Harmonious

[Nick]

 

[tielo]

It will be hard to top the excellent Illuminations but they sure are putting a lot of work in it to top it.

 

[Nick]

It will be hard to top the excellent Illuminations but they sure are putting a lot of work in it to top it.

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.

Illuminations is certainly an amazing spectacle (of course the middle third of the show has always been rather boring). Many don't like that this next iteration will be more like a a World Showcase version of HEA. But just like the Future World that all EPCOT Center fans reminisce about hasn't existed since the early 90's, World Showcase is rapidly changing to add in characters - this wasn't a thing back in 1999. Frozen in Norway, Ratatouille (& BatB sing-a-long) in France, Mushu is rumored to be added to the new version of Reflections of China, Mary Poppins rumors for the UK, etc, etc. Plus the various M&Gs throughout.

Point is, this isn't your parents World Showcase. When the park opened, a lot of the point of the pavilions was to sell you on traveling there. Some even had booths to book vacations. That idea is now totally out the window and the WS has become nicely themed areas to represent countries... with a Disney twist. So while many (myself included) may be sad to see Illuminations go, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they are adding characters and Disney songs to the new show.

After all, as Chapek preached, they want to make Epcot more Disney. This is going to accomplish that goal. At least in their eyes. And the way I see it, the show will likely represent what World Showcase currently offers better than it currently Illuminations does, which is what they probably want.

EDIT: wow, sorry for going on and on here. Just trying to give my perspective on how I see Illuminations versus the new show.

 

[belloq87]

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?

 

[Nick]

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?

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.

When I take a step back and look at the attempts they are making at integrating characters into different pavilions, Rat being built, etc, I can see how this sort of change makes sense to the more Disney folks running the parks, though.

 

[Nick]

 

[belloq87]

That would lead me to believe Disney intends to leave that structure out in the open for quite a while. Which would be extremely lazy and unfortunate.

 

[Nick]

As a reminder, this is the concept art:

 

[WAJAS]

As a reminder, this is the concept art:

Plus, the video is still pretty easy to find on Twitter.

 

[bob albert]

I kinda wonder why with build times being short for new night time shows Disney needs an in between show.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I kinda wonder why with build times being short for new night time shows Disney needs an in between show.

It’s going to be complicated me thinks.

 

[Nick]

It’s going to be complicated me thinks.

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).

 

[shiekra38]

I kinda wonder why with build times being short for new night time shows Disney needs an in between show.

Let people get attached to the new show and like it...Then change it haha

 

[Nick]

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.

 

[belloq87]

I actually like Rivers of Light (maybe because I don't look at it as a nighttime spectacular, but more along the lines of an epilogue for the day at the park), but this gives me a reason to be annoyed with its existence.

If there was only room for one IP-less nighttime show, I'd much rather it be in Epcot.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

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.

Sooooooooo they'e unwilling to do a show without IP....

 

[UniversalRBLX]

If they can keep the intro and the finale the same, and just switch the middle to include IPs, I'm fine with it.

 

[Nick]

Sooooooooo they'e unwilling to do a show without IP....

Now maybe.

The point was that had Rivers of Light been received well, they had a concept ready to go that didn’t involve IPs. That shows a level of willingness to me. The show was supposed to be grand and unfortunately ended up feeling rather small.

 

[Nick]

The newly added inward facing lights are interesting. If drones do happen for the new show (which I don't have reason to believe yet), this would seem to be the takeoff/landing/storage space.

 

[GAcoaster]

I just can't believe they are going to incorporate jet skis in this, but that's the rumor I heard.