Harmonious is the new nighttime spectacular at EPCOT. The show combines an impressive array of technology in the form of barges out on World Showcase Lagoon and Disney music delivered in unique arrangements. Harmonious replaced the long-running Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. With Harmonious, Disney has essentially abandoned the themes of Illuminations and decided to go into a completely new direction. According to Imagineering interviews, that completely new direction was thought up by Disney CEO Bob Chapek.
According to Imagineer Steve Davison, who was the creative director for Harmonious, the concept of using Disney music as the focal point for the new show came from none other than Disney CEO Bob Chapek. When talking about the concept of Harmonious and how it came to be, Davison said that Chapek said “why don’t we do a Disney concert? Everyone loves Disney music”.
From there, Davison said that he decided to spin that concept to work within the storyline of World Showcase. He said that he would want to hear the concept of a Disney concert play out via the voices, artwork, and cultures of the countries that make up World Showcase at EPCOT.
The information was shared in a Laughing Place video of their interview with Harmonious creators.