Back in November 2020, Disney announced that the hardware required to perform Harmonious would be permanently installed in World Showcase Lagoon. In the same breath, they released concept art that showed a “daytime fountain” effect that was meant to offer an ambient feel during the day.
11 months later, this is what stood in World Showcase Lagoon.
It has now been more than one fiscal quarter (read: three months) past the debut of Harmonious, and the only time that we’ve seen the “daytime fountains” for any substantial amount of time is this weekend’s Walt Disney World Marathon.
Here’s what the daytime fountain effect looked like during the few operating hours when the marathon passed through EPCOT. It’s worth noting that the arms extended were not part of the original concept and may have been a special effect for the marathon, but we have photos of the daytime fountain effect proper further down.
Later in the day, there was an isolated barge with a daytime fountain effect.
Honestly, it’s probably better than nothing, but it’s a far cry from the concept art and ambient energy that Disney first described.
Keep in mind that the daytime fountains, should they ever materialize, are simply a bandaid for the metal armada that was originally intended to move between a backstage marina and World Showcase Lagoon daily. Reportedly, the operation of moving those massive barges between the backstage marina and the lagoon would’ve taken hours and caused severe traffic issues around World Showcase Lagoon as the bridge between China and Africa would’ve had to have been in use for the better part of the day. Instead of moving them, they were turned into fountains.
So, we have the fountains. Or rather, we don’t. It’s unclear what is taking Disney so long to implement here. The water effects are functional, even if they aren’t pretty, and Disney has demonstrated an ability to keep them running for hours during the recent marathon that passed through EPCOT.
In the meantime, we have this – a Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary logo functioning as a bandaid to a bandaid.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
That monstrosity is an eyesore, especially during the daylight hours. The one thing that would have helped its appearance is to have the fountains running…. as it was billed/promoted. Promote and then under-deliver is not uncommon for Disney.
Look s like there needs to be a change at the top of management
Harmonious i probably the worse change I’ve ever seen at WDW.
They totally destroyed the beautiful view of the nations from every angle.
We watched the nighttime show and will most likely never go to see it again.
Illuminations was engaging. You felt it in your heart. Harmonious seems to be an advertisement for Disney.
Even the fireworks are watered down version of the previous shows.
We are DVC owners and AP holders. Over the years, we’ve spent thousands of dollars in EPCOT at night before Illuminations, now we leave early as there is no longer a reason to stay until closing.
The entire show was a huge mistake. Disney should monetize the show over 5-years then get rid of the whole thing starting over with no permanent show pieces in the lagoon.
The water system wasn’t designed to be all day long fountain, so when they figured out the hard way they couldn’t move things in and out via the China – Africa bridge they just thought, we’ll just keep the water running all day, but the system wasn’t designed to run all day long so here we are. Realistically, some Imagineers screwed up the modeling of the system, not modeling out the process of moving the barges into and out of place, and then I’m sure corporate just ordered “make it work” and no delays, ao corners got cut and here we are today.
Certainly, the whole effect is underwhelming.
Regarding the Harmonious barges: Harmonious is already on it’s way to becoming a money-pit for Disney with malfunctions and breakdown. Fountains running all day would only exacerbate the problem.