News Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

[MisterPenguin]

Refusing to float the barges out nightly was the single greatest misstep of this project.

I was holding off being critical of the Stargate until I saw it in action. And now, I'll be critical: Wasn't worth it.

First, a water screen's primary use is to be a screen. Which means it needs to present a clearly visible image. RoL failed at that when there was a slight breeze. And Harm fails at that by having the screen so far away that the translucent image is still too small and too faint to make out what's happening. Not to mention that its image can only be seen from about 30% of the people around the lagoon due to its fixed angle.

And its failure as a screen is amplified by the comparison to the tacos, which had clear, bright images.

The second purpose of a water screen is to not be there when the show isn't running. Take Fantasmic!, e.g.; its water screens work because they're big, and close, and they go away for the rest of the show. Imagine if the riverboat had to navigate past several large permanent screens. Water screens are supposed to go away when not in use. The Stargate doesn't go away.

It would have been better if there were giant arms lying on a barge that raised up for the show and spouted water screens. We see the arms in action. That could have done the trick. But then WDW decided on a Stargate and built it too big to trot out once a day.

It would have been better to fill the Stargate with more LED panels than stick with a water screen.

Even so much better: A giant globe mirroring SSE that was all LED. Much, much bigger than RoE's globe. And raised higher. It could have had an image of Earth during the day, and then been a show-stopper at night. And easily seen by people who were ten deep in a crowd at the lagoon's edge.

Things that happen on the surface of the lagoon can only be seen by the the first few rows of people along the shore. People further back only see the backs of other people. People in the crowds will at least see the colored fountains and the fireworks, but the images on the screens will be blocked for them.

Now, what's there can be salvaged for a much better show. But, unfortunately, what's there has inherent limitations built into them that the show has to find workarounds for.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I don't hate it. I like a lot of it. But it is missing something. I do think it would benefit from a little more pyro, especially at the finale, and a little bit more narration or musical theme to interlude the various segments.

I mean my ideal choice would have been a spiritual successor to reflections of Earth, but for what the show tries to do.,. It's fine. Just needs a little tweaking around the edges.

I agree with that. Lacks a bit of polish. I think the tech is fabulous (even though I obviously wish it was portable). I really don’t think this needs to suffer RoL’s fate. That show had no impact on me and wasn’t even pleasing to look at.

 

[ChristianG]

Visually - it's cool. Kind of messy, but works really well at certain moments. Otherwise, I'm not in love. The lack of flow or purpose is detrimental to the show and its legacy. What's the point? One Disney song after another. Not even in the order of the World Showcase which, in my opinion, would at least give the show some sort of purpose. At the end of the day, it's cool but not worth the terrible day time views and loss of ROE.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I was holding off being critical of the Stargate until I saw it in action. And now, I'll be critical: Wasn't worth it.

First, a water screen's primary use is to be a screen. Which means it needs to present a clearly visible image. RoL failed at that when there was a slight breeze. And Harm fails at that by having the screen so far away that the translucent image is still too small and too faint to make out what's happening. Not to mention that it's image can only be seen from about 30% of the people around the lagoon due to its fixed angle.

And its failure as a screen is amplified by the comparison to the tacos, which had clear, bright images.

The second purpose of a water screen is to not be there when the show isn't running. Take Fantasmic!, e.g.; its water screens work because they're big, and close, and they go away for the rest of the show. Imagine if the riverboat had to navigate past several large permanent screens. Water screens are supposed to go away when not in use. The Stargate doesn't go away.

It would have been better if there were giant arms lying on a barge that raised up for the show and spouted water screens. We see the arms in action. That could have done the trick. But then WDW decided on a Stargate and built it too big to trot out once a day.

It would have been better to fill the Stargate with more LED panels than stick with a water screen.

Even so much better: A giant globe mirroring SSE that was all LED. Much, much bigger than RoE's globe. And raised higher. It could have had an image of Earth during the day, and then been a show-stopper at night. And easily seen by people who were ten deep in a crowd at the lagoon's edge.

Things that happen on the surface of the lagoon can only be seen by the the first few rows of people along the shore. People further back only see the backs of other people. People in the crowds will at least see the colored fountains and the fireworks, but the images on the screens will be blocked for them.

Now, what's there can be salvaged for a much better show. But, unfortunately, what's there has inherent limitations built into them that the show has to find workarounds for.

I could tolerate the tacos being out all day better if the Stargate were, as you suggest, a giant globe floated out nightly.

I like tacos. Off-center donuts do nothing for me. Also, keep the arms down all day so it is a surprise when they come up. They shouldn’t be up for hours on end like they are having a bad reaction to Viagra. See a doctor, man!

 

[Phicinfan]

I could tolerate the tacos being out all day better if the Stargate were, as you suggest, a giant globe floated out nightly.

I like tacos. Off-center donuts do nothing for me. Also, keep the arms down all day so it is a surprise when they come up. They shouldn’t be up for hours on end like they are having a bad reaction to Viagra. See a doctor, man!

Why would you not take the advantage of the tacos during the day? Play some of the EPCOT music, and have visuals and such to not just have them sitting there taking up space.

I also have to ask, why not make the center donut just a full screen as the tacos, other than cost maybe?

 

[ToTBellHop]

Why would you not take the advantage of the tacos during the day? Play some of the EPCOT music, and have visuals and such to not just have them sitting there taking up space.

I also have to ask, why not make the center donut just a full screen as the tacos, other than cost maybe?

It was a small attempt to respect the views in the lagoon. At least you can see through a donut.

I understand they didn’t want to over-engineer these things so that they would break in 5 minutes, but the donut really doesn’t work in World Showcase for an outdoor theater-in-the-round. A definite misstep. A globe respects the previous lagoon shows and allows you to highlight the nations where the music comes from.

I‘d build a new centerpiece.

 

[Phicinfan]

It was a small attempt to respect the views in the lagoon. At least you can see through a donut.

Ahh... uh except...no not really? Oh well, I still am baffled by lack of not using the Taco's through the day for displays and potential entertainment as folks sit and enjoy festival food and liquor..

 

[ToTBellHop]

Ahh... uh except...no not really? Oh well, I still am baffled by lack of not using the Taco's through the day for displays and potential entertainment as folks sit and enjoy festival food and liquor..

You are supposed to be riding all of the rides or drunk or both.

 

[Bananaswift]

That was disappointing. Having watched two different videos, it didn't get better. People couldn't even tell that was the finale... I think it is telling that my two year old who has loved watching and has been enthralled by RoE, HEA, WoC, July 4th on my TV/computer was fidgety and trying to do other things instead. I pulled up EPCOT Forever immediately after this, and he was again enthralled. (I wouldn't consider EF a masterpiece, but compared to this it had much better flow/story and energy.)

Among all of the other things mentioned in this thread (particularly music and flow), I feel that a big issue is from the show hardware itself. You know where to look. There's very little to keep you looking around, because it is designed for you to look at the stargate and taco screens. Other good Disney shows seemed to be designed to keep you looking around, not knowing where the next firework, element, or even projection will be. The use of the pavilion lights and lasers seemed like an afterthought. Shoot, the fireworks almost seem tacked on most of the time, like the show was designed without them. The element of surprise is also lacking. Once you've seen the arms move and light up, it's all variations of that throughout the show. RoE had the "surprise" of the moving globe with the additional surprise of it opening and containing the telescoping torch. WoC has the surprise of lasers, fire, the lights added to California Screamin'/Incredicoaster, and the blast at the end that sends the entire lagoon 50' in the air. Even EPCOT Forever had the kites and the kites with fireworks.

This seems to have been designed by someone from California with no idea or respect of the venue where it is staged. Probably the same people who have the EPCOT ending of Soarin' flying out of the park into the fireworks coming from the parking lot when they could have flown into the park with the fireworks from the end of RoE over the lagoon. This definitely needs a rework.

 

[Mander]

Visually - it's cool. Kind of messy, but works really well at certain moments. Otherwise, I'm not in love. The lack of flow or purpose is detrimental to the show and its legacy. What's the point? One Disney song after another. Not even in the order of the World Showcase which, in my opinion, would at least give the show some sort of purpose. At the end of the day, it's cool but not worth the terrible day time views and loss of ROE.

Yeah the lack of connection to World Showcase stood out to me. I really though they'd connect the chosen Disney music to each specific pavilion- then maybe have those pavilions light up or something? It just felt so disconnected! I realized I was never going to love it as much as Illuminations but given all the HEA comparisons, I'd hoped I would like it that much. Disney can tell good stories with their IP, this just seems like a miss.

Also so few fireworks, that made me sad too. Hopefully it is better in person.

 

[Ayla]

Anyone else take the news this morning like:

Ok so Kitetails and Harmoneous fell flat among guests…QUICK…release the news about new magic bands and guardians of the galaxy coaster opening!!!

Yep, tons of news coming out this morning to distract from the bad PR of yesterday's KiteTails and Harmonious. They've both been panned across the internet on all social media.

 

[Ayla]

I’ve read all the posts and caught up. I now realize a lot of people only watched the official Disney video, which isn’t a great representation of what it actually looks like.

Disney doesn’t usually do a great job when they stream these… they always zoom in and make weird camera choices.

On the ground POVs certainly make the scope seem larger and better.

Honestly… I think if they added a theme song of sorts, and a better narrative thread, it would fix most the issues people have. The bones are there.

I watched the WDW Magic video.

Someone earlier mentioned the crews that worked so hard on this and they definitely deserve praise. From a technical standpoint, it looked like everything worked as it should have and that alone is recognition-worthy.

I'm not knocking the people who actually make the show happen when I criticize it. I'm knocking the people who came up with the current concept and content.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That’s what I mean though, I picture the producers being like “if we could just tweak this and re record that etc it would be perfect!” But they had no money left to do such thing. It’s like when they were working on black cauldron and eventually the higher ups were like “you have $0 left”. They wanted and knew they had things to fix but there was just no money left to do it.

Then they shouldn’t have wasted the huge sum of money they were given. Like most things for years now, lack of funds is not a problem.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Radical thought - Why not have an original song/score, and each country around WSL can sing part of it, or sing the chorus in their native language? That would be “inclusive”, and provide a cohesive thread throughout the show. Nah, that would never resonate with guests like songs from random Disney movies would…

 

[Cliff]

The ending of Harmonious was REALLY cool when they lit up the LED light's on Spaceship Earth. I think THAT was well done by Disney and was the best part of HarmonioUS.

 

[James Alucobond]

Radical thought - Why not have an original song/score, and each country around WSL can sing part of it, or sing the chorus in their native language? That would be “inclusive”, and provide a cohesive thread throughout the show. Nah, that would never resonate with guests like songs from random Disney movies would…

I’ve often thought this would be great, especially if they did a low-key version of it that played during the day and shifted to regional instrumentation as you went from pavilion to pavilion with a “neutral” throughline that plays in the spaces between.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I watched the WDW Magic video.

Someone earlier mentioned the crews that worked so hard on this and they definitely deserve praise. From a technical standpoint, it looked like everything worked as it should have and that alone is recognition-worthy.

I'm not knocking the people who actually make the show happen when I criticize it. I'm knocking the people who came up with the current concept and content.

There are certainly creative choices that I believe could be reworked to make a stronger show, but I still don’t agree with the doom and gloom on here.

I also feel it’s become a bit of a duty to try and share some positivity. Life is so depressing lately, and all that happens these days is a giant grump fest.

And I don’t want myself mistaken as some Disney schill. I’ve had a long career on Disney boards and shared my own criticisms, complaints, and anger with decisions they’ve made before.

But for me… this show has in no way earned most of the vitriol on this thread and on social media.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I reached out because folks want to know the story. The theme is “music brings us together” and the vignettes are meant to show music bringing people together to make a better world by building a mutual sense of curiosity, respect, and friendship.

So it is an Epcot theme. Maybe some dialogue to explain that? A theme like this is admittedly a bit above the average American. That’s Epcot. The thought was “make them understand using music they know.”

I tip my hat to the creators on attempting to make an Epcot show within their boss’s parameters. Some of the comments here feel unfair.

I’m told the in-park response was not as negative as the online response.

 

[MisterPenguin]

So.. umm... whatever happened to the Compass theme early rumors mentioned?

 

[Disstevefan1]

To me, Harmonious is OK, not great, just OK.

But like Genie, G+, LL, and pay-per-ride, it’s here now and there is nothing any of us can do about it.

Probably if I watch it enough I will get begin to like Harmonious more as time goes on.

It’s too bad the portal does not turn. There are only two spots to get a good look at it. This gotta cause crowding at those spots.