EPCOT's new nighttime spectacular will continue to feature music from the Disney songbook

15 days ago in "Harmonious"

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New 2023 EPCOT firework show concept art

Posted: Wednesday March 15, 2023 8:45am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

As part of this week's media event, Disney has provided a brief update on EPCOT's new nighttime spectacular set to debut later in 2023.

New 2023 EPCOT firework show concept art

According to Disney, the new show will "feature an original composition and evocative selections from the Disney songbook – all woven together to remind us that we are more alike than different."

Expected to debut fall 2023, the show will continue to use music, pyrotechnics, lasers, and lighting.

Harmonious show

The new show will be the permanent replacement for Harmonious, which will close at the end of March 2023. EPCOT Forever will return as an interim show while the new show is developed for its fall debut.

Disney has also previously confirmed that there will be a phased removal of the fireworks platform in World Showcase lagoon.

Firework platforms for Harmonious have been a source of significant guest pushback

Harmonious, which debuted as part of Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary and the brain-child of former CEO Bob Chapek, has faced heavy guest criticism for the daytime impact on the view across World Showcase Lagoon and disappointing as a show.

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Lil Copter Cap10 hours ago

There's a lot of issues that I have narratively, but the moment someone decided to make a 360-viewing area useless by permanently anchoring a 2-sided non-moving centerpiece, the show was doomed.

TheMaxRebo1 day ago

saw the same, and people tearing up at parts as well .... BUT I also think there were challenges with the layout of the show and when that three story building didn't get built - a key component of which was a viewing area at the top they would rent out for corporate events and had a straight on view to the stargate, so not getting that $, and then the bookings at restaurants with viewing areas were down because those spots didn't have good angles and where the firework cruises go don't have a good angle, etc. - a lot of the secondary income wasn't there like it was for Illuminations I think those aspects mattered more than any scores that guests who watched the show gave it

bcoachable1 day ago

My take on the two shows, as a former coach: Harmonious is what you would expect to hear from a coach during the post game interview with the media. IROE is what you would expect to hear from a coach if you were IN the locker room with the team.

Bocabear1 day ago

I wanted to love it...especially after permanently mooring those barges... but when I watched it for the first time, withing 4 minutes it was like.... yeah...it is soul-less. I noticed people excited as it began and after a few minutes they were looking elsewhere.... It's these Movie clip shows.... They don't engage people... It's just a sing along set of clips broadcast from the barges...They need a good show writer...

WorldExplorer1 day ago

I know current management doesn't care, but I'd argue "people sing and dance to it" is absolutely not what you want from a night time show. At least not one in this location. It's not supposed to be a DJ. It's not supposed to be karaoke night. It's not supposed to be a rave. They insist Harmonious has a heart and important things to say. They spent millions on the visuals. And people are just treating it like a dance party, singing along to songs they already knew. That's a lose in my book. Especially in a location like World Showcase, following something like Illuminations.

Mickeynerd171 day ago

Bingo. IROE was always a must-do whenever I visited. I saw Harmonious once and decided exploring the pavilions late at night was a better use of my time.

Touchdown1 day ago

That’s not the whole story, because that’s only the people who watched it. You have to sample the evening attendance of Epcot in its entirety. A significant portion of that crowd does not watch the show. That’s the issue, Illuminations captured far more people.

DisneyKid931 day ago

Content-wise, I think Harmonious was a good 2-3 revisions away from being a perfect show. Had the show opened with more cohesive narrative moments between the sections like it had during the Disney+ special, I think it would have solved lots of issues about the lack of a defined story or thru-line that connected each segment together. Unfortunately content updates won’t matter compared to the incredibly shortsighted decision of permanently anchoring such ugly fixtures in the lagoon. Early concept art made it seem like these platforms had sculpted pieces on them to at least give them some sort of visual aesthetic, but nope. Just black rigging.

Andrew251 day ago

I say this as someone who hates Harmonious and is waiting patiently for the removal of the barges. You can tell park executives are not spending time in the park because the general public does actually like Harmonious. I might be wrong and they probably have data to back up their decision to remove Harmonious from guest satisfaction scores, but I always observe lots of happy people dancing/singing during the show and saying how cool it was after it ends.

WorldExplorer1 day ago

You can tell how unpopular Harmonious was because no one made this shirt.

TQQQ1 day ago

No thanks. Rather bring back illuminations

TTA941 day ago

I so badly want the new show to be like WoC and have that Wow factor that it has. Of course it would need to be done by movable barges. I know not everyone finds the WoC fountains to be that exciting but surly that type of show would be very well received at Epcot. I also wouldn’t mind a copy or similar theme song like “Start A Wave”. Overall I do believe they could top WoC in World Showcase Lagoon if they wanted to. The potential is there.