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

[Haymarket2008]

Saw the show for the second time a few weeks ago.

It had grown on me significantly. Agree with a lot of posters on here that it is really quite moving and probably the best case scenario of IP integration being meshed with grander EPCOT themes.

It’s mature and elegant. Props to the creatives on this one.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Interestingly (and pure anecdotal evidence here), the IP-liking crowd is the one I hear the most negativity from. But, they way they basically want everything to be an upbeat party. "I don't come to Disney to feel negative emotions - just to escape and be happy." But, that misses the whole point of the show IMHO.

I'm admittedly against most of the IP adds of late, but I really enjoy Luminous. I think it is quite moving, creative and thoughtful. And, the fact it's different makes it all that much better. (As other friends have said as well - a mix of IP-loving and IP-disliking folks.) Luminous is not ROE at all, but it's a solid second place and feels Epoct still. It's probably the only reason I renewed my pass this year.

I liked it, but I was also 4 drinks deep and I'm a light weight.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I admittedly am biased to Epcot forever as I had those moments with my family in Epcot as my kids got to hear the music I love from the rides I loved when I visited Epcot as a kid

I know Luminous is objectively a better nighttime spectacular but I connected more to Epcot Forever

 

[MisterPenguin]

Unless they can make a globe with a large, good quality screen that can be seen from everywhere and not be a eyesore during the day, just sticking with pyro, fountains, and lights is plenty when it's done the way Luminous is done.

And a giant globe of the world would be ok to stay out all day given the theme of *world* showcase.

 

[ToTBellHop]

And a giant globe of the world would be ok to stay out all day given the theme of *world* showcase.

They could display DIS stock prices on such a globe throughout the day. Shareholders need to know and shouldn’t need to whip their phones out. Where does Josh even put his phone in those tight jeans?

 

[trainplane3]

And a giant globe of the world would be ok to stay out all day given the theme of *world* showcase.

Nah. Even with RoE, I wasn't a fan of that. It was parked next to AA most of the time at least and that's fine.

 

[SoFloMagic]

My problem with Luminous is that Momentous does everything that show does but better.

Except fireworks. And the original song is debatable. I think beating of our hearts is stronger personally.

 

[waltography]

My problem with Luminous is that Momentous does everything that show does but better.

I absolutely adore Love the Memory (I tear up still thinking about the song) but the fireworks package leaves something to be desired + the actual viewing experience for Momentous in person was even worse than HEA for me crowd-wise.

To me, Luminous is a good Epcot-flavored show in context of the park it was designed for much like Momentous is a good castle show; Momentous would stick out like a sore thumb in Epcot as much as Luminous would in any castle park.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Luminous is beautiful.

It's one of those shows that makes you WANT to stay in or around the park to see it at night. For Epcot, Harmonious was enjoyable to me but not to THAT extent realistically but Illuminations always made me feel that way and so does Luminous. My first time seeing it I just KEPT rewatching my videos of it the next day even when we were in Hollywood Studios. Was so happy when we caught a glimpse of it waiting for Fantasmic lol

 

[Vinnie Mac]

I absolutely adore Love the Memory (I tear up still thinking about the song) but the fireworks package leaves something to be desired + the actual viewing experience for Momentous in person was even worse than HEA for me crowd-wise.

To me, Luminous is a good Epcot-flavored show in context of the park it was designed for much like Momentous is a good castle show; Momentous would stick out like a sore thumb in Epcot as much as Luminous would in any castle park.

Harmonious felt like a show that could exist in any park if the physical space for was it available. Luminous, in the same way that ROE did, feels like it could ONLY belong to Epcot. That is without a doubt EPCOT's show

 

[flyerjab]

I was pleasantly surprised the first time I saw it, as the one questionable section (loss) hit me differently in person than on a video. In person, I read it more as being about universal loss and not just “grandma is dead.” The segment could be as much about a bad breakup as it is about death. Definitely less macabre than I was initially expecting from videos and commentary online.

It’s surprisingly mature and about as Epcot-y as this company will do.

I really like this show. I want to stay to see it like I used to with Illuminations.

Harmonius was like a huge Disney movie advertisement. It rang hollow.

Luminous has emotion. I really feel something when I watch it. And the launch tower used in the later part of the show is really something to behold.

 

[Bocabear]

Harmonius had to be the worst Disney show I had ever seen....and with all of that gigantic advanced tech...it was like they forgot to write a show... I am glad the giant rigs are gone, but feel like all of that technology could probably have created an amazing and engaging show... but what they programmed was a poorly paced 30 minute advertisement for Disney IP... I am surprised they didn't move the entire system over to DAK but then write a proper show for it...

 

[Jedi14]

Harmonius had to be the worst Disney show I had ever seen....and with all of that gigantic advanced tech...it was like they forgot to write a show... I am glad the giant rigs are gone, but feel like all of that technology could probably have created an amazing and engaging show... but what they programmed was a poorly paced 30 minute advertisement for Disney IP... I am surprised they didn't move the entire system over to DAK but then write a proper show for it...

Some complaints for Harmonious honestly confuse me. How is it an advertisement for Disney IP when all current nighttime shows around the world have IP. Harmonious seemed to fit more for Epcot and World Showcase than what Luminous currently does with the exception of the beginning and ending songs.

 

[Touchdown]

What exactly was the message/story of Harmonious? There is no overlapping narration to elevate it above a clip show. The only successful modern show that lacks a plot or a clear thematic thread is vanilla World of Color which gets away with it because the tv show was a Disney variety show and even then it has its theme song as a beginning and closing number to tie it all in. Harmonious didn’t have that.

 

[osian]

Some complaints for Harmonious honestly confuse me. How is it an advertisement for Disney IP when all current nighttime shows around the world have IP. Harmonious seemed to fit more for Epcot and World Showcase than what Luminous currently does with the exception of the beginning and ending songs.

Harmonious was a Disney movie clip show with no relevance to EPCOT. They tried to make it relevant by forcing natives of countries around the world to sing western Disney songs. This completely missed the target. That doesn't say celebrating other cultures to me at all, it's more how to abuse them and introduce western pop culture to them.

Regardless of the oft-quoted reasons for scrapping Harmonious (sightlines, reduced restaurant takings) I'm sure there was a certain amount of irrelevancy backlash that has been heard and Disney is not going to admit that publicly. I present Journey of Water as evidence...the IP is nowhere near as in-your-face as previous efforts. The IP-based refurb of SSE has been scrapped, together with the IP Play pavilion, and a Mary Poppins focus for the UK pavilion. (Although I will probably be proved wrong when the next annoucement is IP-heavy).

Luminous is a more fitting show for EPCOT, it celebrates humanity. That is the core of what EPCOT is, for both World Showcase and what was originally Future World.

It's quite telling that you mention the only EPCOT relevance are the beginning and ending songs, i.e. those that are original and not coming from Disney IP.

Whichever angle you take, trying to make Disney movie IP fit into EPCOT is like pushing a square peg into a round hole.

 

[MisterPenguin]

In the lead-up to Harmonious, various Imagineers and PR people gave differing account about what Harmonious was all about:

It's about joy in music. (The PatF song was overworked and overwrought leading to the opposite of joy.)

It's about international unity with Disney songs in different languages. (The Aladdin song representing Near East culture was... problematic.)

It's about dance uniting all people. (Only one song was danceable.)

 

[Bocabear]

Some complaints for Harmonious honestly confuse me. How is it an advertisement for Disney IP when all current nighttime shows around the world have IP. Harmonious seemed to fit more for Epcot and World Showcase than what Luminous currently does with the exception of the beginning and ending songs.

Some shows just don't work... That was one of them... It felt like a movie clip show...it didn't feel right for the park. The pacing was terrible... a collection of random Disney IP songs with a big finale moment with each song so that after three of them it was just repetitive...It did not feel like a story...which is what a show usually has...some sort of an arching through-line to make it feel like it is going some where...building...a journey.... That show had none of that. I noticed people around me, after the third pointless song and "finale moment" started fidgeting and looking around...away from the show... Looking disinterested... I noticed of course because it had lost my attention too. It was new technology...all new hardware....unfortunately the show gave away all the wow moments early in the game...so that then, it just became repetitious.. I saw another show that was just like this at Shanghai Disneyland a few years ago... Too many cartoon clips, ponderous poorly paced show that just seemed to go on and on... I was thinking it was the new trend... then Luminous replaced Harmonious... and it was a lot better.
Same problem plagued Rivers Of Light... Too many clips, too much forced IP... when it could have been something original and beautiful...

 

[SoFloMagic]

Some shows just don't work... That was one of them... It felt like a movie clip show...it didn't feel right for the park. The pacing was terrible... a collection of random Disney IP songs with a big finale moment with each song so that after three of them it was just repetitive...It did not feel like a story...which is what a show usually has...some sort of an arching through-line to make it feel like it is going some where...building...a journey.... That show had none of that. I noticed people around me, after the third pointless song and "finale moment" started fidgeting and looking around...away from the show... Looking disinterested... I noticed of course because it had lost my attention too. It was new technology...all new hardware....unfortunately the show gave away all the wow moments early in the game...so that then, it just became repetitious.. I saw another show that was just like this at Shanghai Disneyland a few years ago... Too many cartoon clips, ponderous poorly paced show that just seemed to go on and on... I was thinking it was the new trend... then Luminous replaced Harmonious... and it was a lot better.
Same problem plagued Rivers Of Light... Too many clips, too much forced IP... when it could have been something original and beautiful...

It also screamed of the age it was made - it forced diversity in an attempt to show how welcoming Disney is.

But rather than using... the theme park it's in which happened to be built to show diversity and togetherness across cultures... They used the lion king to represent an entire continent.

It was a hardware failure and a content failure. Just a nightmare.

Thank God we have a show now that remembers what park it is in and has more reasonable hardware.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

It also screamed of the age it was made - it forced diversity in an attempt to show how welcoming Disney is.

But rather than using... the theme park it's in which happened to be built to show diversity and togetherness across cultures... They used the lion king to represent an entire continent.

It was a hardware failure and a content failure. Just a nightmare.

Thank God we have a show now that remembers what park it is in and has more reasonable hardware.

They went with the continents route, although they did skip on by Australia even they had an old IP Rescuer's Down Under.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Thank God we have a show now that remembers what park it is in

There is another element of the show I really appreciate. I absolutely love the way the show uses the park to help tell the story. I mean it literally does this from the get go with the "welcome" introductions. It's awesome and it feels like something straight out of the Illuminations era of shows.

Also love the way they play the tapestry of nation's soundtrack with little fun facts being shared on days that the barges are pulled from backstage. Just really makes the show feel like an integral part of the park rather than a separate addition