More equipment staged in World Showcase lagoon to begin work on EPCOT's new nighttime spectacular

May 03, 2023 in "Harmonious"

Gallery / 3 Photos
Poseidon barges in World Showcase lagoon

Posted: Wednesday May 3, 2023 1:36pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

As work continues dismantling Harmonious backstage, crews continue to assemble more equipment in World Showcase lagoon to prepare for EPCOT's new nighttime spectacular.

Poseidon barges in World Showcase lagoon

Multiple poseidon barges have been docked in the lagoon for several weeks, and additional equipment is now being staged on the floating work platforms.

Poseidon barges in World Showcase lagoon

EPCOT's new nighttime show, set to debut this fall, will have a much simpler hardware setup than Harmonious. It remains to be seen what additional work is needed in the lagoon, but the poseidon work barges suggest there may be new mooring points for additional firework barges.

Poseidon barges in World Showcase lagoon

Two of the Harmonious barges are still in the lagoon, awaiting space in the backstage marina before being scrapped.

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gerarar2 hours ago

DVC Moonlight Magic at Epcot was held the other night (4/30). The 5-mins firework show was pretty much the same show as last year. No changes in terms of Luminous barges usage – all were used for lights and fountain effects. An additional 2 WW3 barges and 4 regular barges were brought out to facilitate the pyro. Perimeters were also used again. There were some standard pyro swaps compared to last year like different colored comets and mimes. Some fans got subbed. The finale also felt like it had more booms and crackles, imo. Timestamped livestream:

Chef idea Mickey`=19 days ago

Some might say the normies today are about the familiar characters and IP. Oldies fandom and nerds would say "otherwise" keep Epcot, Epcot. Then there's the whole Iger/Chapek retransformation of Epcot with being more kid family friendly and Disney. I suppose Luminous gives out for us both. Illumination's 2.0 isn't unlikely, had the budget for Harmonious been saved a much bigger Luminous or Illumination's 2.0 would fit the bill, if you don't have a Globe, you got Spacship Earth, however you can't do Illumination's greatness without the inferno erupting fire. 🔥

Touchdown19 days ago

*Cough* Animal Kingdom *Cough* Park a barge in the middle of the lake, add some fountains and flamethrowers/roman candles nearer the seating. Boom AK has a proper night show again. Keeping the drones to just AK makes that show unique and more desirable.

TTA9419 days ago

If there’s more planned than just a few song swaps I wonder if they might look to the new show coming to Paris. It appears somewhat similar in terms of fountains but it will also include water screens and drones. Hopefully add in fire effects as well. I know many on here believe drones=less fireworks. Question is could they operate drones in WSL safely? I feel like Epcot would be the safest park for drones over the others.

TheMaxRebo20 days ago

For what it is worth, below are the ratings for the last three nighttime shows at EPCOT per Touring Plans. Luminous seems to be about equal to Illuminations (though that showed higher ratings amongst older guests whereas Illuminations is more evenly split) and both higher that Harmonius (though that did better with grade school kids) I think the issue with Hamonious (more than just the ratings out of 5 stars) was the active complaints they got about the barges during the day and that the angles to properly see it weren't good for a lot of the upcharge viewing areas - dining areas (so restaurants complained), the private party areas, the firework cruises that parked over by the bridge to France, etc) - so there was a direct monetary impact Harmonious doesn't have those issues and ratings seem good enough that it doesn't need to be replaced - tweaked, sure, but not replaced

jrhwdw20 days ago

IDK if I like the word: Bully.....Esp if DE "had to go"......... It really didn't work at Epcot....We got Luminous after EF 2023 and still no Tags outside of July 4th/NYE

Giss Neric20 days ago

If fans were able to bully Disney for HEA to return, then why can't they bully Disney for Illuminations 2.0? Does Luminous have a high customer satisfaction rate? From what I've been hearing from people who watched it personally, this show is quite polarizing.

Chef idea Mickey`=21 days ago

I use to thought POE was an Illumination's ROE special especially that it hasn't returned so it was a thing revolving with the Earth Globe, however given now that Spaceship Earth is now a revolving Globe in itself it doesn't need it.

jrhwdw21 days ago

I picked F&W because of Epcot's Birthday. Crazy that we haven't seen POE Tag since 2018! Epcot had to know it was popular.

stuart21 days ago

Hopefully the Heartbeat of Freedom tag finale returns to the middle of the lagoon this year. It lost a lot of it's 'wow factor' being behind the American Adventure. The hogmanay one just there i'm sure was over the middle of the lagoon.

Epcot82Guy21 days ago

I think there are arguments either way - and I think that supports the point. It's a matter of WHEN not IF for these. Plus, you could easily tie them into the SSE seasonal displays. Make it kind of a package thing, adding to the carry through of the EPCOT anthem into Luminous. It is one thing where they have cohesive theme from the redo in a very compelling way.

jrhwdw21 days ago

Epcot should be F&W. IDK what POE Tag is waiting for.....

Epcot82Guy21 days ago

If there were changes, I would push for festival/holiday tags. POE is a slam dunk waiting to happen. Heartbeat of Freedom goes right in line with the story (or any version of it). You could easily do a creative original one (or, ugh..., Disney medley) for F&W and F&G. A version of the EPCOT Tag for FOTA. They could also be reserved for weekends or certain days to save costs, if needed. You have a relatively easy way to plus the show and adjust those as needed.