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

[James Alucobond]

Not saying they would or should, but could these barges be moved to AK? They were horrible in Epcot and ruined the views of the lake cause it was central and could be seen at all times. And the show was viewed in the round which did not fit the technology. But with the stadium in AK it is not in the round and would work better. And it is off to the side and would not be seen all day. They could cut the pyro if it would scare the animals. As much as DIS was idiotic to build this, I’d hate to see all that money and tech go to waste. It could have been cool, but it was in the wrong location.

Just make something purpose-built for AK. The barges would still be hideous in the amphitheater, and the maintenance on them is obviously a pain. Also, I think people underestimate just how massive they actually are because they're so far away in the lagoon.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

They thought Enchantment and Harmonious was good too though

Yeah but nothing said Enchantment needed to be the best show ever. Harmonious was literally supposed to be the defining nighttime show of the current era of Epcot like Illuminations was for the Millenium celebration era of Epcot.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Enchantment is fine; it just had nothing to do with the 50th and was coming off the heels of a very popular, very similar show. Harmonious is also a good show in isolation even if it could use some revision. It’s just technically problematic, exists in the wrong park, utilizes a lot of the same music as Happily Ever After, and blights the lagoon during the day. More than enough strikes to make an out to be sure, but the quality of the show itself was far from terrible.

Enchantment is... Meh. As a castle show it's fine. Very pretty visually, very colorful. But when you remember that it was running in the same place that Wishes and HEA ran, that's when it sours.

Harmonious was incredible but it had everything running against it.

 

[Bocabear]

Harmonious had amazing tech...and there were some wow moments in Harmonious...the problem is that it was a movie clip show, there was no through-line...just a bunch of Movie clips and songs with no real heart. They also gave away the wow moments at the beginning of the show which then made the rest just feel repetitive...
Perhaps these pieces could be relocated to Animal Kingdom where they have an empty amphitheater...but whatever they do, theyt need to get a well written and paced show... Tech is great but it needs a good show writer to drive the bus.
I will not miss the Taco barges...

 

[danlb_2000]

When it comes to the tech in the show I like to paraphrase Jurassic Park, "your Imagineers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." There is some impressive tech, but I feel that in parts of the show it was over used, there was just to much going on at one time.

 

[GhostHost1000]

When it comes to the tech in the show I like to paraphrase Jurassic Park, "your Imagineers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." There is some impressive tech, but I feel that in parts of the show it was over used, there was just to much going on at one time.

That’s great way to put it.

More of the “watch what we can do” instead of “should we really do this”

I think rivers of light was similar in some ways. They were so focused on the “coolness” of the self-driving water floats they used up all their wow moments in the first few minutes and the show lacked moments

 

[ToTBellHop]

That’s great way to put it.

More of the “watch what we can do” instead of “should we really do this”

I think rivers of light was similar in some ways. They were so focused on the “coolness” of the self-driving water floats they used up all their wow moments in the first few minutes and the show lacked moments

I always appreciated how RoE (high tech in 2000) slowly unpealed the layers of its tech throughout the show. That kind of slow burn allowed the beginning, middle, and end to feel impressive.

Gigantic behemoths out in plain sight all day could never replicate that and they didn’t even attempt to do so during the show.

Made for some cool pictures, though.

EF has weaknesses, but I appreciate that it’s less stressful to watch fireworks at Epcot now. Anywhere in World Showcase is fine.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I always appreciated how RoE (high tech in 2000) slowly unpealed the layers of its tech throughout the show. That kind of slow burn allowed the beginning, middle, and end to feel impressive.

Gigantic behemoths out in plain sight all day could never replicate that and they didn’t even attempt to do so during the show.

Made for some cool pictures, though.

EF has weaknesses, but I appreciate that it’s less stressful to watch fireworks at Epcot now. Anywhere in World Showcase is fine.

My only complaint about RoE were those pitiful fountains/lights

The music however should live on forever and just create new shows/tech with it. They won’t however because they want Epcot to be Magic Kingdom #2

 

[trainplane3]

I always appreciated how RoE (high tech in 2000) slowly unpealed the layers of its tech throughout the show. That kind of slow burn allowed the beginning, middle, and end to feel impressive.

Gigantic behemoths out in plain sight all day could never replicate that and they didn’t even attempt to do so during the show.

Made for some cool pictures, though.

EF has weaknesses, but I appreciate that it’s less stressful to watch fireworks at Epcot now. Anywhere in World Showcase is fine.

This.
Pacing and reveals help so much for a show. Showing all of your cards in 3 minutes and then droning on for 15 more isn't excitement. Imagine if it had the original pyro arrangement. Everything would've been seen in less then a minute. It looked pretty in still pictures but was far to overwhelming to keep track of everything happening during the show.

My only complaint about RoE were those pitiful fountains/lights

The music however should live on forever and just create new shows/tech with it. They won’t however because they want Epcot to be Magic Kingdom #2

Harmonious fountains on similar RoE fountain barges would be a win. Toss some lasers or projections as a bonus on them and call it a day.

 

[FigmentFan82]

While you can argue that the sequels weren’t “successful”, they didn’t loose money. Solo did, but the Sequel Trilogy & Rogue One were very financially successful. Also the Mandalorian and Andor are incredible. The sequels aren’t nearly as bad as anyone makes them out to be (aside from TLJ)

TLJ>ROS

 

[dennis-in-ct]

I am so sad to see Harmonious dismantled. The show was fantastic and personally, I feel it was appropriately scaled to the space. To me, the other lagoon shows were lost in the space it was trying to fill.

I hope this is somehow saved and repurposed. We were blown away by harmonious. Truly spectacular.

 

[Bocabear]

I agree the scale of the show was great... I just feel like the pacing and storyline was lacking...and the old problem of giving away everything that made the new show unique in the first 3 minutes, and then feeling like every Disney film has to have it's own 4 minutes of time with the same effects over and over... It felt like there was no arc to the show... There was a "finale Moment" with each song... and afterwards we all felt like it just went on forever....and not in a good way.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I can't imagine it's a total loss for Disney. Apart from the structure themselves, all the expensive components (lights, fountains, LED screens) can be used in future projects.

 

[wdwmagic]

I can't imagine it's a total loss for Disney. Apart from the structure themselves, all the expensive components (lights, fountains, LED screens) can be used in future projects.

The expensive parts I would think are the structures themselves. It was all custom and is some serious machinery. The actual fixtures I would think are inexpensive in comparison, especially as they are all off-the-shelf parts.

 

[skimbob]

I wonder why they could not dismantle these backstage. Is this an overall weight issue?

 

[James Alucobond]

I wonder why they could not dismantle these backstage. Is this an overall weight issue?

a) There isn't space to move everything back to the marina at once as it was never expanded.
b) The central barge was assembled on stage by connecting three barges, so they must be disassembled again.
c) Many additions were made to the barges once they made their way on stage, so it is natural for them to work that process in reverse.

In short, they took a long time to set up, and they'll take a while to take down.

 

[Brian]

a) There isn't space to move everything back to the marina at once as it was never expanded.
b) The central barge was assembled on stage by connecting three barges, so they must be disassembled again.
c) Many additions were made to the barges once they made their way on stage, so it is natural for them to work that process in reverse.

In short, they took a long time to set up, and they'll take a while to take down.

Indeed. As to "B," the canal into the marina is fairly narrow (roughly 31 ft.) necessitating the splitting of the three barges.

 

[SoFloMagic]

a) There isn't space to move everything back to the marina at once as it was never expanded.
b) The central barge was assembled on stage by connecting three barges, so they must be disassembled again.
c) Many additions were made to the barges once they made their way on stage, so it is natural for them to work that process in reverse.

In short, they took a long time to set up, and they'll take a while to take down.

What a mess. Just shows the series of judgment errors that led to this show

 

[wdwmagic]

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

 

[Poly1974]

I am so sad to see Harmonious dismantled. The show was fantastic and personally, I feel it was appropriately scaled to the space. To me, the other lagoon shows were lost in the space it was trying to fill.

I hope this is somehow saved and repurposed. We were blown away by harmonious. Truly spectacular.

How is a show "perfectly scaled to the space" when the screens can only be seen from about 40% of the shoreline of World Showcase Lagoon? I thought the show was awful and a typical "Lets cram more IP into Epcot" effort from Disney. We got a good viewing point on the Future World side and about 5 minutes into the show, I looked at my wife and son and said "You want to go?" and they both nodded yes and off we went to the Skyliner. In 20+ years of watching Illuminations, we never even considered getting a jump on the crowds. We always stayed through the amazing finale.

I would like to see a show with original music and not just another melody of the latest animated movies but I also realize that the WDW that I loved, where Imagineers came up with original ideas, is long gone. Just the fact that they thought it was a good idea to have those ugly barges be permanent shows you how little the current Imagineers understand about the magic.

I hope they never bring any portion of this monstrosity back.