News Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

[trainplane3]

The problem doing this kind of thing in front of guests is that it completely removes the element of surprise that can make shows better and more impressive for first timers.

I remember back to Refelctions of Earth, and how everyone was blown away by he fact that the earth barge started at the side, and that the thing opened up and a torch came out.

If all of that was tested in-front of guests the element of surprise would have been lost.

Admittedly it is hard to keep anything a surprise these days, but I still don't agree with testing show elements for a new show in-front of guests.

Only the hardcore fans will keep up with projects. The average park-goer would never dive that deep into what's going on aside from seeing what attractions are available and what's opening soon. So while I'd agree with how hard it is to hide the surprise, the one's not surprised would be us nerds while 99% of average guests would be blown away.

But it's obvious they (Disney) just doesn't care so no more surprises.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I think the likelihood is that it has been built to withstand the elements as much as possible, but probably assuming a certain degree of maintenance and part replacement will be required.

The problems that we have seen before are when at build time that is accepted, but later on it falls foul of budget issues and there is no longer money available to do that maintenance and part replacement.

Then we lose effects.

I think this is the case with anything, anywhere... Any system will have an issue eventually, and need replacement.

I guess I just have better faith in the nighttime spectacle teams at Epcot then some on here, which is fine. I fully expect the arms to likely fail at some point, just like a show on Broadway gets cancelled for the evening due to automation issues.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think this is the case with anything, anywhere... Any system will have an issue eventually, and need replacement.

I guess I just have better faith in the nighttime spectacle teams at Epcot then some on here, which is fine. I fully expect the arms to likely fail at some point, just like a show on Broadway gets cancelled for the evening due to automation issues.

I think the concern is more that eventually something will fail and they just won't replace it -- or at least won't do so for a significant amount of time. They'll excise that effect from the show rather than spend money to fix it.

That sounds pessimistic, but they have a recent track record of doing exactly that at WDW.

 

[flutas]

Things break. But I find they tend to be the older things...

Except for ROTR.

But I do agree more with what @UNCgolf said, that things will break and they just won't fix them. (Everest, Indiana Jones [DLR] as examples.)

 

[Amused to Death]

Loch Ness Taco.

 

[Amused to Death]

Admittedly it is hard to keep anything a surprise these days

Everyone will have already seen the show 37.5 times in advance courtesy of vloggers. WDWMagic will have its own video posted on opening night. Disney Parks Blog will probably have a live stream. And we are all commenting about testing in public, right now, not because we were all in the park today, but because we are all watching yet another vlogger's video.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I think the concern is more that eventually something will fail and they just won't replace it -- or at least won't do so for a significant amount of time. They'll excise that effect from the show rather than spend money to fix it.

That sounds pessimistic, but they have a recent track record of doing exactly that at WDW.

I also think it's reasonable to question how wise it is to plan a show around complicated machinery that you're planning to disguise by showering it in water as it sits exposed to the elements 24/7 in a tropical climate.

 

[UNCgolf]

I also think it's reasonable to question how wise it is to plan a show around complicated machinery that you're planning to disguise by showering it in water as it sits exposed to the elements 24/7 in a tropical climate.

I'm still convinced the fountains are going to look absolutely ridiculous. The barges are simply too large for fountains to work effectively as a disguise without the scale becoming a serious issue -- they're going to block the view across the lagoon and overshadow the pavilions even more than the barges alone.

In the grand scheme of things the fountains are still better than letting the barges just sit there completely exposed, but I will be absolutely shocked if it looks even remotely good. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[TTA94]

From the skyliner today it looked as though the remaining two taco barges backstage now have completed led screens. Perhaps they may be joining the others soon?

 

[techgeek]

Admittedly it is hard to keep anything a surprise these days, but I still don't agree with testing show elements for a new show in-front of guests.

To my knowledge, this is the first show that breaks a long-standing entertainment department tradition of overnight and out of sight rehearsals, which is something that isn't even limited to nighttime spectaculars... With very rare exception, Disney simply doesn't rehearse or test anything during the day in venues that aren't completely able to control guest access.

Can you imagine if they rehearsed a Castle Forecourt show during park hours? Concert load-ins and sound checks at American Gardens theater at noon? Testing parade units down Main Street at 10am?

I was going to go out on a limb and say that we never saw the earth barge testing on-stage... but I figured I better cover my rear so I went digging and found this:



Admittedly, a quick LED check before show was pretty common enough... At least it was usually done in the 'off stage' position and not the show position. Bonus likes if someone can find footage of the earth barge opening up in broad daylight in the middle of the lagoon. I couldn't.

I'll say with confidence such a thing absolutely didn't happen prior to the show debuting in 1999. There was buzz about RoE, but the details were kept well under wraps. Social media being limited as it was in the late 90s, I'm not even sure we knew the earth barge existed until the first public show and the millennium celebration media blitz kicked into full effect.

 

[MisterPenguin]

To my knowledge, this is the first show that breaks a long-standing entertainment department tradition of overnight and out of sight rehearsals, which is something that isn't even limited to nighttime spectaculars... With very rare exception, Disney simply doesn't rehearse or test anything during the day in venues that aren't completely able to control guest access.

Can you imagine if they rehearsed a Castle Forecourt show during park hours? Concert load-ins and sound checks at American Gardens theater at noon? Testing parade units down Main Street at 10am?

I was going to go out on a limb and say that we never saw the earth barge testing on-stage... but I figured I better cover my rear so I went digging and found this:



Admittedly, a quick LED check before show was pretty common enough... At least it was usually done in the 'off stage' position and not the show position. Bonus likes if someone can find footage of the earth barge opening up in broad daylight in the middle of the lagoon. I couldn't.

I'll say with confidence such a thing absolutely didn't happen prior to the show debuting in 1999. There was buzz about RoE, but the details were kept well under wraps. Social media being limited as it was in the late 90s, I'm not even sure we knew the earth barge existed until the first public show and the millennium celebration media blitz kicked into full effect.

Didn't we see RoL lotus barges out at daytime?

 

[EPICOT]

I would love to see a heckler yell across the lagoon to the imagineers about how ugly the tacos are.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I would love to see a heckler yell across the lagoon to the imagineers about how ugly the tacos are.

I would love to see that to. It would be impressive for someone to make themselves intelligibly heard over 100 yards away.

 

[EPICOT]

I would love to see that to. It would be impressive for someone to make themselves intelligibly hear over 100 yards away.

That would indeed be impressive. Fortunately, we only need someone with a few drinks in them to stumble over to the Port of Entry gift shops and then yell to the Imagineers at the end of the Friendship docks.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

If you ask me, all those barges sitting in the middle of the lagoon look awful - disguised as fountains or not. They obstruct the nice view we had of the far side, especially at night. They also seem like prime candidates for breakdowns. Then there's the block building they built on one of the islands previously for power distribution. Ugh. What was:

 

[Movielover]

If you ask me, all those barges sitting in the middle of the lagoon look awful - disguised as fountains or not. They obstruct the nice view we had of the far side, especially at night. They also seem like prime candidates for breakdowns. Then there's the block building they built on one of the islands previously for power distribution. Ugh. What was:

That wand is looking pretty good in comparison right now isn't it?

 

[marni1971]

From the skyliner today it looked as though the remaining two taco barges backstage now have completed led screens. Perhaps they may be joining the others soon?

We can hope not.

 

[TTA94]

We can hope not.

I think the worst is going to be when the big arch is brought out.

 

[Bocabear]

That wand is looking pretty good in comparison right now isn't it?

NO! lol

 

[wbostic12]

I think the worst is going to be when the big arch is brought out.

When that is revealed, that's when Disney's principle of "make it beautiful and functional" goes out the window. Remember when everyone was mad that they put the projector boxes on the end of main street? That doesn't hold a candle compared to this. I think Disney is going to be forced to at least bring in some show elements from backstage, because everything on the lagoon is simply not going to be accepted by too many people.