Harmonious

[Magic Feather]

Well, I mean, it really seems like they had no choice. There's no way they were leaving the bridge open for so long every single day. But I think it just shows that this show was either poorly designed/not well enough thought out or they picked the cheaper show out of the possibilities when they were choosing the Illuminations replacement and this is the price we have to pay due to that. I remember hearing the other option on the table was much better.

This wasn’t the cheap option.

 

[GAcoaster]

This wasn’t the cheap option.

Nothing Disney does is the "Cheap" option, the finished product just looks cheap sometimes...

This was a cheaper option than the submersible platforms of World of Color, especially in that lagoon with all of its challenges.

 

[Nick]

Nothing Disney does is the "Cheap" option, the finished product just looks cheap sometimes...

This was a cheaper option than the submersible platforms of World of Color, especially in that lagoon with all of its challenges.

There was another option on the table though that I know pretty much all insiders agreed they liked better at the time. So if this was more expensive than that, why'd they choose this? What made this beast so special.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

What made this beast so special.

 

[belloq87]

It certainly seems that way. Look at how perfectly Princess and the Frog will fit at Disneyland compared to how out-of-place it will feel at Magic Kingdom.

Everything I've read about Imagineering is that almost everyone in there is extremely California-centric. I'd like it much better if teams were dispersed to every park and had home bases there, where proposals for those parks would originate with them, then be fed back to California's Imagineering HQ for approval/discussion/further development/etc. Instead, it seems to be the other way around.

 

[shiekra38]

Everything I've read about Imagineering is that almost everyone in there is extremely California-centric. I'd like it much better if teams were dispersed to every park and had home bases there, where proposals for those parks would originate with them, then be fed back to California's Imagineering HQ for approval/discussion/further development/etc. Instead, it seems to be the other way around.

Wait....I thought we had an imagineering headquarters in FL

 

[belloq87]

There is an Imagineering office on WDW property (perhaps several, I'm not sure). But I think they're more involved in execution of ideas, not conception.

 

[Mad Dog]

There is an Imagineering office on WDW property (perhaps several, I'm not sure). But I think they're more involved in execution of ideas, not conception.

They need to 'Execute' the FUGLY barges.

 

[shiekra38]

There is an Imagineering office on WDW property (perhaps several, I'm not sure). But I think they're more involved in execution of ideas, not conception.

I do know one wing of the building is used to store all of Joe Rhode's matcha tea

 

[Magic Feather]

I do know one wing of the building is used to store all of Joe Rhode's matcha tea

No, that's what the WDI annex by AKL is for.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Everything I've read about Imagineering is that almost everyone in there is extremely California-centric. I'd like it much better if teams were dispersed to every park and had home bases there, where proposals for those parks would originate with them, then be fed back to California's Imagineering HQ for approval/discussion/further development/etc. Instead, it seems to be the other way around.

It's been that way since day one. When the Magic Kingdom opened, it was like they didn't even consider rain... queues out in the open, drainage designed for .01" rainfalls... even when I worked there (in '74-'77) they were still trying to fix things up. At least the lessons were learned by the time Pirates and Space Mountain opened.

 

[HandsomePete]

There was another option on the table though that I know pretty much all insiders agreed they liked better at the time. So if this was more expensive than that, why'd they choose this? What made this beast so special.

1) George has a soft spot for Epcot.
2) Go big or go home.

Also, people can say that big picture it looks cheap (colloquial) but looking at those barges in detail, they are clearly not cheap.

I suspect that some people had a preference for something that was more traditional Illuminations with a pyro/country focus versus this screen-based thing. But the reality is that even if they saw the creative for two options, you can't really say which is "better" for something like this until it's built in the real. For example, the creative for the Star Wars fireworks looks good on paper... until the fireworks get moved off-angle and across World Drive instead of literally in your face.

 

[Disneyhead]

I believe this is a Steve Davidson show.

 

[Nick]

1) George has a soft spot for Epcot.
2) Go big or go home.

Also, people can say that big picture it looks cheap (colloquial) but looking at those barges in detail, they are clearly not cheap.

I suspect that some people had a preference for something that was more traditional Illuminations with a pyro/country focus versus this screen-based thing. But the reality is that even if they saw the creative for two options, you can't really say which is "better" for something like this until it's built in the real. For example, the creative for the Star Wars fireworks looks good on paper... until the fireworks get moved off-angle and across World Drive instead of literally in your face.

To be sure, I never said this looked cheap from a technical standpoint. This was obviously a very expensive show from the start.

It DOES look tacky though. And money sometimes can't fix tackiness.

 

[Grabnar]

I do know one wing of the building is used to store all of Joe Rhode's matcha tea

^^^ The real reason he's retiring: they need the space.

Do we have any concept art of what these, ugly as **** aesthetically challenged barges will look like in the show? Maybe they have a great personality or are funny or something.

 

[JoeCamel]

^^^ The real reason he's retiring: they need the space.

Do we have any concept art of what these, ugly as **** aesthetically challenged barges will look like in the show? Maybe they have a great personality or are funny or something.

I haven't seen art of the show but they have a huge curved arm that raises up and can rotate so I expect waving water canons at some point. I don't think it will play well on a windy night though.. Wait and see for now

 

[belloq87]

Do we have any concept art of what these, ugly as **** aesthetically challenged barges will look like in the show? Maybe they have a great personality or are funny or something.

I haven't seen art of the show but they have a huge curved arm that raises up and can rotate so I expect waving water canons at some point. I don't think it will play well on a windy night though.. Wait and see for now

Curved arms with spotlights on them! Not a pavilion in sight! You can just feel the timelessness, the relevance, the family, the Disney!

 

[Grabnar]

Oh man that's hot garbage. I went to Childish Gambino's last tour and it was basically this but better.

I think you could make this suck *less* by doing something akin to the AK tree with some projection mapping effects that highlights individual pavilions and SSE randomly after sunset, but that doesn't fix the views.

 

[Disneyhead]

I'm betting this show will be pretty darned good. Not really what we wanted, but plenty of WOW factor. Hopefully using Moana, they can add some faux depth.

Is it wrong that I just really don't care anymore? Epcot is NEVER going to be what it was, and it's God awful now, so whatever. Tequila shots and eye candy!!! Whoooo Epcot!

 

[Nick]

I'm betting this show will be pretty darned good. Not really what we wanted, but plenty of WOW factor. Hopefully using Moana, they can add some faux depth.

Is it wrong that I just really don't care anymore? Epcot is NEVER going to be what it was, and it's God awful now, so whatever. Tequila shots and eye candy!!! Whoooo Epcot!

I sort of don't care anymore either since Epcot is so far from what it was. I don't even care if they put IP character rides in every country. I almost welcome it at this point since it would at least flesh out WS with rides. Sure it would dilute the park a bit, but since there's not a chance in hell of an original ride getting made, I just don't care anymore.

This show just seems lazy in that they have to leave it out there, though.