, and will not be missed (by anyone with taste). I'm out.

Not grasping at straws. Harmonious scored higher in Pre-School, Grade School and Teens (half the categories).

Ratings brought you to you by @lentesta for the 100th time.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

That was indeed the original Plan.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Not grasping at straws. Harmonious scored higher in Pre-School, Grade School and Teens (half the categories).

Ratings brought you to you by @lentesta for the 100th time.
View attachment 708331

I think the fact that the people with the money liked it less was still a problem, but it could have easily been fixed with some show changes since the tech was impressive and versatile. As others have said, the fatal flaw was the decision to leave the barges out all day. That ended up being an extremely costly cost-saving measure.

The irony here is that many blame Chapek for this show’s shortcomings, and he did cause some last minute narrative edits that weakened the show (but, again, this could’ve been fixed) but it was Iger who approved a show with the barges out day. This is honestly his $150 mistake on the lake.

Credit where due: portions of this show were visually stunning. It’s a pity they went cheap during construction so we can’t see this tech mature at all.

 

[mattpeto]

That was indeed the original Plan.

They obviously eventually settled on daytime fountains effects to mask the ugliness.

Just curious if they originally intended to mobilizing the barges before ending up with the daytime fountain brilliant idea?

 

[marni1971]

Just curious if they originally intended to mobilizing the barges before ending up with the daytime fountain brilliant idea?

I don’t know for sure but I do know there was some surprise when it was found they would be moored permanently. I believe it was ops who said it would take too long to take the barges out with the bridge lifted, so that does indicate there may have been a plan to move them.

Having said that the hardware was built with no propulsion so it would be a hell of a tugging job.

 

[trainplane3]

I don’t know for sure but I do know there was some surprise when it was found they would be moored permanently. I believe it was ops who said it would take too long to take the barges out with the bridge lifted, so that does indicate there may have been a plan to move them.

Having said that the hardware was built with no propulsion so it would be a hell of a tugging job.

I recall the estimate by a good source on here that ops figured it would take about 45 minutes with no winds to move all the barges out.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Not grasping at straws. Harmonious scored higher in Pre-School, Grade School and Teens (half the categories).

Ratings brought you to you by @lentesta for the 100th time.
View attachment 708331

The problem is this is apples to oranges.

This is comparing ROE 17-19 YEARS INTO ITS RUN vs. Harmonious less than 19 MONTHS into its run. I realize that comparison still needs to happen. But, a better comparison would be Harm vs. a technologically updated ROE with the budget of Harm. While I'm sure the Pre-School and maybe Grade School numbers would be low - I would expect the others to go significantly higher.

That's part of the issue with rip and replace vs. update.

 

[Andrew25]

Just asking... would we be fine with the return of Illuminations' start/finale, with IP replacing the middle part?

 

[HauntedPirate]

Not grasping at straws. Harmonious scored higher in Pre-School, Grade School and Teens (half the categories).

Ratings brought you to you by @lentesta for the 100th time.
View attachment 708331

Swing and a miss! Again. Not ignoring Len's ratings, but please, continue to grasp at straws to back up an extremely weak argument. Who pays for things and makes decisions, pre-schoolers or adults? Who makes ADR's? Who buys the merchandise?

 

[Brian]

Just asking... would we be fine with the return of Illuminations' start/finale, with IP replacing the middle part?

No. The "middle part" is critical to the integrity of the storyline.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Just asking... would we be fine with the return of Illuminations' start/finale, with IP replacing the middle part?

I was actually thinking about this. I think the idea is a good one. I think it depends on which IllumiNations. I don't think it works with the story or IROE. It has a full story, start to finish. So, the IP would really throw that off.

The original Illuminations, on the other hand, could work.

I actually would lean into a bit of a combination. Where the countries are used - but to showcase an idea of human or personal achievement. (I actually think this may have been what Harmonious was going for - but fell way short.)

Part of the problem with showcasing the pavilions today is the inclusivity issue. Picking only those 11 nations draws strong criticism from some - a crowd Disney is working to appease (for both good and potentially problematic reasons). So, I'm not sure you would see it happen.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I think the fact that the people with the money liked it less was still a problem, but it could have easily been fixed with some show changes since the tech was impressive and versatile. As others have said, the fatal flaw was the decision to leave the barges out all day. That ended up being an extremely costly cost-saving measure.

The irony here is that many blame Chapek for this show’s shortcomings, and he did cause some last minute narrative edits that weakened the show (but, again, this could’ve been fixed) but it was Iger who approved a show with the barges out day. This is honestly his $150 mistake on the lake.

Credit where due: portions of this show were visually stunning. It’s a pity they went cheap during construction so we can’t see this tech mature at all.

I blame Bob. That covers things well.

 

[Brian]

I blame Bob. That covers things well.

Which one? Bad Bob or Bald Bob?

 

[ToTBellHop]

I blame Bob. That covers things well.

Sometimes I feel like Bob was unfairly treated for things out of his control but on the other hand, Bob is being hailed as a savior while we ignore his shortcomings. Bob was better than we give him credit for and Bob was worse than we are pretending. I love Bob and I hate Bob.