Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World is particularly dependent on people gathering around its World Showcase Lagoon to drink, eat and be merry. To drive guests to all the restaurants around the water, Disney has always found it important to host a really spectacular nighttime show that drives nearly everyone away from Spaceship Earth and instead to the northern parts of the park. For many years Illuminations did just that. But a poorly-received show designed by CEO Bob Chapek, Harmonious, may not be pulling the interest levels that Disney World needs. So, it’s no surprise that we’re hearing a Harmonious Live television event is headed to Disney+.
Hosted by Idina Menzel of Frozen and Wicked fame, “Harmonious Live!” is coming to Disney+ on June 21st, 2022.
We’re sourcing that information from WDW Magic (which we highly recommend), but the funny thing is that it appears this leaked from Disney a little early. They’ve made the announcement video on YouTube private. Still, the cat is out the bag, so look for that announcement to happen sometime later today.
Harmonious TV special coming soon to Disney+ https://t.co/cnHmKAqnbK
— WDWMAGIC.COM (@wdwmagic) June 15, 2022
In our original review of Harmonious, TPP writer WDW Pro had this to say:
They’ve replaced a beautiful nighttime show at Walt Disney World about the unity of mankind into a Disney sing-along in different languages (but mostly English). They won’t do what I recommend, but I think they should just honestly fess up to the egg on their face, scrap Harmonious as it is, and go back to Epcot Forever during the 50th.
Later, we found out that Disney was so concerned about Harmonious and its reception that they were surveying guests about why they preferred Illuminations. We’re not here to hate on things that Disney does just for the sake of being negative, but a Disney karaoke session at Epcot simply isn’t as awe-inspiring as what the theme park has hosted before.In fact, it’s probably one of the weakest nighttime shows any of the Disney parks worldwide has ever performed regularly.
But who knows? Maybe Idina Menzel and other unnamed artists will be enough to drive excitement for the show. It still needs to be retooled and redone, but in the meantime this is probably one of their best marketing options to get people back to World Showcase Lagoon.
For all the news that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place! As always, drop a comment down below. Do you enjoy Harmonious over Illuminations?
