A new tent has arrived at World Showcase Plaza – better known as the “front-and-center” view of Illuminations and the yet-to-debut Harmonious nighttime spectaculars. What makes this tent interesting is that this particular portion of the Plaza has typically been available to guests, but is now blocked off.
Prior to COVID-19, this area would occasionally be used for live entertainment. With strict social distancing protocols in place, live entertainment has moved to World Showplace – the large tent between the United Kingdom and Canada Pavilions. For the upcoming 2021 Taste of EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival, festival-specific live entertainment is also listed as taking place within World Showplace.
If we rule out live entertainment as the purpose of this tent, we’re left with a bit of a mystery. Here’s a look around, with a hint at what the tent could be for once we swing around World Showcase Lagoon.
Once we head towards the Germany Pavilion, a breeze gives us a peek inside the tent and what appears to be audio/visual equipment. If we accept that this equipment is not here for a guest-facing live entertainment act, it’s possible that it could be for Harmonious testing. Of course, that’s speculation on our part, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on this as we close out the Festival of the Arts, and kick off the Flower and Garden Festival.
Despite being a holiday weekend, crews continue to test the barges this afternoon on World Showcase Lagoon.
“Harmonious” will bring to World Showcase Lagoon an innovative toolkit of massive floating set pieces that house a variety of show effects, including custom-built LED panels, choreographed moving fountains, colorful lights, lasers, pyrotechnics and more.
The collective of the barges is referred to as the “compass”, with the center having a “great gravity screen” that is surrounded by four other barges that have giant LED screens as seen in the concept art below.
The show promises to be a beautifully crafted nighttime dreamscape of Disney music and images, reimagined by diverse cultural musicians and artists from around the world. It’s a transformative experience, where we can discover how Disney music has the power to inspire and unite us all. You can catch an early glimpse of concepts for the show now by visiting Walt Disney Imagineering Presents the Epcot Experience, located in the Odyssey Events Pavilion.
Harmonious will debut October 1, 2021 at EPCOT.
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