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

[Dan Deesnee]

Harmonious was an amazing show and will be dearly missed by my kids.

But, at least the barges are going away. I'm not sure the trade off was worth it.

 

[ohioguy]

Goodbye, good riddance.... what a waste of time, effort, and money for a show that didn't even last two years. The barges are ugly during the day and the entertainment value was less than spectacular.

 

[pixargal]

Harmonious was an amazing show and will be dearly missed by my kids.

But, at least the barges are going away. I'm not sure the trade off was worth it.

I think because they targeted the show to kids is why it was so poorly received. Maybe Disney thought that it would help keep families in the park after dark. But then it kept the adults from staying. My group of adults saw it for the first time over Thanksgiving weekend. We walked away thinking “meh”. I wouldn’t stay and watch it again. This is coming from someone who bought DVC points at Boardwalk so that we could end the night at Epcot watching Illuminations and then slowly making our way back to the hotel.

 

[pdude81]

I actually liked the show and will miss the Hunchback songs most of all. I do hope they keep the lights on SSE!

Harmonious was an amazing show and will be dearly missed by my kids.

But, at least the barges are going away. I'm not sure the trade off was worth it.

I agree with the above. I enjoyed the show and like the big swing on technology, but wind was a problem with the water screens and you had to be in certain spots to really enjoy it. I think if they could somehow spin the stargate with the projections it would have works much better, but obviously physics gets in the way there. Also I think some of the post/show music they would play was a better fit that what was shown in the show itself.

Ultimately the unforgiveable sin would be the lagoon view though. A good (but not great IMO) show for 20 minutes is not worth blocking the view for longer than it takes to anchor that thing.

 

[danlb_2000]

I agree with the above. I enjoyed the show and like the big swing on technology, but wind was a problem with the water screens and you had to be in certain spots to really enjoy it. I think if they could somehow spin the stargate with the projections it would have works much better, but obviously physics gets in the way there. Also I think some of the post/show music they would play was a better fit that what was shown in the show itself.

Ultimately the unforgiveable sin would be the lagoon view though. A good (but not great IMO) show for 20 minutes is not worth blocking the view for longer than it takes to anchor that thing.

My problem with the show, besides the ever present barges, was the over use of the technology. There were parts of the show that felt like they were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at you. It was almost like they were just showing off everything they could do, instead of thinking about what they should do to support the show.

 

[NP7491]

EPCOT's Harmonious to be replaced with new nighttime spectacular in 2023

EPCOT's Harmonious to be replaced with new nighttime spectacular in 2023

www.wdwmagic.com

I'm glad Harmonious is ending. The show was okay but if you couldn't get prime seating to see the biggest centerpiece barge then it wasn't worth watching. The last time my fiancee and I skipped the whole harmonious just to beat the crowds. They should bring back illuminations: reflections of earth so much better than either forever or harmonious IMO.

 

[Rickcat96]

My issue with the show was that they changed all of the IP images and songs to different versions. The images were cheapened to stick figures and the songs were recognizable, but not the original score.

Other than an eyesore, maintenance issue, and the show didn't appear to keep people in the parks at night spending money, I do hope the can match ROE on the next one.

 

[MisterPenguin]

My problem with the show, besides the ever present barges, was the over use of the technology. There were parts of the show that felt like they were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at you. It was almost like they were just showing off everything they could do, instead of thinking about what they should do to support the show.

It had technical problems, too, which should have been anticipated.

They should have known that the fountain sprays were too focused and too weak to provide daytime fountains of concealment.

Also, you can't just spray a fountain of water any which way and expect a spotlight attached underneath it will light up the fountain. A fountain bends under gravity. A light beam also bends in gravity, but by a whole lot less. You can't light up an arcing fountain unless you have a bank of spotlights underneath the path of the fountain, like the Belagio does.

Also, the position of the 'arms' hurt my mammalian brain. Arms don't bend like that in those directions.

 

[wdwmagic]

They should have known that the fountain sprays were too focused and too weak to provide daytime fountains of concealment.

But the concept art showed the water being white and completely concealing all the hardware!! That seemed to be all it needed to get greenlit. Quite amazing that nobody in a position of power thought that was going to be an issue, and that water is usually fairly transparent.

 

[ppete1975]

I wonder if the barges might be reused somewhere, Disney california adventure? Seven seas lagoon? I would say a replacement for Electrical water pageant (which would be in the top 5 biggest mistakes in history of Disney)
For what these cost you would think they might try to reuse them and they have that huge lake that isnt utilized as much as originally planned, that is of course you dont need a ticket to enjoy that, so not sure they would want to do that.

 

[wdwmagic]

I wonder if the barges might be reused somewhere, Disney california adventure? Seven seas lagoon? I would say a replacement for Electrical water pageant (which would be in the top 5 biggest mistakes in history of Disney)
For what these cost you would think they might try to reuse them and they have that huge lake that isnt utilized as much as originally planned, that is of course you dont need a ticket to enjoy that, so not sure they would want to do that.

The harmonious hardware has very large power requirements and a lot of specialist infrastructure to operate, which is not present in the Seven SeasLlagoon. I think Disney would rather just write off the $150m than incur more expense try to redeploy them elsewhere.

 

[jrhwdw]

I wonder if the barges might be reused somewhere, Disney california adventure? Seven seas lagoon? I would say a replacement for Electrical water pageant (which would be in the top 5 biggest mistakes in history of Disney)
For what these cost you would think they might try to reuse them and they have that huge lake that isnt utilized as much as originally planned, that is of course you dont need a ticket to enjoy that, so not sure they would want to do that.

Off topic but I'll miss EWP 50th Tag! That was done well!

 

[ppete1975]

The harmonious hardware has very large power requirements and a lot of specialist infrastructure to operate, which is not present in the Seven SeasLlagoon. I think Disney would rather just write off the $150m than incur more expense try to redeploy them elsewhere.

Great info thank you!! So limited edition pins with pieces of the harmonious barges. OR they will sell the light bulbs or other parts as a collectible ala disneyland main street pageant light bulbs.

 

[HauntedPirate]

The harmonious hardware has very large power requirements and a lot of specialist infrastructure to operate, which is not present in the Seven SeasLlagoon. I think Disney would rather just write off the $150m than incur more expense try to redeploy them elsewhere.

$150 million for those eyesores??

Whoever came up with the original idea for this pile of junk needs to be fired. Oh wait...

 

[Andrew25]

WDSP could use them? Not like anyone cares for sightlines in that park

 

[Incomudro]

$150 million for those eyesores??

Whoever came up with the original idea for this pile of junk needs to be fired. Oh wait...

Should never have been given the green light in the first place.
The discussion should have went like this:
Higher Ups: "And these barges will enter and leave the show scene every evening of course?"
Those Proposing the Barge's: "No." "They'll be permanently moored."
Higher Ups: "Forget it."

 

[UNCgolf]

But the concept art showed the water being white and completely concealing all the hardware!! That seemed to be all it needed to get greenlit. Quite amazing that nobody in a position of power thought that was going to be an issue, and that water is usually fairly transparent.

I'm still amazed by that. The very first time any concept art was released I remember pointing out that there was no way the fountains were going to actually hide the barges and that if anything it might actually make them look worse. It seemed so obvious that I have no idea how it got through multiple levels of approval as a good idea.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I'm still amazed by that. The very first time any concept art was released I remember pointing out that there was no way the fountains were going to actually hide the barges and that if anything it might actually make them look worse. It seemed so obvious that I have no idea how it got through multiple levels of approval as a good idea.

It feels like management wasn’t paying attention during the Harm proposal meeting. Basically,

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

They forgot something pretty basic: Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

 

[bcoachable]

I wonder how offensive the taco barges would look at Disney Springs…
Could Be kinda a cool way to save/see the show. I’m sure powering them up would become cost prohibitive- and I could see the same argument being had that they would ruin site lines- still, kinda a fun way to spend your evening in the shopping district