Having watched the premiere video, I was unimpressed. But I knew I needed to see it in person to give it a fair shake.
So I saw it in person a few weeks ago. And was only slightly less unimpressed.
Spending a total of 3 nights at Epcot, we only stayed to watch it once.
The wacky-waving arms on the Stargate are just so chaotic and distracting. It really doesn't add anything for me.
Honestly, the fireworks were the best part. The whole thing still just feels like a collection of "deleted scenes" from some Magic Kingdom shows.
Also, just as a fun aside, we were walking around by the American Adventure and I just happened to mention that "those (the barges) will always be there now" and a passing CM kind of perked up saying, "Yep. They're permanent." I said "that's a shame", and I could tell she really wanted to go off, but she swallowed her vitriol and just slowly nodded her head saying, "yuuuup."