News Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

[No Name]

The company is maybe a little too egotistical but they aren’t delusional. We saw how the Up replacement for Flights of Wonder never did well, they kept retooling it, and finally they replaced it with another original show. Of course they wouldn’t just bring back Flights of Wonder, but they didn’t want to continue something that was hurting business.

I do worry they’ll never bring back Happily Ever After, which had far too short a run.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

When compared to Reflections of Earth, is Harmonious...

• a more fulfilling experience
• a less boring experience
• a masterpiece
• a more Disney and more timeless show
• a crowning example of show design
• all of the above

Would say equally fuflling but HarmonioUS being slightly more fulfilling

Yes

In someways, yes.

Certainly more Disney, could be considered timeless for 10 years or so however "Someday" is a timeless song because it's message will still be rather meaningful regardless of what year it is. Unless life is fairer, need is rarer, and greed doesn't pay, Someday will be relevant.

Maybe. Only saying maybe because Disney screwed up not being able to move those barges with motors. If the barges had motors or could simply be pulled in and out of the lagoon, I would 100% say yes.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

The company is maybe a little too egotistical but they aren’t delusional. We saw how the Up replacement for Flights of Wonder never did well, they kept retooling it, and finally they replaced it with another original show. Of course they wouldn’t just bring back Flights of Wonder, but they didn’t want to continue something that was hurting business.

I do worry they’ll never bring back Happily Ever After, which had far too short a run.

For what it's worth, I actually really enjoyed Enchantment. It's a much better experience in person. But I will never be able to look past the fact that it replaced what was in my eyes Disney's best show ever.

 

[monothingie]

Just saw it again tonight. It still sucks.

Also when they programmed the show, the strobe lights on the France pavilion don’t sequence properly with the other pavilions.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Also when they programmed the show, the strobe lights on the France pavilion don’t sequence properly with the other pavilions.

"If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be."

 

[monothingie]

"If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be."

If I’m paying $150 a day it better be.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

If I’m paying $150 a day it better be.

Then don't pay $150 to go. You're in Orlando, you've got choices.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Okay, so I'll throw this question at you. Exactly what narrative do you think is being pushed?

There's no "narrative" being pushed on the public...where did you even get that from?

Right, but my point is that Disney doesn't need to rig a poll to do something. Disney and every theme park company can do whatever they please in essence.

A lower level executive will use a biased survey that provides desired results to allow them to 1) make a change they feel is important, or 2) prove to their higher ups that a decision they already made was the correct one, or 3) reinforce a higher-ups decision.

It has absolutely zero to do with any "narrative" and everything to do with corporate office politics. Would you like to be the person who was asked to conduct a survey by a superior that proved that superior wrong? Of course not...so you make sure the survey provides the feedback you want it to. You also wouldn't want to present a survey that proved one of your own decisions to have been the wrong one.

Biased surveys are easy to spot if you know what to look for. My favorite somewhat recent (and blatant) Disney example was the one about renaming Hollywood Studios. Every single available name choice read as if it were written by a six-year-old who didn't fully understand grammar. Low and behold...Hollywood Studios wasn't renamed aside from "Disney's" being added in front of the name. (It was pretty clear that whoever was involved in designing the survey didn't want the park to be renamed.)

The survey shown in screenshots above is maybe only the 3rd or 4th time I've ever seen a flat-out negative response available as a choice, and it's also likely the most straight-forward survey I've ever seen from Disney. Generally speaking, their surveys are moderately to heavily biased, full of loaded words and phrases, and severely limit the available negative responses (to one very specific detail, for example) if they allow any at all.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

There's no "narrative" being pushed on the public...where did you even get that from?

A lower level executive will use a biased survey that provides desired results to allow them to 1) make a change they feel is important, or 2) prove to their higher ups that a decision they already made was the correct one, or 3) reinforce a higher-ups decision.

It has absolutely zero to do with any "narrative" and everything to do with corporate office politics. Would you like to be the person who was asked to conduct a survey by a superior that proved that superior wrong? Of course not...so you make sure the survey provides the feedback you want it to. You also wouldn't want to present a survey that proved one of your own decisions to have been the wrong one.

Biased surveys are easy to spot if you know what to look for. My favorite somewhat recent (and blatant) Disney example was the one about renaming Hollywood Studios. Every single available name choice read as if it were written by a six-year-old who didn't fully understand grammar. Low and behold...Hollywood Studios wasn't renamed aside from "Disney's" being added in front of the name. (It was pretty clear that whoever was involved in designing the survey didn't want the park to be renamed.)

The survey shown in screenshots above is maybe only the 3rd or 4th time I've ever seen a flat-out negative response available as a choice, and it's also likely the most straight-forward survey I've ever seen from Disney. Generally speaking, their surveys are moderately to heavily biased, full of loaded words and phrases, and severely limit the available negative responses (to one very specific detail, for example) if they allow any at all.

If there isn't a narrative to be pushed why do you think the polls are rigged. If someone below the higher-ups wanted to prove something, is that not a narrative? And what do you think they're trying to prove?

 

[monothingie]

Then don't pay $150 to go. You're in Orlando, you've got choices.

Hooray for low standards!

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Hooray for low standards!

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Here they have new HD viewscreens and they waste them showing crappy puppet stick figure depictions of our beloved animated characters...why nerf down the animation????? Is it supposed to be cute???

I'm pretttttty sure those stick figures and the other animated aspects were all intentionally done for the purpose of cultural representation, not to be cute. There's details in this show that people don't even notice or care to notice.

 

[Vinnie Mac]

Oh I think the opposite. Give me the ROE soundtrack with the new toys.

This is a take I can agree with.

 

[DoleWhipDrea]

As someone with a background in entertainment, besides the very ugly barges destroying the beautiful views across the lagoon, Harm's biggest issue is that it's obvious that people working on the show were assigned their specific section (possibly having to do their work from home due to the pandemic) but that there wasn't much thought given to transitions. There isn't a following thread - it's just a mix of Disney songs performed in different languages, with one final song saying that "someday" perhaps we'll all get along. The "goodnight" at the end kind of encapsulates this.

The show has its moments. I find some of the sequences to be a lot of fun - I enjoy the "Wanna Be Like You" sequence with the spin they did with the music and accompanying art in terms of cultural representation. There's unfortunately a lot of barebones graphics throughout a lot of the show, though...and considering the technology that they get to use for this, I find it to be disappointing.

There hasn't been a lot of appreciation given to EPCOT (and WDW's) history recently past the plussed-up entrance, SSE's glow-up and merchandise releases, but I am really hoping that if this show is going to get a re-tooling, perhaps a new show could be what the fans - and new guests - would like to see in celebration of EPCOT's 40th anniversary.

 

[TikibirdLand]

You really think for one second that Disney needs your approval to do what they want? You really think one of the biggest companies on the planet need to rig a poll to do whatever they want with their money...?

Yes, yes I do. Thanks for polling for my opinion. But, next time, please provide a, b, c selections so that I can know what you're looking for.
They need these polls for internally justifying what they're doing. Internal politics cost a lot. I think those of us in business have experienced this.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

For what it's worth, I just took surveys from both Universal and Target. They had balanced answers and even a question on whether I thought the survey included responses that aligned to my actual feelings, and if they felt the company actually cared about my responses. I've never seen anything close to that in a Disney survey.

Survey bias is a very legitimate thing. And it is possible to try and look for that - assuming that honest feedback is your goal, of course...

 

[marni1971]

Right, but my point is that Disney doesn't need to rig a poll to do something. Disney and every theme park company can do whatever they please in essence.

They can. But this show had a rocky road to this point. Alarm bells are now ringing over this and a few other things.

Now if this is an attempt to justify the creation of the show, justify changing it or an honest check to see how bad things actually are time will tell. But this is one item of several that the higher ups are wanting answers about.

 

[TikibirdLand]

They can. But this show had a rocky road to this point. Alarm bells are now ringing over this and a few other things.

Now if this is an attempt to justify the creation of the show, justify changing it or an honest check to see how bad things actually are time will tell. But this is one item of several that the higher ups are wanting answers about.

There's a management technique called, Managing by Walking Around. Surveys are nice. But, they're inherently biased; you have to TRY to make sure you're getting answers that you may not like. However, if you get out into the theme parks and act as a guest, ride operator, backstage "roadie", you'll get a much better feeling for your decisions. Put a ball cap and bermuda shorts on Chapek and he'd blend in fine -- assuming his entourage isn't trailing. They should try it. It WILL be enlightening!

 

[castlecake2.0]

There's a management technique called, Managing by Walking Around. Surveys are nice. But, they're inherently biased; you have to TRY to make sure you're getting answers that you may not like. However, if you get out into the theme parks and act as a guest, ride operator, backstage "roadie", you'll get a much better feeling for your decisions. Put a ball cap and bermuda shorts on Chapek and he'd blend in fine -- assuming his entourage isn't trailing. They should try it. It WILL be enlightening!

This is something Disney really needs to push right now. Leaders should schedule undercover boss time and spend time in their operation as a guest and really see what the experience is like, it’s the easier and quickest way to get unbiased feedback and be able to see what’s working and what’s not.

They can. But this show had a rocky road to this point. Alarm bells are now ringing over this and a few other things.

Now if this is an attempt to justify the creation of the show, justify changing it or an honest check to see how bad things actually are time will tell. But this is one item of several that the higher ups are wanting answers about.

are the several things all Epcot things? Or across property. It’s good, I guess, to see that they realize they’ve got some things to sort out and not just pretending everything is fine and dandy. I am assuming let’s go fly a kite into the bleachers is also on their radar.

 

[harryk]

This is something Disney really needs to push right now. Leaders should schedule undercover boss time and spend time in their operation as a guest and really see what the experience is like, it’s the easier and quickest way to get unbiased feedback and be able to see what’s working and what’s not.

are the several things all Epcot things? Or across property. It’s good, I guess, to see that they realize they’ve got some things to sort out and not just pretending everything is fine and dandy. I am assuming let’s go fly a kite into the bleachers is also on their radar.

'let’s go fly a kite into the bleachers' Boy!!!was that disappointing after waiting around to see it and it was over sooooo quickly.
I don't know what I expected - but that was not it. Management seems to be putting on nonsense shows just to say that they have something new. Go back and look at previous shows and resurrect them if you can't come up with something better. Harmonious is in the same category - not good. All the years I watched Reflections I did note that the crowds did not diminish.