Harmonious at EPCOT: Info & Timeline for Disney World’s New Fireworks
Harmonious is a new nighttime spectacular currently being installed in EPCOT’s World Showcase Lagoon at Walt Disney World. It’s essentially a fireworks show on steroids–the permanent replacement for IllumiNations. This covers everything you need to know: when it’s likely to debut, construction photos, concept art, plus news, rumors, and speculation.
As background, Harmonious will be the largest ever Walt Disney World nighttime spectacular, and will celebrate how the music of Disney inspires people the world over. It will bring to World Showcase Lagoon an innovative toolkit of massive floating set pieces that house a variety of show effects, including custom-built LED panels, choreographed moving fountains, colorful lights, lasers, pyrotechnics and more.
Harmonious is a beautifully-crafted nighttime spectacular presenting a dreamscape of music and imagery from Disney animated films, reimagined by diverse cultural musicians and artists from around the world. Walt Disney Imagineering describes it as a “transformative experience, where we can discover how Disney music has the power to inspire and unite us all.”
While Harmonious has been a hot topic here and we’ve touched upon it in numerous posts, this is actually our first one dedicated solely to Harmonious. It’s actually based on a mothballed draft post from March of last year, which came on the heels of the Disney Parks Blog releasing new information and a preview of the show “set to debut later this year!”
Obviously, that did not happen and a lot changed only a few short weeks after that. In the ensuing months, it didn’t make much sense to discuss or speculate on Harmonious with every nighttime spectacular at Walt Disney World on temporary hiatus. While that’s still true, real world circumstances are improving dramatically and Harmonious installation progress is accelerating, so it’s appropriate to share what you can expect from Harmonious.
In the last couple of months, installation has begun on two of the four perimeter barges for Harmonious in World Showcase Lagoon. Additionally, D23 and Walt Disney Imagineering have offered some sneak peeks at ongoing work on the project.
From that, we know that Harmonious will use five enormous platforms to house the main show elements. Four of the aforementioned perimeter barges, which will feature double-sided LED walls standing 25-feet tall and have eight 54-foot-long moving arms along with moving lights, fountains, lasers, and more. These will surround a 6-story tall central ring structure and water curtain.
The appearance of these Harmonious platforms in World Showcase Lagoon provided controversial among Walt Disney World fans. Social media has torn into these, understandably so.
The key criticisms are that these block World Showcase sightlines and look like some Waterworld-inspired post-apocalyptic ramshackle floating community. Rather than piling on here, I’m going to take a “wait and see” position.
However, it’s a bit disingenuous to pretend World Showcase had exquisite sightlines before this. That would require ignoring the Swan & Dolphin hotels, Soarin’ show building, Test Track show building, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind show building, and more.
This isn’t to say Walt Disney World fans should eagerly accept further visual blight or intrusions, but the point is that views across the water haven’t been pristine and unspoiled for (literally) decades.
Moreover, when work is finished the Harmonious barges are going to function as fountains during the day. So long as they’re constantly running and cycling large amounts of water, they could look good. From that perspective, the bigger the barges…the bigger the fountains.
The views across World Showcase Lagoon are nice, but it’s also a huge and empty expanse, and colossal fountains during the day could add a good bit of kinetic energy to the park. This isn’t to say they’ll look as good as the concept art–I’m skeptical given how colossal and clunky they look right now–but judging the work-in-progress project as if it’s the finished product is premature.
The current construction progress leads us to the question of when will Harmonious debut at Walt Disney World? At one point, D23 released an update that the show was slated to debut in spring of last year. In subsequent Disney Parks Blog posts, the season was dropped. Nevertheless, credible rumors of a pre-summer debut persisted.
Since reopening, Walt Disney World has not offered a new opening date, season, or even year for Harmonious. However, it has been included in several previews focused on additions with 2021 opening dates. From that, it’s safe to deduce that Walt Disney World intends upon debuting Harmonious this year. It’s understandable that Disney won’t specifically state as much given the current uncertainties.
Unlike Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, work is not finished on Harmonious. As discussed above, the five barges are still being installed in World Showcase Lagoon, with programming, testing, and adjusting still in progress.
We have zero inside information, but based solely on the pace of observed progress over the last few months, there’s still likely another few months of this process ahead before Harmonious even could debut.
As with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, the real deciding factor on a Harmonious debut date is likely when it’s most advantageous for Disney to unveil a new nighttime spectacular. Until Walt Disney World has a better idea of when operational normalcy will be able to return, we’re not anticipating a specific opening date for Harmonious to be set or announced.
Our expectation is that Walt Disney World will schedule the debut date for Harmonious at a time when it’s likely physical distancing requirements and capacity reductions will be significantly relaxed. At this point, we’re probably looking at around Summer 2021 for that at the earliest.
While Walt Disney World has repeatedly stated that nighttime spectaculars are on hiatus due to physical distancing, that’s really only partly true. It’s also partly a convenient excuse. Fireworks cost a lot of money. Physical distancing means attendance limits, which in turn make costly entertainment and nighttime spectaculars difficult to justify.
With that said, EPCOT is the park where nighttime spectaculars could most plausibly first return from health safety and profitability perspectives. Unlike Magic Kingdom, where most guests congregate in the limited area of Main Street to watch Happily Ever After, World Showcase is massive, with ample space for a large number of guests. EPCOT also has a higher attendance cap than other parks, and is seeing the lowest utilization on average. Collectively, this makes the return of fireworks more advantageous at EPCOT than any other park.
The problem with debuting Harmonious in the next few months or even announcing an opening date right now is that this is the type of marketable addition that generates buzz and prompts guests to book and plan trips. While there are some tourists visiting Walt Disney World right now, it’s mostly locals.
Harmonious won’t immediately give EPCOT a shot in the arm…but that’s starting to change. As vaccines roll out and we start to turn the corner, there’s more optimism about the future and Americans are making vacation plans. If Walt Disney World is confident about being able relax physical distancing and bump up attendance a bit more, releasing a debut date for Harmonious might make sense in the near future.
Our predictions as to when that date might be are entirely guesses, ranging from Memorial Day to October 1, 2021. Summer is a real possibility, but we’d skew towards the fall end of that spectrum as it presents more certainty. We would rule out anything before May 2021 entirely. However, that’s not based on any credible rumor or insider info–it’s entirely speculative on our part.
As we continue to watch progress on the installation of Harmonious in World Showcase Lagoon and await official word from Walt Disney World, we’ll keep you posted and update this post accordingly with new information.
Ultimately, I’m cautiously optimistic about Harmonious. Ironically, before IllumiNations ended and Epcot Forever debuted, I wrote: “HarmonioUS looks a lot like World of Color, and the whole notion of a character-centric show on World Showcase Lagoon really makes me cringe. Part of me hopes that ‘due to guest demand’ Epcot Forever becomes permanent.” As it turned out, Epcot Forever was not very good and now I find myself really missing nighttime spectaculars.
EPCOT undeniably needs help in numerous ways, and it feels counterproductive for the fandom to drag our collective feet at every change. Harmonious could end up being a total dud, but it could also end up being a tremendous nighttime spectacular that, like World of Color before it, revitalizes a languishing theme park. At this point, IllumiNations and so much of old EPCOT Center is gone, and there’s no turning back. The future direction of the park is very different than its past, and even though I don’t love that in some ways, it’s certainly better than stagnation.
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Your Thoughts
Are you excited for Harmonious? Think it’ll be a nighttime spectacular worthy of Walt Disney World? If you’re an EPCOT Center purist, are you apprehensive that this will fit World Showcase? Expect it to be a culturally tasteful use of music and imagery from animated films, or do you think it’s inappropriate IP for World Showcase? When do you predict that Harmonious will debut? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I cat wait to see the new show. We will plan a trip around going to Epcot for the first time in years. I love fountains and the views across the lagoon weren’t stellar.
If they’re going to have 5 fountains, one 6 stories high, that’s going to be very noisy. People complained about the noise from the log cutters in Canada, wait until they experience the noise level this may produce. Also, on a windy day, those riding the boats may get a refreshing misting if riding outside. I agree with those who don’t think this compares to Swan/Dolphin or rides set back from the lake as they are not dead center of the lake blocking views of the countries. They might as well have centered the 6 story ring and made a walking bridge over the lake through the ring creating a shorter way to the back of the park.
It will be interesting to see what the noise level is like, I hadn’t considered that. But I do agree with regard to sightlines. I’d love if sightlines were factored in more in general, but definitely think there’s a difference between intrusions being somewhat more peripheral vs front and center and squirting water. Otherwise logic would say put a drop tower in front of Spaceship Earth and when people call it an eyesore Disney can just ask “haven’t you seen the Swan and Dolphin?”.
Although I’m so sad to see IllumiNations go, all good things must come to an end. I’m excited to see what this show holds. I agree with the appearance of the set pieces/barges and how they block the 360 view of the park. However, hopefully like IllumiNations, the set pieces/barges will be stored out of sight and driven out.
They won’t be. They’re permanent.
I’m most excited to hear the music. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Illuminations (especially the score) and I can’t wait to be on the edge of World Showcase Lagoon seeing Harmonious in person, probably with tears streaming down my face as they were the first time I saw the Happily Ever After fireworks at the Magic Kingdom just two short years ago.
Would argue World Showcase views were pretty pristine. Swolphin and the Guardians building etc were all behind the lake when you looked across. There’s a reason water views are priced higher at the resorts. Sometimes it’s nice to look out at the water. What makes these barges a blight is that they interrupt a view of a pretty lake; not what is on the other side of the lake.
I suspect that those saying the water features will eventually get turned off for maintenance issues and cost are on the money.
As for when we’ll actually see the new show? Disney just committed to social distancing measures thru this year into 2022, so fireworks and nighttime shows will be right out the window as too dangerous. Until Disney stops getting scared of their own shadow, we’ll be lucky if we see Harmonious this year at all.
Yep, scared of their own shadow, or perhaps their unions and the California governor who keeps Disneyland closed. Until they realize that wearing masks outdoors is as silly as wearing them on the city sidewalks and beaches, it will be many months for this to debut.
I agree that the notion these will be continually operating is wishful thinking. And even if they are, instead of an ugly metal monstrosity to look at we’ll have an ugly metal monstrosity that squirts water. Yay?
I also wish they would have filled the entire lagoon with World of Color/Bellagio fountains. That would have been truly spectacular! If I ever win one of those billion dollar lotteries, I’ll pay to make this happen.
Marc I couldn’t agree more. Fireworks are great but fountains themselves can be serious entertainment when lit properly and timed to music. I always thought that would be the perfect solution to Animal Kingdom’s need for a good nighttime show…
I can’t help but see a pentagram in the name at the top of the page.
How long did IllumiNations last – 20 years? They are not going to pay the cost to run fountains to cover that mess past a year or two. Three years top.
As soon as the show wears long , they will stop the fountains.
It’s complicated. “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth” ran for 20 years, from 1999-2019. However, there were a couple different iterations of “IllumiNations” from 1988-1999 before the the RoE version showed up.
Your point is well-taken, though. We’ll have to see how the daytime fountains are doing after a few years.
Yup – appears that those barges have a lot of expensive technical stuff on-board and pouring water non-stop will most likely quickly take a toll. Only a matter of time when they will decide to stop replacing that stuff and just stop the fountains
Really hope you’re wrong…but very much fear you’re not based upon past precedent.
Looks good so far. Just hope that’s not another Stargate that will unleash otherworldly creatures. Although that would be a heck of a nightime show.
I wish I could upvote your comment! That *would* be a great nighttime show! And they’d easily be able to tie it into an IP. . . such as Marvel lol. I always wonder why they didn’t put in similar fountains to DCA which seem to have longevity and flexibility with what could be done on a seasonal or annual basis.
Yeah, I’m definitely hoping that *does* happen.
Regarding the visual blight concern, it’s also important to remember that the even though the Illuminations barges were mobile, the techs had to spend hours towing them out into the lagoon every single afternoon. There were pristine sightlines across the water in the morning hours, but by lunchtime there were already ugly barges floating out there.
I always thought that ‘if the barges are going to be out in the lagoon all day anyway, why do they even bother to tow them all offstage every night?’
Given the choice, I’d rather have permanent barges *that are designed to be seen in daylight* over really ugly temporary ones that are out in the lagoon for most of the day anyway.
I see your point, but in fairness, these barges are WAY bigger than the IllumiNations barges, and there are only 2 of 5 out thus far. They’re much more noticeable.
It’s also fair to say these weren’t really designed to be out permanently. The fountain aspect was added as an afterthought when they realized they would be keeping them in the lagoon permanently. So, lipstick on a pig more than anything.
Giant Waterworld inspired tacos is what I see when I look at those barges without water.
Even if it doesn’t end up being the best thing ever, I’d imagine it will be pretty cool. I’m also one of the dozen or so people who liked Rivers of Light…I’m just a sucker for a Disney nighttime show I suppose.
“I’m also one of the dozen or so people who liked Rivers of Light…”
I would also say I liked Rivers of Light, although it was primarily for the score and unique quality.
Also safe to say I’ll watch Harmonious more in one month than I saw Rivers of Light in the entirety of its run.
I absolutely loved Rivers of Light, I had no idea it was almost universally disliked.