Ah ok...I didn't realise this was only a stop gap, I thought it was a new show replacing Harmonious.
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News EPCOT's Harmonious to be replaced with new nighttime spectacular Luminous
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
it is the same show they had prior to harmonious after illuminations ended
Vinnie Mac
Well-Known Member
People on here like to pretend it was better than Harmonious. The scale of the two shows are on entirely different levels and regardless of you feel about the barges Harmonious was certainly more interesting than Epcot Forever.
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
From a technological standpoint harmonious was great. If the barges were moved in each day and the show itself had a few tweaks it would probably still be there in my opinion.
bmr1591
Well-Known Member
Show me one person. I don't know anyone who actually believe EF is better than Harmonious from a purely artistic/show perspective. Most are happy the barges are gone, but fully admit Harmonious would still be playing if the barges could have moved in and out of the lagoon during the day.
TTA94
Well-Known Member
I just hope the new barges can deliver a equally impressive show like Harmonious. Obviously there won’t be moving arms or a big ring water screen, but IMO that wasn’t so great anyway so no loss there. I think the biggest difference will be no visuals like screens or projections… that we know of. Even RoE, while very tiny, had the visuals on the globe. I think if EF would have had screens or projections of some sort it would have helped in a big way.
Lil Copter Cap
Well-Known Member
I'm one of the few that think EPCOT Forever is a far better creative piece for a theme park nighttime show than Harmonious.
EPCOT Forever at least celebrates something. Harmonious, as stated earlier, seemed to lack creative direction in its final form. The original iteration of EF was far more enjoyable to me than Harmonious. But that's because I genuinely think Harmonious is a clip show without any form of storytelling. Yes, I get the concept. Yes, I understand what they were trying to communicate. But it falls flat. Not to mention that it was not properly designed for 360-degree viewing in its final form.
EPCOT Forever celebrates the past, present, and "future" of EPCOT with original music and scores written for the theme park itself (minus A Whole New World). I understand a majority of folks in the park probably have no idea what's happening or don't recognize some of the music. But the show was never intended to run more than once.
Harmonious was meant to be the new show for another couple decades.
Comparing the two seems apples vs. oranges because their intents differ. But for myself, EPCOT Forever will be far superior to that of Harmonious. With or without the barges.
EPCOT Forever at least celebrates something. Harmonious, as stated earlier, seemed to lack creative direction in its final form. The original iteration of EF was far more enjoyable to me than Harmonious. But that's because I genuinely think Harmonious is a clip show without any form of storytelling. Yes, I get the concept. Yes, I understand what they were trying to communicate. But it falls flat. Not to mention that it was not properly designed for 360-degree viewing in its final form.
EPCOT Forever celebrates the past, present, and "future" of EPCOT with original music and scores written for the theme park itself (minus A Whole New World). I understand a majority of folks in the park probably have no idea what's happening or don't recognize some of the music. But the show was never intended to run more than once.
Harmonious was meant to be the new show for another couple decades.
Comparing the two seems apples vs. oranges because their intents differ. But for myself, EPCOT Forever will be far superior to that of Harmonious. With or without the barges.
Yes Harmonious in my opinion was a significantly better show in every department.
Just shows doesn't it, we are all different.
I just could not comprehend how anyone could watch both those Epcot firework shows and say "I prefer EF"
But then there's people who think Dinosaur is the be best attraction in the whole of Disney, which equally I find utterly bizarre.
Each to their own I suppose.
On our first night I watched the Epcot fireworks from a distance from our hotel room balcony...I actually thought the show had ended prematurely or they'd had major issue and only half the show was working, it was that poor. It wasn't till yesterday that I waiting in the park for the fireworks to watch them close up and realised no, this is the full show!!
I used to head to Epcot to watch the fireworks show whenever I was in that area, not now
TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
I really like EF b/c I love all the classic EPCOT park music ... but it definitely feels like a temporary/interim show
now, if they increased the fireworks by like 30-40% and change out "A Whole New World" for "We Go On" and it could be something more legit/substantive
Vinnie Mac
Well-Known Member
It actually used to be really good. If the kites came back with the addition of the 2021 pyro I'd actually consider it a solid B+ show. Right now it's a C- at best
osian
Well-Known Member
Ooh, well, it's very subjective. There's "prefer", there's "better", there's "more spectacular", and they all mean different things and for different reasons.
Personally, I do prefer Epcot Forever as I have no emotional connection with Disney cartoon characters so Harmonious just doesn't move me, I do think it's a better show for the park that it's in, but Harmonious was more spectacular. Some people might conflate being more spectacular with being better, but bigger is not always better.
SaucyBoy
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
If I'm being honest (and preparing for the onslaught of spears and pitchforks), Epcot Forever is an absolute snoozefest. It's only "better" to the Epcot nerds, specifically the ones who still geek out about Future World of the 80s and early 90s. Nothing in EF is remotely of interest to any casual fan because it features music from long dead and obscure attractions that nobody outside the diehards has cared about in about 25 years. The thing I hate most about Epcot Forever is how much dust is paid to World Showcase, which has always been vastly superior to the sad area formerly known as Future World. That said, I found Harmonious to be an equally boring show. I couldn't wait for that mess to end (because I find it rude to just walk out mid-show) so I could run out of the park. I'm so glad that was my one and only time ever seeing Horrendous.
I think it will be good. But after Harmonious, there will be some doubt. Either way, it's looking like a significant upgrade from EF. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out, and there are some very talented, and very experienced people working on it. I really think they will be looking to make EPCOT the number one nighttime show again. Fingers crossed!
monorail81
Well-Known Member
I’m right there with you.
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
This aligns with everything I've heard from the sales end of things. Their only concern seems to be how quickly they can get it ready for marketing.
Yep. It’s going to miss the original target of Oct, but it isn’t looking like it’s too far out.
TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
That is good to hear ... and we could use some positivity and positive reaction to things!
SoFloMagic
Well-Known Member
Hi. I'm that one person. Harmonious sucked. I live 20 minutes away but didn't watch fireworks at Epcot for a year. I wanted to love it. Saw it opening night. Thought it was a crap version of happily ever after.
I missed EF (1.0). Those kites. The real finale. An actual story. No sketchy African section with an entire continent reduced to dancing bears and lion king music (not that it's much better than the African snack bar that has asian coke machines out front - do they think we're gonna mistake Thai for swaheli?)
Yeah EF 3.0 isn't great, but at least it has a bit of a story and a big boom at the end - I think those are hallmarks of Disney fireworks shows, but harmonious didn't have either.