HARMONIOUS SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

[brightlined]

I saw it in person. The kids around me were loving it, which kinda felt like the point.

It definitely feels like an MK-style fireworks show. I described it to someone else as World of Color on steroids.

I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. The tech is impressive in person. A few of the surprises were nice.

Having said that, I wouldn't judge it based on the livestream alone. (I honestly would not have watched the livestream had I not seen it in person.)

 

[gharter]

Is it wrong to be worried about Enchantment tomorrow?

considering what they spent to create this? And this was the best they could do?
It makes me worried.
I loved Wishes, pulled on all the right emotions. HEA had more fireworks and projections, but IMHO wasn't as good as Wishes, but still made me want to go see it every trip.
I'm hoping Enchantment is still in the direction of HEA and not Harmonius.
I will be watching tomorrow.
At this point, I see watching Harmonius live is a one time event, hopefully Enchantment will be different.

 

[Violet Parr]

We just watched it and loved it!!!

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!!!

 

[mjr0483]

I have to be fair, I watched it online and is nothing like experiencing it in person. It seems like prime viewing is limited, where Illuminations could be seen from anywhere.
No chills, no tears, no emotion. That last section of Illuminations when the singing starts low and the ball opens and the fanfare start with the chorus singing and the fireworks start.
This show is getting beat up on Twitter. I can't imagine the Disney Executives are happy and proud right now. This show had SO much expectation and it just fell way short.

 

[gharter]

We just watched it and loved it!!!

Glad someone did. You can have my spot.

 

[disneydreamer781]

I have to be fair, I watched it online and is nothing like experiencing it in person. It seems like prime viewing is limited, where Illuminations could be seen from anywhere.
No chills, no tears, no emotion. That last section of Illuminations when the singing starts low and the ball opens and the fanfare start with the chorus singing and the fireworks start.
This show is getting beat up on Twitter. I can't imagine the Disney Executives are happy and proud right now. This show had SO much expectation and it just fell way short.

Yeah, I thought it was pretty to look and much like ROL in that respect but I didn't get the feels. Of course, nothing made me cry harder than the Holiday Illuminations.

 

[OhhBother]

We just got back to OKW after watching in person. We loved it! The musical arrangements are great, and the fireworks are very 360 at the end - you feel like you’re in the middle of the show. A new favorite for us. I imagine it doesn’t play as well on livestream. Give it a chance in person before you decide.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Is it too soon to be looking forward to its replacement?

In all seriousness, while I wasn't a huge fan of Epcot forever, the one thing I loved about it was you didn't need to get front row spot to see everything. This seemed to be the opposite, looked like most of it was lower on the lagoon so being up front or close to front would be important to see it, and with the stargate being fixed it seems like a large portion of views wouldn't be ideal. Was definitely expecting more fireworks with this one as well, had been planning a fireworks cruise for our next trip to see this, but not now, definitely doesn't seem worth it.

Also, the ending seemed, I guess off? After they said goodnight I was expecting something else, it didn't really seem over? I dunno, maybe it's different in person and the ending seems more like an ending!

I want my Illuminations back or at least a 2021 version!!!

 

[rpfennig]

I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. The tech is impressive in person. A few of the surprises were nice.

Having said that, I wouldn't judge it based on the livestream alone. (I honestly would not have watched the livestream had I not seen it in person.)

I'll definitely hold off judgment until I have a chance to see it in person. I agree that even the best video isn't going to capture the live experience.

I'm curious... near the end (around 21:55 on the livestream) it looks like there are some fireworks that come from behind the crowd and into the lagoon and I think that would be an interesting moment. "I'm watching the sky in front of me. Fireworks shooting off from barges and... what the !?!"

 

[asumom]

It's probably better in person but I'm not convinced it was worth ruining the lake views at epcot. My husband asked why they couldn't be submerged during the day.

 

[browneyedgirl1683]

I don't think the "wow" I kept uttering were the kind of "wows" they were going for.

oddly, autocorrect changed the word "wows" to "woes", so even my non sentient phone sensed my mood.

 

[OhhBother]

I'll definitely hold off judgment until I have a chance to see it in person. I agree that even the best video isn't going to capture the live experience.

I'm curious... near the end (around 21:55 on the livestream) it looks like there are some fireworks that come from behind the crowd and into the lagoon and I think that would be an interesting moment. "I'm watching the sky in front of me. Fireworks shooting off from barges and... what the !?!"

The fireworks that shoot out from the edges of the lagoon basically feel like they’re coming from right in front of you. Very, very cool. We loved it. The crowd loved it. Glad we got to be there tonight to experience it.

 

[lilkitty819]

I watched the streaming. It's seems I guess choppy, there is no flow going into the next song after next song. This is a show that should be in Animal Kingdom not Epcot.

 

[DebbieB]

Complete disappointment. It felt empty and disjointed. The usual richness of Disney music was just not there. Not only did the messaging seem vacuous and incohesive, but the actors’ delivery of it was amateurish.

This spectacular is anything, but, IMHO. No Disney magic here!

saw it in person, that’s the word I used - disjointed. Saw it from Morocco, maybe it would be better near the barges.

 

[brightlined]

I'm curious... near the end (around 21:55 on the livestream) it looks like there are some fireworks that come from behind the crowd and into the lagoon and I think that would be an interesting moment. "I'm watching the sky in front of me. Fireworks shooting off from barges and... what the !?!"

There were a few "what the..." moments.

I honestly wasn't sure where those were coming from as it was happening:

 

[Nabz34]

Must be in the minority but I thought it was great. My girls (8 and 5) know most of the songs really well and I'm sure they'll love it--we'll be there in a couple weeks and I'm very much looking forward to it!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

You wont have to fight. It'll be $15 Lightning Lane cost to get the front of Lagoon spot.

Don’t give them the idea

 

[SealedSeven]

The fireworks that shoot out from the edges of the lagoon basically feel like they’re coming from right in front of you. Very, very cool. We loved it. The crowd loved it. Glad we got to be there tonight to experience it.

Those aren't new sadly. Illuminations had them and I think Epcot Forever had that moment too if I recall (at least pre covid when I went?)

Don’t give them the idea

I won't be shocked to see it like that. Guessing Enchantment, and Fantasmic will have it too....

 

[Cygnus 2112]

Very disappointed. Maybe they’ll make some changes based on the reactions. I think they did that with HEA- I’m pretty sure they changed out certain versions of songs. I know in my survey I let them know I wasn’t a fan of most of the song versions, that they strayed too far from the originals. But back to Harmonious- total meh, nothing great and a bloated version of Almost There among other subpar versions of songs.

 

[rpfennig]

And there was no representation for Canada, Germany or Italy.

It would have been interesting if they started with songs from "Coco" and made their way around World Showcase with something for each country... though ending with Canada, Disney might have had to buy the rights to "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" (I was going to suggest "Brother Bear" originally but the plot summary starts with "In a post-ice age Alaska").

They could have even done something special in front of each section as they went around the lagoon... oh wait, we have a slow moving mass of people travelling clockwise around the lagoon trying to keep up with the fireworks and... we already hit a choke point at Mexico. Okay, scratch that idea.