Illuminations changes/New show rumor! (New pics added Feb. 25th)
Hey folks, got to hear lots of very interesting information this evening while watching RoE.
After getting off work I decided to watch some fireworks. So- I went to my "usual" spot (front and center across from the American Adventure) and ended up standing next to 3 men.
Based on what I was overhearing from their conversation, at first I thought 1 or 2 of them were just big Illuminations fans like myself... Then I began to think they were perhaps part of the tech crew and that this was their night off or something... then, it finally became clear that at least 2 of them were part of some sort of creative design team that plays a major roll in Epcot fireworks.
Basically, the guys knew the show inside out... knew all about the previous barge problems, and what is (still) being done to fix it, and what changes are in store for the show.
Here is a list of things to Note:
1.) The opening sequence should be changing sometime in the near future. Ever since the barge explosion, someone in management was hesitant to return the opening effect to the roof of one of the buildings in the United Kingdom, hence the change to the launch from lagoon level. Here is the new plan: the opening shot will be moved to the top of the American Gardens Theater, and the launch system for the second shot will be moved to one of the fountain barges because (once again) someone in management isn't comfortable with the origional effect returning to the Inferno barge after the previous accident.
2.) (This new addition is already in place) A new effect has been added to Spaceship Earth once the show has finished. Somewhat like the effect shown after the holiday-tag version (All the different language good-byes) At the end of RoE, lasers from the American Adventure now create a "spinning globe" effect on Spaceship Earth. There is also text that reads:
_______________
ILLUMINATIONS
...Presented by:
...SIEMENS
_______________
This new effect was very well done, I really enjoyed it. (Sorry, no pics!)
3.) This final bit of news is probably the most interesting of all... Work is indeed under way for a new show. I have no details, no timeframe, simply the fact that a new show is in the works and that the working title is "Illuminations: Sky Dance." One bit I found particularly interesting was that there was apparently a heated debate about the name of the new show: Some of the people at this meeting thought "Illuminations: SkyDance" simply didn't roll of the tongue too well and suggested dropping the "Illuminations" part and letting the title simply be "Sky Dance." The other half of the argument was that it simply wouldn't be a fireworks show at Epcot without the name "Illuminations" in the title, and that dropping that part of the title was simply not an option. The man I was standing next to made it very clear he was part of the latter argument, and I think I agree with him... I just can't imagine wathing something other than "Illuminations..." at Epcot.
Well folks, thats all the info I was able to gather without being too obvious... Hope you enjoyed this little bit of news/rumor I stumbled across. I know we have a handful of pyro-techies here on the boards, not sure if they are allowed to, but if they are, perhaps they can confirm some of this information.
:wave:
Hey folks, got to hear lots of very interesting information this evening while watching RoE.
After getting off work I decided to watch some fireworks. So- I went to my "usual" spot (front and center across from the American Adventure) and ended up standing next to 3 men.
Based on what I was overhearing from their conversation, at first I thought 1 or 2 of them were just big Illuminations fans like myself... Then I began to think they were perhaps part of the tech crew and that this was their night off or something... then, it finally became clear that at least 2 of them were part of some sort of creative design team that plays a major roll in Epcot fireworks.
Basically, the guys knew the show inside out... knew all about the previous barge problems, and what is (still) being done to fix it, and what changes are in store for the show.
Here is a list of things to Note:
1.) The opening sequence should be changing sometime in the near future. Ever since the barge explosion, someone in management was hesitant to return the opening effect to the roof of one of the buildings in the United Kingdom, hence the change to the launch from lagoon level. Here is the new plan: the opening shot will be moved to the top of the American Gardens Theater, and the launch system for the second shot will be moved to one of the fountain barges because (once again) someone in management isn't comfortable with the origional effect returning to the Inferno barge after the previous accident.
2.) (This new addition is already in place) A new effect has been added to Spaceship Earth once the show has finished. Somewhat like the effect shown after the holiday-tag version (All the different language good-byes) At the end of RoE, lasers from the American Adventure now create a "spinning globe" effect on Spaceship Earth. There is also text that reads:
_______________
ILLUMINATIONS
...Presented by:
...SIEMENS
_______________
This new effect was very well done, I really enjoyed it. (Sorry, no pics!)
3.) This final bit of news is probably the most interesting of all... Work is indeed under way for a new show. I have no details, no timeframe, simply the fact that a new show is in the works and that the working title is "Illuminations: Sky Dance." One bit I found particularly interesting was that there was apparently a heated debate about the name of the new show: Some of the people at this meeting thought "Illuminations: SkyDance" simply didn't roll of the tongue too well and suggested dropping the "Illuminations" part and letting the title simply be "Sky Dance." The other half of the argument was that it simply wouldn't be a fireworks show at Epcot without the name "Illuminations" in the title, and that dropping that part of the title was simply not an option. The man I was standing next to made it very clear he was part of the latter argument, and I think I agree with him... I just can't imagine wathing something other than "Illuminations..." at Epcot.
Well folks, thats all the info I was able to gather without being too obvious... Hope you enjoyed this little bit of news/rumor I stumbled across. I know we have a handful of pyro-techies here on the boards, not sure if they are allowed to, but if they are, perhaps they can confirm some of this information.
:wave:
.
