EPCOT Forever expected to return to Walt Disney World for a third time

Sep 14, 2022 in "Epcot Forever"

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EPCOT Forever 2.0 preview show

Posted: Wednesday September 14, 2022 8:46am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Following Disney's announcement that EPCOT's Harmonious nighttime spectacular will be closing in 2023, attention turns to the likely line-up of the park's nighttime shows during the year.

Harmonious is confirmed to close in 2023

Although not announced, the final performance of Harmonious will likely occur alongside the conclusion of Walt Disney World's 50th celebration on March 31 2023.

We don't have an opening date for the currently unnamed new show, but Disney has given the vague timeline of late 2023. Should Harmonious end on March 31, and the new show make its debut in late 2023, expect to see EPCOT Forever return as an interim show.

EPCOT Forever will likely return for the third time to EPCOT

Originally developed as an interim show to be performed between Reflections of Earth and Harmonious, EPCOT Forever requires little specific hardware in the lagoon, relying primarily on mobile launch platforms that can be brought out into the lagoon each day.

EPCOT Forever

The first version of EPCOT Forever that debuted on October 1 2019 featured fireworks and stunt kites. and played until Walt Disney World's closure in 2020. The show resumed on July 1 2021 as firework shows returned to Walt Disney World after the pandemic shutdown. The second version dropped the stunt kites, but added more fireworks in their place. Its last performance was September 28 2021, making way for Harmonious on September 29.

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TheMaxRebo10 hours ago

As someone who didn't care for Luminous it brought down that whole special to me 😂

Bocabear11 hours ago

That filming was gorgeous...and the show looks amazing! Wow!!

Epcot82Guy11 hours ago

The little details in this show are really great. Not quite I:ROE symbolism, but absolutely cut from a similar cloth. Watching the color swaps and combos in You'll be in my Heart. The fountain motion and shapes in many scenes. The luminary fountains in Remember Me. There's a lot to really like here if you pay attention to it.

osian12 hours ago

Wonderful, thank you for posting that. Still stunned as to how clever Beating of our Hearts is. So many tricks, completly synchronised to the music and the lyrics, the pyro etc are a visual interpretation of the song. Love the syncopation in the two choruses where it goes "feel it in the beat ".

Chef idea Mickey`=22 hours ago

Awesome! Thank You Great timing haha .. Aside from Cliffix this is stellar I'm hooked!

Sthebest22 hours ago

Someone is doing a premiere of a video edit of the show in a min if anyone is interested. He films a lot of the nighttime shows really well.

gerarar1 day ago

There was a complete failure of the center barge a couple months ago. First time and only recorded one I have seen thus far. But it is rare. The tech crews absolutely deserve everything for how they work hard everyday to put on the show come nighttime.

Vinnie Mac1 day ago

Given how impressive and new that effect in the center barge is im shocked at how long it took to not function for a show. Maintenance crews must work really hard

Epcot82Guy2 days ago

It was in B mode (no perimeter launches) tonight and felt a little sparse. But mostly what is expected in that mode. So I hope that was a one-off.

Starship8242 days ago

That's unfortunate, hopefully it was just a one off and doesn't become common.

Brian2 days ago

Shameful. The show should not have gone on in that condition.

gerarar3 days ago

Luminous had some major technical issues the other night. Besides the planned B-mode for the lagoon perimeters, only 2 of the 6 big barges were working. Majority of the pyro was missing/cut either due to tech issues during the show A lot of the big shells shoot off from the 6 big barges, so if some of them are offline, it's easy to notice the gaps in the various pyro sequences. The center barge was also only partially working too, which made for a weird effect as seen here: Hard to track down when this happened, but my best guess is this past Sunday night (7/21).

GhostHost10003 days ago

well I guess they couldn't exactly showcase Commicore Hall as an epic transformation

Starship8243 days ago

The Epcot transformation special should have been called "The making of 'Luminous: The Symphony of Us' ft. all the other stuff" cause that's basically what it was. I'm not complaining though, I thought it was really cool and I loved the Luminous stuff.