The dismantling of Harmonious gets underway on EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon
The dismantling of Harmonious gets underway on EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon
www.wdwmagic.com
I know there were some who really enjoyed this show, but for myself I say good riddance to bad rubbish.
Harmonious was a bad show, full stop. It lacked a clear narrative and/or interwoven musical theme; it made questionable music choices (not to mention reused too many songs from HEA); it had lackluster pyro design compared to previous WDW shows; it used poorly conceived and immovable lagoon hardware; it contained haphazard and garish lighting and fountain design; and it featured illogical sightlines in a setting that demands a 360 degree view. And I didn't even get into the whole IP in EPCOT debate.
Some will miss it, but many others won't.
It was quite amazing that we watched them assemble and test this thing for so long, and after such a short time it is being dismantled. Must be rough on the people that originally put so much into getting it all working.
On the plus side, all the nuts and bolts shouldn't be too corroded yet, so that will make disassembly easier. Curious if you know how the park techs feel about Harmonious disappearing so quickly. Did they like the show or are they glad to see it go? And do they have whiplash from so many show changes on the lagoon over the past few years after 20 years of stability from RoE?
Yeah, I am really surprised they didn't at least try a Harmonius v2.0 just to give it one more try with the expensive tech ...
But at least to me that shows the issue they had was with the tech itself (and positioning and permanence of it) moreso than the content of the show
I think that expensive tech is what the abrupt cancelling of Harmonious is really about. Steve and others have hinted multiple times that maintenance of Harm's infrastructure was costing a fortune. THAT is it's downfall, especially when combined with the rumored complaints of lower revenue from lagoon restaurants and Harm failing to pull bodies into the park in the evening (fewer people = fewer sales at shops and restaurants).
No doubt survey feedback and complaints about the show played a part, but in the end, it's about the money. Because a quick reboot using the existing barges should have been the cheap fix the show needed. The fact they're
not doing that tells you how much of a money pit this thing had become.
____________________________
Separately, one last rant about this show - how those stupid barges were ever approved is mindboggling to me. Put simply, they violate virtually every one of the Disney keys to success that the company supposedly cares so much about:
- They're poor Show because, well, just look at them! And anchoring them in the lagoon means maintenance (now dismantling) has to be done in full view of guests, further impacting show, which also means...
- They're not Efficient, because personnel and maintenance equipment had to be floated over to each barge one at a time on a constant basis, which also leads into...
- Safety because, again, you have people and equipment working in a fully exposed lagoon environment rather than the relative safety of a dock in a sheltered marina.
- And for Courtesy, clearly none was given to either paying guests or park ops, because everyone got stuck with ugly, oversized infrastructure that we didn't want to look at but also couldn't hide or move.
Like I said, good riddance to Harmonious, a show that was the antithesis of its name.
