News Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Sure, very rare things happen occasionally. But the norm is about twenty theatres performing 8 shows a week, 365 days a year no matter what. Unless you’re in a pandemic. If a Broadway show has an issue you can bet they’ll fix it, and quickly. It’s a well oiled machine.

The problem with Disney, as a comparison, is that things break and they either never fix them, or simply remove the element. Or they take eleventy billion years and committees to fix something and they finally fix it but use it as an excuse to also make it Pixar themed.

Disney Parks used to be Broadway quality—today the new parks mentality is Disney Store quality.

My only point is stuff happens. No production/entity is immune. As more and more tech is introduced, more and more likely things can break.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
My only point is stuff happens. No production/entity is immune. As more and more tech is introduced, more and more likely things can break.

Yeah - and that's why "KISS" is a thing and practical people like Bob Gurr and his generation would consider 'SHOULD' we do this, not 'if we can do this'. Building elegant reliable systems is actually part of the engineering design and what makes some better than others.

If you build a big brittle system... that is still on the designer.

EPCOT was known for it's boldness in pushing these concepts of what could be done reliably and at scale. They didn't always get it right, and many took a large number of revisions to nail it. But they generally didn't just say "oh well, stuff breaks" and turn them off. Not every concept can be saved, but no engineer is dismissive of the need for reliability as a requirement.
 

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Yeah - and that's why "KISS" is a thing and practical people like Bob Gurr and his generation would consider 'SHOULD' we do this, not 'if we can do this'. Building elegant reliable systems is actually part of the engineering design and what makes some better than others.

If you build a big brittle system... that is still on the designer.

EPCOT was known for it's boldness in pushing these concepts of what could be done reliably and at scale. They didn't always get it right, and many took a large number of revisions to nail it. But they generally didn't just say "oh well, stuff breaks" and turn them off. Not every concept can be saved, but no engineer is dismissive of the need for reliability as a requirement.

I do understand there have been attraction issues, specifically at WDW. But I’ve found the nighttime entertainment teams generally have been consistent. Which is why I’m less concerned with this show breaking and never being fixed.

World of Color had a mega failure, and they fixed it right away (it just took a long time to fix as it was a huge issue).

ETA:

do we think the WOC screw up scared TDO?
 
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HuffsAhoy

Active Member
In the Parks
No
Although Reflections of Earth was my favorite fireworks show, I was looking forward to Harmonious after seeing the abysmal dumpster fire that is Epcot Forever. However, that excitement continues to die with each hardware update we get on this show. Don't get me wrong, I believe bigger is always better, but in this case Disney hit a big foul ball. I guess for me, I'm less upset about the sightlines as I am about the fact there does not appear to be any wow factor.

Of course with ROE, we saw all the hardware before the show began, but not what and how it was going to entertain us. Newbies had no clue that the Earth Barge opened into a lotus blossom at the end of the show because that mechanism was never revealed onstage. With Harmonious, granted we have seen little of the effects, there doesn't appear to be anything to discover. We will soon know how the fountains look, we know how the arms rise and fall on the tacos, and really and truly the lighting on the barges is nothing groundbreaking. This show really had the chance to take the Epcot lagoon shows, which have always been the best at WDW, to a new level; but it looks more and more like they went for quantity over quality.
 

Inspired Figment

Well-Known Member
You assumed that they were thinking.. That’s adorable lol ;)
Flawed thinking is more accurate. The problem is they had no thought in regards to original integrity, intention, & spirit of EPCOT when planning this thing out. EPCOT Forever was a subtle screw you to the fans who could easily point that out. Hence why it directly quotes the current Imagination ride (which in-itself is a FU to the fans of the original attraction, portraying Figment and his Friends as an interference that make a big stink, turn plans upside down, and put current WDI & management on blast ) and uses “One Little Spark” as a narrative to lead to “A Whole New World” of Movie Tie-Ins everywhere. Oh yeah.. they ‘knew’ what they were doing... just sad.
And this Harmonious monstrosity they’re pulling now is just the icing on the cake in regards to the disrespect & disdain they have for the fans & original vision of EPCOT Center
 
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Movielover

Well-Known Member
Flawed thinking is more accurate. The problem is they had no thought in regards to original integrity, intention, & spirit EPCOT when planning this thing out. EPCOT Forever was a subtle screw you to the fans that could easily point that out. Hence why it directly quotes the current Imagination ride (which in-itself is a FU to the fans of the original attraction, portraying Figment and his Friends as an interference that make a big stink, turn plans upside down, and put current WDI & management on blast ) and uses “One Little Spark” as a narrative to lead to “A Whole New World” of Movie Tie-Ins everywhere. Oh yeah.. they ‘knew’ what they were doing... just sad.
And this Harmonious monstrosity they’re pulling now is just the icing on the cake in regards to the disrespect & disdain they have for the fans & original vision of EPCOT Center
I actually really like Epcot Forever... but to each their own. 😁
 

Inspired Figment

Well-Known Member
You thought that recent tweet by that imagineer showed the disdain most of the current organization holds for the original vision, integrity, spirit & fans of the original park? Think again.. it’s more prevalent than you realize.. and it’s upsetting.
Granted, I can forgive the guy and commend the effort to retract his statement after realizing in hindsight that it wasn’t a good idea. But the point still stands, this has been an ongoing problem for far too long.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
Old show brings out cutting edge lasers and show controls... hides them inside the pavilions and in obscure low profile bunkers hidden in natural looking landscape.. and invest huge dollars in operations to move other elements off stage daily.

wdi 2020 says... i got you!
477E252C-3EAF-4C57-AAED-383697DFC6D0.jpeg
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Old show brings out cutting edge lasers and show controls... hides them inside the pavilions and in obscure low profile bunkers hidden in natural looking landscape.. and invest huge dollars in operations to move other elements off stage daily.

wdi 2020 says... i got you!
View attachment 536226

The ring is the one thing not symmetrical/centered in this picture and it's driving me nuts lol.
 

Amused to Death

Well-Known Member
Apples and oranges. Also, most Disney techs have this kind of experience and more on their resumes and regularly setup and strike these types of shows (i.e. Superbowl Halftime Show in Tampa). Even if the barges were to come out each day from the marina, the work would have to start so early, you would end up with the same net result of blocked sightlines, not to mention more bridge closure time.
I wasn't being serious. Perhaps you missed the 😆 at the end.
 

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