I believe most of what we're seeing on these Islands and the pilings in the water is for the LED screens that will be for the show. I'm sure the show will be very impressive technically and all around. The main issue is that Illuminations is really the perfect show to represent the World Showcase. Or at least it was in 1999.It will be hard to top the excellent Illuminations but they sure are putting a lot of work in it to top it.
Oh i'm not saying I agree with going this direction. I'd much rather have IllumiNations until the end of days than 'just another clip show', etc. My whole point was, as I stated near the end, was this is how I see it, that doesn't mean I necessarily agree with it.I think the fear, @Nick, stems not from simply that it's going to be a show revolving around characters/IP. The fear is that the eventual new show will feel just like any other Disney water/fireworks show, instead of something truly special.
IllumiNations feels like an event. From the mysterious buildup before it even starts, all the way through the end, it has weight and gravitas in addition to being a terrific nighttime spectacular. No other Disney show feels like it. And then there's the superb musical score, which is one of the best pieces ever written for the parks.
I have no doubt the new show will be a technical powerhouse, but if the substance is just a clips show of Disney songs and numbers we're already overexposed to (only with the foreign language audio track playing... because World Showcase!) strung together without some kind of bigger thematic point, I don't think anybody should be satisfied by that.
If I want to see a Disney characters and music extravaganza, I can already get that in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, so what's going to be special and unique about this new one to keep me in Epcot for the night instead of cutting out early?
Plus, the video is still pretty easy to find on Twitter.As a reminder, this is the concept art:
I kinda wonder why with build times being short for new night time shows Disney needs an in between show.
plus, having Epcot forever playing in the in-between time allows the to breathe a little. They won’t feel like they need to rush the show because there’s no nightly show at Epcot for however man months (which was something that was considered).It’s going to be complicated me thinks.
Let people get attached to the new show and like it...Then change it hahaI kinda wonder why with build times being short for new night time shows Disney needs an in between show.
So @Marni1971 has stated that the reason that the new show will be so IP focused isn't because of an unwillingness to do a show without IP again. It appears based on his comment that the decision came down to Rivers of Light.
He stated "The lack of IP in RoL and the perception that this is the main issue with the DAK show is directly to blame for IP coming to the Epcot show in such a large amount." This is of course the complete wrong takeaway Disney should have from RoL. The show wouldn't be any better with IP in it. The fact of the matter is the it is an incredibly poorly paced and just flat out dull show. I've seen it from the theater 1-2 times in total and a few times in passing since it debuted 2 years ago. I've been to DAK probably 10-15 times in that span, most of the time in later hours since that's the only time I can get to the parks anyway.
To bring it back around, we basically are getting HEA 2.0 simply because they created an IP-less show that was boring, received poor GSATs and hasn't been a draw to entice guests to stay late to watch it like I think they were hoping for. If they think this new show is going to be great, I almost guarantee it could happen without IP attached. Original songs could've always been curated for the show. The music for RoL is actually the one bright spot, imo.
Now that i've gone on that little rant... I can see why, from a business perspective, they wouldn't want to do another original show just years after they sunk A LOT of money into one that flopped hard.
Now maybe.Sooooooooo they'e unwilling to do a show without IP....