The Ridiculous Wonder of Harmonious

EPCOT (as it’s now stylized) is in a period of flux. What had been planned to be a moment of rebirth, beginning with the renaming of the park’s lands and later bringing us whole new pavilions and even a hub for the park’s relentless festivals has instead taken a bit of a stumble and well… no one really knows what EPCOT will look like in a few years time anymore. All we can hope is that there will be fewer cranes than there are now! But all is not lost. For out of this time of chaos, a truly remarkable feat of entertainment was born. A show so obscene in scale that the park’s entire aesthetic would be altered. Enter: Harmonious.

Replacing the beloved, 20-year-old, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, Harmonious is EPCOT’s new night-time spectacular, launched to coincide with Walt Disney World’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. The show was originally scheduled to launch in the spring of 2020, but you probably don’t need me to tell you why it was delayed. Instead, as the world remained on lockdown, theme park fans from around the world watched from afar as five monstrous pieces of kit made their way into the World Showcase lagoon. Because you absolutely cannot talk about this show without mentioning them. The barges. The previous visual splendour of World Showcase was now dominated completely by dark, hulking, technological behemoths. But never fear! Disney assured us that when in operation these barges will provide an ‘ambient feel’ during the day! They even released concept art showing what delightful fountains we could look forward to.

Yeah, about that. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not the barges are as intrusive as many fans make them out to be. Are they really that bad? Friends, they are. As we stepped into World Showcase for the first time on the trip, having arrived in via International Gateway, I gasped as I caught my first glance out over the lagoon. Photos simply do not do justice to their size. They are monstrous. I’ve realised now that I never took a ‘proper’ photo, just a quick one to send to friends in disbelief, but it’s clear at least how little of World Showcase was visible behind them. Just peeps of traditional architecture behind modern hell. As for that daytime ‘ambient look’, those little jets coming off the bottom of the main circular structure are absolutely killing me. It’s all just so weird!

But for all the controversy, despite – or maybe even because of – the obscene barges, I absolutely, positively adore Harmonious. This doesn’t mean I necessarily think it’s good. I’ve stated previously how much I inherently love the silly little things at theme parks, but for once the theme park gods have blessed me with a silly abso-fucking-lutely enormous thing.

Of course, parts of the show are legitimately fantastic. The Harmonious soundtrack is jaw-dropping. I truly mean that. This show featured in my previous pre-trip hype list purely because I think that the idea of Disney songs (and what Disney songs they chose!) being sung in the language of their film’s setting is such an inspired idea for an EPCOT show that I fell in love immediately – it certainly didn’t hurt that they chose some of my all-time favourite songs, and recorded beautiful renditions of them either! Sure, it’s another sign of the endless march of IP into the Disney theme parks – a discussion for another time – but I think that is something we simply need to accept at this point. And if they’re going to do it anyway? Well, at least put their heart and soul into it. Hearing this audio surround me in the park made me every bit as emotional as I thought it would, and the more upbeat segments were a legitimate party! Musically, this is up there with Disney’s finest work and I’m grateful that the greatest part of this show is accessible to me every single day.

But that’s not why I love it. Okay, it is a bit, but whilst the music makes my heart soar, the part of Harmonious that made me laugh in disbelief and wonder at what I was watching was, legitimately, the barges. They are simply so monstrous, so ridiculous, that I was captivated. The Walt Disney Company actually paid who only knows how much money (Does anyone know?! I couldn’t find this information!) just so I could stand here and watch a battle-sized flotilla raise their stupid octopus arms into the air and light up, spray water at seemingly random tangential angles or point up to the sky before activating their FIREWORK GUNS.

And all of these arms are merely saluting their leader, the certifiably insane, three-storey tall ‘stargate’ fountain that forms the main centrepiece of the show. A fountain that’s taller than Disneyland’s castle. Okay, that’s not saying much. (Just joking DLR, you’re beautiful and I love you. Never change.) But, in a lagoon?! The most hilarious thing about this is how not only is it impractical in the daytime, but it’s an absolute nightmare for the show too. It stands to reason that a show viewable from anywhere around a circular lagoon ought to be… viewable from anywhere around the circular lagoon. Alas! Not now the key visuals are displayed on a flat water screen only visible from certain areas! Oh EPCOT. To be fair, you don’t need the visuals to enjoy the show. But that just makes the apparent justification of these projection behemoths all the more incredible.

On our successful viewing attempt, we watched the show from in-between Italy and USA. From here we were able to get a reasonably good view of all the barges. And sure, the images did add to the experience – the colours for both Hunchback and Coco were particularly gorgeous! But being mostly enraptured by the movement of the arms and the fountains, they weren’t make-or-break for me.

The show’s other truly magnificent element is, of course, the firework finale. Whilst the fireworks throughout the rest of the show are fun to watch and play nicely along the soundtrack, the finale – to the tune of Hunchback’s stunningly beautiful ‘Someday’ – which brings fireworks soaring toward the centre of the lagoon from every country, forming a burning, beautiful dome over all the magic is astonishing. It’s emotional, unifying and absolutely EPCOT.

I mentioned ‘successful viewing attempt’ previously and here comes my one major tip for Harmonious: if it’s due to rain lightly, or be foggy or drizzling in any way, do not attempt to watch unless you are directly at the front of the barges at the entrance to World Showcase. (The view could have sucked from here too, but there were very loud cheers coming from that side of the lagoon against relative silence on ours, so I think they had a better experience!) With the additional distance to the rear of the lagoon (where the USA sits), on a slightly drizzly night, we couldn’t see a thing. I’m not exaggerating. We waited an hour for a spot with a good view of the barges – Harmonious meant a lot to me – and this was the view whilst they were all in full action.

I legitimately got more of a show from my MagicBand+. At least it was so bad it was funny! And that’s almost how I feel about Harmonious. It’s a weird one. It’s not bad, not by any stretch of the imagination, but its randomness and overwhelming feeling of excess make it an utterly bizarre show. A show that for me, it’s impossible not to love. I’m not sure this show wanted to make me laugh or scream in disbelief nearly as much as it did, but I’m just so grateful for it anyway.

Sadly, it seems as though the majority of guests don’t want their shows to be weird. Harmonious, this ridiculously expensive show with all that dedicated hardware, will be ‘glowing away’ at the end of the 50th Anniversary celebrations. That’s less than a two-year run.

I’ll never forget you Harmonious.

Speak again soon,

Claire

x

P.S. For those interested, there is a gorgeous event production of Harmonious available to view on Disney+, it’s fantastic!