I tried to like Harmonius, I really did

[WDWLODGE]

Nothing was more jaw dropping than the holiday tag to Illuminations. Literally too my breath away.

Harmonius is...fine. upbeat. Fun. Not a must stop to watch.

Enchantment is a hot dumpster fire.

The holiday tag was amazing!

 

[onewishupon]

.

 

[loves to dive]

Opposite for me. I hated Illuminations, I hated the globe, I wasn't a fan of the music, just didn't like it. I liked Harmonious. I've seen it twice from different locations and really liked it both times. Different strokes.

 

[elgerber]

Arrived at the Swan last night at 8pm and wanted to take advantage of the extended hours, so we walked over to EPCOT.

Sat down in UK for some fish ‘n chips and had very nice seating just in time for Harmonius. We’d seen it streaming before, as well as once a few months ago in person. I wasn’t a fan before but thought I’d give it another chance.

Nope. Compared to Illuminations it’s such a disappointment.

1. The IP does not fit EPCOT. It’s grossly out of place.

2. The music is loud (garish even) and is inconsistent with the charming elegance of World Showcase.

3. There is no discernible message. It’s a bunch of clips of animated songs that in the aggregate say “We’re a bunch of clips of animated songs.”

4. For 27 minutes of after-darkness program, it hardly seems worth destroying the sight line around the lagoon all day every day with floating “Stargate” and “Giant Taco” barges.

5. To the producers’ credit, it’s technically excellent. The fireworks are outstanding (and drew applause), and the barges do cool stuff. It’s just a shame it’s _this_ stuff.

Oh I so long for the elegance and eye-watering message of Illuminations.

Oh man, the “seven minutes of boring stuff with the globe” was the best part!

The story of the creation of Earth, the evolution of animals, the emergence of mankind, early exploration, the evolution of technology… Wow, that was so moving to me. It was EXACTLY what EPCOT was about.

And Illuminations’ musical score wove a moving story of how we are all tied together as a planet. And the closing song’s lyrics brought tears every time.

I get none of that from the new show.

Each to his or her own, I suppose.

Agree 1000% with both of these!

 

[lugnut33]

OK, this will be a very controversial opinion, but I actually love both Harmonious and Illuminations. My grown kids also loved Harmonious. Still, nothing will beat the music to Illuminations.

 

[hes122]

I wasn't a fan of Illuminations, but really liked Epcot Forever. I haven't watched Harmonious yet, and so I'm looking forward to see it in July. So the verdict's still out for me.

 

[reddog21]

I haven't' seen it yet either however regardless of how much I love or hate it I can't stand looking at those giant metal tacos sitting in world showcase lagoon.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I really hated Harmonious and I LOVED Illuminations. Harmonious is a salute to all nations but mostly Disney. It 200% belongs in the Magic Kingdom.

That said I also hated the new Magic Kingdom fireworks show. Should you look at the castle? The fireworks? Ugh what a mess.

And I'm the kind of person that tears up at commercials. Not a single tear for either of them now.

 

[asuburbanman]

Too bad they couldn’t alternate the two shows. Would make everyone happy. I don’t mind the barges. It’s a man made lagoon in the middle of a theme park. It’s kind of meant to have some sort of show in it. Couldn’t they program that stuff to Illuminations at some point. I can’t imagine it would be too difficult.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I've heard that the reason they had to change it was because Illuminations was programmed on like a Windows XP laptop and the guy who did it was no longer there and XP was obviously EOL and everyone was panicking about what would happen when that one inevitably laptop failed.

 

[MainMom]

Loved Wishes, was not a fan of HEA at all. I don’t have high hopes for Enchantment.
Loved Illuminations. I also don’t have high hopes for Harmonious.
Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[k5xs]

I've heard that the reason they had to change it was because Illuminations was programmed on like a Windows XP laptop and the guy who did it was no longer there and XP was obviously EOL and everyone was panicking about what would happen when that one inevitably laptop failed.

Lol. Funny you say that.

One night as we were watching Illuminations the globe video froze and then the entire globe turned blue. (And I’ll swear that I saw a c:> prompt on it!)

 

[mom2rtk]

Lol. Funny you say that.

One night as we were watching Illuminations the globe video froze and then the entire globe turned blue. (And I’ll swear that I saw a c:> prompt on it!)

My advice would be to unplug it for 10 seconds then try again.

 

[PPFlight75]

Arrived at the Swan last night at 8pm and wanted to take advantage of the extended hours, so we walked over to EPCOT.

Sat down in UK for some fish ‘n chips and had very nice seating just in time for Harmonius. We’d seen it streaming before, as well as once a few months ago in person. I wasn’t a fan before but thought I’d give it another chance.

Nope. Compared to Illuminations it’s such a disappointment.

1. The IP does not fit EPCOT. It’s grossly out of place.

2. The music is loud (garish even) and is inconsistent with the charming elegance of World Showcase.

3. There is no discernible message. It’s a bunch of clips of animated songs that in the aggregate say “We’re a bunch of clips of animated songs.”

4. For 27 minutes of after-darkness program, it hardly seems worth destroying the sight line around the lagoon all day every day with floating “Stargate” and “Giant Taco” barges.

5. To the producers’ credit, it’s technically excellent. The fireworks are outstanding (and drew applause), and the barges do cool stuff. It’s just a shame it’s _this_ stuff.

Oh I so long for the elegance and eye-watering message of Illuminations.

Illuminations was so beautiful! My absolute favorite! I plan to finally watch Harmonius on our June trip after skipping it last trip.I figured it's been enough time to give it a fair go. I hope I like it but don't have high hopes after all the reviews lol.

Thanks for your review and so sorry you were disappointed.

 

[PPFlight75]

Nothing was more jaw dropping than the holiday tag to Illuminations. Literally too my breath away.

Harmonius is...fine. upbeat. Fun. Not a must stop to watch.

Enchantment is a hot dumpster fire.

Ugh. I did not like Enchantment. I loved HEA so much! Maybe it was too soon lol! I might try again

 

[Sweettears]

Loved Wishes, was not a fan of HEA at all. I don’t have high hopes for Enchantment.
Loved Illuminations. I also don’t have high hopes for Harmonious.
Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I agree with this. Loved Wishes. HEA grew on me. And then they pulled it. Underwhelmed by Enchantment. Left Harmonious before it was over to get to the IG before the crowds like PP stated. Didn’t hate it. Just had no discernible theme and seemed out of place.

 

[holden]

I can take or leave any nighttime show. We usually hop on rides during them.

I really dislike all the barges, etc that you can see during the day. It’s really an eyesore.

Remember this?

https://images.app.goo.gl/JFaHPnakgUWbMdZp6

 

[tinkerhon]

OK, this will be a very controversial opinion, but I actually love both Harmonious and Illuminations. My grown kids also loved Harmonious. Still, nothing will beat the music to Illuminations.

Still makes me tear up !!!

 

[RyMickey]

LOVED Illuminations since its inception, but I admit that I was growing maybe a little wary of it the past few years. The music inspired, but the globe needed to be updated with better technology. That said, it was usually a "watch twice a trip" kind of show.

Saw Harmonious for the first time on Sunday night...and we certainly won't be watching it again this trip. My thoughts:

• The inclusion of two Hunchback songs should've been winning for me (my second favorite Disney movie), but even "Someday" landing the finale spot didn't really succeed. (However, the fireworks of the finale were great.)
• It's WAY TOO LONG at over twenty minutes.
• The sound is cacophonous. It's all loud and lacking any real ebb and flow.
• The through line of "unity" doesn't come through at all.
• The center ring fountain is utterly pointless. At least I know not to worry about securing a spot to see that in the future.
• I actually don't think I mind the IP-usage. I've succumbed to the fact that current Epcot is not what old Epcot was. I'm not averse to characters making in-roads and taking over the park. However, this is "too much."
• Adding to the "too much" notion, I didn't know where to look. Screens, big circle, up in the air -- it was all over-stimulating.
• Good god, those beasts in the center of the World Showcase lagoon...they really are disgustingly awful in the daytime. The fact that as I walk in from Future World and literally cannot see across to the other countries is just ludicrous. Taking a picture in Italy on the lovely bridge and seeing a metal monstrosity in the background is just HORRIBLE.

I'll certainly watch this again on a future trip to give it another chance, but I can't believe that I'll be walking through World Showcase at 9:05pm making my way to an exit rather than watching the show. I never did that for Illuminations.

 

[MomOTwins]

It is making me SUPER nervous for what they are going to do to Fantasmic (my favorite disney show). They've now had three complete duds in a row: Harmonius, Enchantment, and before that, anyone remember Rivers of Light? (sorry if I reminded you when you were trying to forget) It's like the people designing these shows have no basic understanding of what people love about Disney evening shows. Which is weird because Happily Every After isn't even that old--you'd think some of that creative team would still be around. But no... the whole show just reminds me of that SNL sketch "more cowbell"--everything's sensory overload, more projections, more belting it as loud as you can singing, more IP crammed into the show whether it fits thematically or not, abrupt transitions without a story arch or flowing musical score to make it feel cohesive. And I'm not against the recent IP--Raya, Encanto, Luca, Onward, Coco and Moana make me cry, smile, laugh, all the feelings when I watch the actual movies. But they way they put together these shows reminds me of a kid playing restaurant and just throwing a bunch of random ingredients in a bowl and calling it stew. At disney prices I don't want ketchup-gummy worm-pasta thank you very much, I want a composed dish by a master chef.