EPCOT Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

[LorangeJuice]

Fountains are not going to improve the situation one iota.

Fact.

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Can we put cameras on the tacos to display the live view of the countries they are blocking? Alternative budget cut version could be still pictures of the countries they are blocking. Better than fountains that need constant maintenance and still block the view.

I’m calling the fountains will break and not be fixed if they aren’t already budget cutted out. It’s just a matter of when.

 

[GimpYancIent]

If that is your feeling there is no point in debating. Fountains will obviously improve upon the naked industrial stage rigging, and will do so by several iotas.

Will it be nice? I dont know! It might still look awful!

But to say a shield of water won’t improve it one iota vs the current free-concert-series vibe is just argumentative.

I’m increasingly frustrated by people’s unwillingness to give something a chance before they rip it apart.

Ok, Ok, if the barges and structures are painted non reflective flat black they will not be abrasively visible at night! That would alleviate part of the problem, Oh! but wait, park hours do not extend into darkness hours. Darn there is always a catch!

 

[matt9112]

The wind always blows over that lake...unless it’s 97 or above (when you need it)

This is so damn true. When its sweltering there is zero wind on any other occasion its windy as heck

 

[Rambozo]

The central one reminds me of the gate on Stargate.

 

[SpoiledBlueMilk]

Well for everyone complaining about the sightlines from the Guardians' show building, you're welcome....

Seriously though. These things are just massive. I need to see them in person later this month to truly pass judgment. Angles and focal length can play tricks on you. I hope that's the case here.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Any chance investors ask about this during the call? Would love to hear them questioned about long term value for investors if they start watering down the product and not producing a product that keeps with the quality and experiences customers expect. Especially if they are moving to attract a wealthier clientele.

They will literally water this down.

 

[marni1971]

If that is your feeling there is no point in debating. Fountains will obviously improve upon the naked industrial stage rigging, and will do so by several iotas.

Will it be nice? I dont know! It might still look awful!

But to say a shield of water won’t improve it one iota vs the current free-concert-series vibe is just argumentative.

I’m increasingly frustrated by people’s unwillingness to give something a chance before they rip it apart.

Fountains will still block numerous sight lines, if they’re good or bad. Quite honestly they lost being given a chance when this hardware was approved to remain in position.

 

[trainplane3]

Fountains will still block numerous sight lines, if they’re good or bad. Quite honestly they lost being given a chance when this hardware was approved to remain in position.

At a time when these barges were approved, were there plans to move them? Or were there two different designs, one movable (something else) and one not (these)?

Or was it always planned to not move them in the beginning?

 

[UNCgolf]

I can imagine a scenario where it remains ugly (no one I think would say it’s not ugly now) but I can also imagine a scenario where the fountains are absolutely beautiful. Hopefully they can turn them on soon so we can stop speculating.

I think the fountains will be better than having the structures just sitting there all day completely undisguised.

I also don't think there's any way the fountains will actually look good. They're going to be huge and off-center; the scale will be wrong in multiple ways.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Well for everyone complaining about the sightlines from the Guardians' show building, you're welcome....

Seriously though. These things are just massive. I need to see them in person later this month to truly pass judgment. Angles and focal length can play tricks on you. I hope that's the case here.

Same, I’ll have a chance in 2 weeks to see them in person. Will they pass the eye test? I’m not hopeful, but anything can happen.

 

[marni1971]

At a time when these barges were approved, were there plans to move them? Or were there two different designs, one movable (something else) and one not (these)?

Or was it always planned to not move them in the beginning?

I don’t have an answer yet although finding out they aren’t planned to move was way down the line.

 

[flynnibus]

just MHO... those mooring points on the barges don't look like they were designed to be accessed daily. I mean, it's heavy chain that appears to be accessed only from boats off the barge itself. Sure looks like they were designed for more weather and durability than speed and access.

 

[Rose&Crown]

Was in Epcot this weekend....saw the photos ahead of time but figured I’d hold my judgement until I was there.
It’s bad. It’s horrible. The views are awful, these things are huge and ugly. I truly cannot believe this was approved. Was in the park with people who aren’t “Disney people” and even they said why would Disney ruin the view with those things?

 

[donaldfan]

Was in Epcot this weekend....saw the photos ahead of time but figured I’d hold my judgement until I was there.
It’s bad. It’s horrible. The views are awful, these things are huge and ugly. I truly cannot believe this was approved. Was in the park with people who aren’t “Disney people” and even they said why would Disney ruin the view with those things?

It’s really bad. At least the Guardians box is background. The way it’s throwing off the scale of the WS pavilions is equally as bad as their ugliness ....

 

[rkleinlein]

Apologies if this had been addressed in the previous 210 pages of discussion but: Does anybody have any inside information about how these monstrosities are viewed from within Disney? I can’t imagine it’s favorable with many. There must be a lot of “Oh my god what have we done” head shaking. Did an incompetent higher up approve this and everyone else who knew better was too afraid to say, “No, this is a big mistake”?

 

[TTA94]

Wild guess that things are to the point where they have no choice but to move forward with the mess they made, and ultimately get their money’s worth. Probably a good 3 of 4 years at least. Of course they could come up with a solution to fix the issues in the coming months or year. Wouldn’t hold my breath. The good news though is these barges are not really a permanent forever thing. They are only anchored out there and Can be removed in the future. All depends on how well Harmonious is received and if the backlash and complaints continue to grow.

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm partially with you on this. I think the "it blocks views across the lagoon" complain to me is kinda meh. I never really thought it was important to see the pavilions across the way and never have spent time doing such.

My bigger issue is the ugliness of the stuff there (and I doubt the fountains will help much). If they had put a large tree filled island that was pretty in the middle and it blocked the views, I'd be cool with it.

The pavilions were definitely designed to be seen across the lagoon -- there would have been little reason to incorporate some of the things they did otherwise. I think it's less about specifically staring at each one individually and more about the overall effect, though.

Even ignoring that, though, I think it's about ultimately about the feel of the space. A large tree filled island would certainly be less ugly than the barges, but it would have the same underlying problem (and would likely be worse than the barges in this sense because it would be even bigger) of cluttering up the visual field and compressing the space. You just get a better feel when it's an open vista.

It's a bit like seeing construction cranes along a city skyline. You almost never see them in professional photographs (unless they specifically want to show the cranes) because they clutter up the view, so the photo is either taken from an angle to hide them or they're edited out in post-processing.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Wild guess that things are to the point where they have no choice but to move forward with the mess they made, and ultimately get their money’s worth. Probably a good 3 of 4 years at least. Of course they could come up with a solution to fix the issues in the coming months or year. Wouldn’t hold my breath. The good news though is these barges are not really a permanent forever thing. They are only anchored out there and Can be removed in the future. All depends on how well Harmonious is received and if the backlash and complaints continue to grow.

The show will go on. The big if will be whether the guests walk away and out of the park once the show is revealed. To have success it will need to be a spectacular show thus far all appearances are sad.

 

[wdwmagic]

PHOTOS - How crews reach the top of the Harmonious icon barge​

PHOTOS - How crews reach the top of the Harmonious icon barge

The icon barge is 6 stories tall and presents some challenges for maintenance access.

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[flutas]

PHOTOS - How crews reach the top of the Harmonious icon barge​

PHOTOS - How crews reach the top of the Harmonious icon barge

The icon barge is 6 stories tall and presents some challenges for maintenance access.

www.wdwmagic.com

I really feel like that's a good OSHA investigation waiting to happen. It may not be, but it looks so unsafe.