Recent Hits and Misses: Harmonious

Over the past few weeks I’ve been adding some #ThrowbackThursday and #FlashbackFriday pictures to the Disney Over 50 Facebook and Instagram accounts. I love looking back. Many of the pictures that I’ve added are from rides or attractions that no longer exist. Some aren’t missed, like The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Others, like The Great Movie Ride, people do truly seem to miss. There has been a lot of change at Walt Disney World in the 13 years that my family and I have lived here. Some changes have been hits, while others have missed the mark. I thought it might be fun to write a short series on these hits and misses.

So far, I have Epcot’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and the Flotillas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as hits, and Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser as a miss. It’s time for another miss; Harmonious.

Harmonious was the fireworks spectacular that was supposed to be the permanent replacement for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. That right there is why it failed. IllumiNations was loved by millions, and nothing could adequately replace it. Instead of starting from scratch, many people hoped that IllumiNations would be upgraded and made even more spectacular. Even if Disney had gone in that direction, some fans would have complained about the changes.

There was nothing wrong with Harmonious. I personally loved it. It was the type of show where you would see something new each time, and where the angle made it a brand new presentation. The fireworks were great, the projections a step above what we’ve seen elsewhere, and the music spectacular. Still, it wasn’t IllumiNations.

Part of the problem that many people had was that Harmonious was “too Disney”. I can understand that. We watched projections from the same movies that we’ve seen at the other theme parks, and we heard the same songs. That’s a fair assessment.

IllumiNations wasn’t about Disney, it was about the Earth. Harmonious was also supposed to be about the Earth, and featured different regions and countries. These regions and countries were represented through Disney movie clips and Disney movie songs. A lot of people didn’t make the connection.

Another problem that people had was the hardware in the middle of World Showcase Lagoon. There was supposed to be a spectacular water display during the day, but instead we saw a Stargate and structures that looked like burnt tacos. More than once I saw Disney testing the water features, but never to the point that it was a spectacular display.

I think that Disney gave up on Harmonious a little too quickly. Instead of scrapping it, I would have loved for them to transform it into something that told the story of Earth. I talked to an Imagineer who worked on Harmonious before its debut. He told me that it wouldn’t be difficult to change the scenes. I wish that they had gone in that direction.

Epcot will have a new fireworks spectacular called Luminous The Symphony of Us, starting on December 5. I’m sure that it will be incredible. The way that people decided not to give Harmonious much of a chance, though, I’m not sure if Luminous will last.