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

[Horizons '83]

I still can't believe this is happening, that they are actually scraping this show and its components after just a few years. I'm not sure how much these barges/equipment cost or how much they can sell or reuse them, but wow what a colossal waste of money. For the record, I fully support the removal

 

[GhostHost1000]

I wish they’d reuse some of these in some way in AK.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

How is a show "perfectly scaled to the space"

The show physically felt a lot bigger than Illuminations or really any show that has ever played over the lake. Yes the barges were an eyesore, but when it came to the show itself they did their job. There was always something to look at and engage with. The finale felt very big in person.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I wish they’d reuse some of these in some way in AK.

I do think the Stargate and arms could be reused in DAK pretty easily with a retheme. The Taco Screens are a bit harder to blend into DAK. Getting them over to the park would be the issue. Sadly, in broadly general terms, dismantling something in a way to be rebuilt is often far more expensive than just tearing it down. So, given the cost sink already, it may be cheaper to scrap it vs. try to repurpose (as wasteful as that is).

 

[Brian]

Poseidon service barges arrive in EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon​

Poseidon service barges arrive in EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon

Poseidon service barges arrive in EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon

www.wdwmagic.com

I'm picking up BAH dismantling vibes right now.

 

[wdwmagic]

I still can't believe this is happening, that they are actually scraping this show and its components after just a few years. I'm not sure how much these barges/equipment cost or how much they can sell or reuse them, but wow what a colossal waste of money. For the record, I fully support the removal

It was around $150m

 

[Horizons '83]

It was around $150m

Wow, thanks for that info. Nothing like writing off $150M

 

[monothingie]

It is actually kind of sad seeing a piece of show infrastructure that was so complex and filled with technology that so many people spent so much time on engineering, designing, and building being scrapped so ahead of its time.

This was a failure of imagination. What should have been a high point for WDI turned into one of its worst moments.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Poseidon service barges arrive in EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon​

Poseidon service barges arrive in EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon

Poseidon service barges arrive in EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[monothingie]

View attachment 709218

I guess it would have been more appropriate if the Poseidon Barges were labeled Poseidon 2 Barges. It would adequately represent the failure of Harmonious much like the aforementioned movie sequel.

 

[Starship824]

It is actually kind of sad seeing a piece of show infrastructure that so complex and filled with technology that so many people spent so much time on engineering, designing, and building being scrapped so ahead of its time.

This was a failure of imagination. What should have been a high point for WDI turned into one of its worst moments.

Yes, I’m sure there was lots of time and effort put into building and designing the infrastructure, but for that planing they completely destroyed the view of world showcase showcase. I actually really enjoyed Harmonious but the the destruction of the sight lines and the fact that you could really only see it correctly from two places around the lagoon meant that it had to go IMO.

 

[monothingie]

Yes, I’m sure there was lots of time and effort put into building and designing the infrastructure, but for that planing they completely destroyed the view of world showcase showcase. I actually really enjoyed Harmonious but the the destruction of the sight lines and the fact that you could really only see it correctly from two places around the lagoon meant that it had to go IMO.

Oh I'm not sad it is gone. If I had access to a dozen torpedos it would have been gone even sooner. I'm just lamenting the total waste of resources that went into making a show that was executed by idiots.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Normally when a Disney show flops, they just quickly forget about it and move on, but because it was tied to a major anniversary and recorded for Disney+, that's not so easily done with this show.

 

[trainplane3]

Normally when a Disney show flops, they just quickly forget about it and move on, but because it was tied to a major anniversary and recorded for Disney+, that's not so easily done with this show.

The one thing they did was remove the debut livestream from their Youtube channel a while ago. RoE and EF are still up but Harmonious isn't.

 

[Starship824]

The one thing they did was remove the debut livestream from their Youtube channel a while ago. RoE and EF are still up but Harmonious isn't.

Still salty they removed the happily ever after video. Good thing we still have @Cliff videos.

 

[FerretAfros]

It was around $150m

From some rough calculations, it looks like the show ran for about 550 performances. This comes out to about $273,000 per show.

Presumably, this was just the development costs associated with the hardware, music, animation, programming, etc. The ongoing operational costs (pyro, crowd control CMs, maintenance, replacement parts, etc.) would be additional expenses not factored into that price.

As a point of reference, DL’s Light Magic cost $20M to develop, and ran for about 100 nights (with 2 performances typical per night), giving it a development cost around $100,000 per show. Adjusted for inflation from 1997 to 2021 (when Harmonious debuted), that’s about $171,00 per show. Even in the (relatively small) pantheon of Disney parks’ costly high-profile flops, Harmonious is in a league of its own.

Given how reluctant Disney has been in recent years to spend big on new entertainment, it’s that much more surprising that it’s being abandoned entirely, rather than trying to salvage and rework parts of it.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Getting those barges removed for good from the World Showcase Lagoon is the first step in the "New Epcot" that I really like!

 

[James Alucobond]

Normally when a Disney show flops, they just quickly forget about it and move on, but because it was tied to a major anniversary and recorded for Disney+, that's not so easily done with this show.

Normally, shows don’t spend millions on purpose-built infrastructure that ends up not looking or feeling purpose-built at all. Ditching a failed castle show is generally easier because there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the projections and fireworks.

 

[Figments Friend]

Getting those barges removed for good from the World Showcase Lagoon is the first step in the "New Epcot" that I really like!

Ditto.

So, so happy this disgraceful era of the ‘Mistake On The Lake’ is nearly over.

Looking forward to returning to Epcot and not having to see those blights blocking the designed natural beauty of World Showcase.

Rest in Hell, Tacos and Stargate.
May you never return, even in memory.

-

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I watched the current Epcot Forever, they have imp the pure so much but I noticed the lack of creativity Harmonious had. Compared to Epcot Forever. Epcot Forever in its simplistic form even without the kites just flows so well and is great with what it has. No screens, projections or fancy tech. Just music, pyrotechnics and lights and they do such a great job. In my book this is one of the best constructed shows despite missing the elements other shows had, I do miss the kites tho.