Walt Disney World president Jeff Vahle confirmed that the new nighttime spectacular “Harmonious” will be premiering at EPCOT on October 1, 2021 for the resort’s 50th anniversary.
“Harmonious” was originally scheduled to debut last summer but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Until the debut of “Harmonious”, “EPCOT Forever” will be presented daily beginning July 1.
Fireworks are returning to Walt Disney World! Kicking off July 1, we’re thrilled to once again see Magic Kingdom’s “Happily Ever After” and EPCOT’s “EPCOT Forever” light up the sky. While you’re making plans to visit “the most magical place on earth” next month, Disney has revealed the fireworks showtimes.
Magic Kingdom’s current posted park hours for July 1 – 10 are 9:00am to 11:00pm with Park Hopping open between 2pm and 11pm. July 11 – 31 park hours are 9:00am to 10:00pm with Park Hopping open between 2pm and 10pm. “Happily Ever After” will be held nightly at 9:15pm. No showtimes have been posted for August as of right now.
EPCOT’s current posted park hours for July 1 – 31 are 11:00am to 10:00pm with Park Hopping open between 2pm to 10pm. “EPCOT Forever” will be held nightly at 10:00pm. We suspect July will be an especially busy month for EPCOT with not only the launch of fireworks, but the start of the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival kicking off on July 15. No fireworks showtimes have been posted for August as of right now.
We can’t help but wonder when EPCOT’s new fireworks spectacular, “Harmonious“, will replace the temporary “EPCOT Forever”. We’re also curious to see how EPCOT Forever will look with all the Harmonious barges stationed in the World Showcase lagoon.
According to guests in the EPCOT area resort hotels, the park could be heard testing the short-lived, interim fireworks spectacular “EPCOT Forever” overnight. With Harmonious not ready to perform until later this year (at the earliest), the temporary show could return, albeit altered, to perform on World Showcase Lagoon.
“EPCOT Forever” debuted in October 2019 with the end of IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. It was meant to run all the way up until the debut of Harmonious, but then the park closed due to the pandemic. Obviously, when the park returned, fireworks shows were no longer in operation at Walt Disney World in order to keep people distanced. Now, with restrictions starting to be reduced, it may be time for nighttime entertainment to return to the theme parks.
If “EPCOT Forever” does return, it is expected that it will be without the kites due to all of the barges now littering the lagoon for Harmonious. The kites were on the chopping block before the pandemic began anyway, as sources had indicated multiple times that they may be cut due to their constant issues, or just to save money.
Disney has made no announcement as to when they expect nighttime shows to return and it has not been confirmed that “EPCOT Forever” is returning just yet. An announcement could come as early as this week’s quarterly earnings call for The Walt Disney Company though.
It’s been a day full of announcements! Disney announced Avenger Campus will open on June 4, and updates have been provided on each Disney Parks regarding current construction and entertainment progress. We can’t help but focus in on Walt Disney World Resort where Disney Chairman has announced two highly anticipated EPCOT experiences are “coming soon”.
As shared by Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products: “As we previously announced, Walt Disney World Resort will kick off our 50th anniversary on Oct. 1, 2021. As part of our multiyear transformation of EPCOT, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will also debut on that day, while work continues on Harmonious and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – just a few of the incredible experiences coming soon.“
While yes, it’s not the dates we have been hoping for… “coming soon” is more information than we have been receiving. Which one are you most excited about experiencing? We simply can’t wait for nighttime entertainment to return… so Harmonious is on the forefront of our minds. But, we have a feeling Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will be absolutely incredible.
As we highly anticipate the arrival of EPCOT’s new nighttime spectacular, “Harmonious”, we have been in awe of the arrival of the massive barges that have been placed into Epcot’s World Showcase Lagoon. Disney recently shared the progress details as you’ll find here if you missed them. It looks like testing is moving right along as videos taken last night (March 11) show the fountains being tested.
A Disney blogger, Jonathan Twitted via @DisneyXC two short clips of the fountain testing as shown below: