Son et Lumière: A Rare Look at EPCOT Center’s First Night Spectacular 

This 1983 press shot gives us a rare insight to one of EPCOT Center’s shortest lived and obscure shows: Carnival de Lumière. 

The precursor to the now famous line of IllumiNations shows, Carnival was rather basic, in the fact that it only preformed on the entrance part of World Showcase Promenade. Instead of the quadrant of barges that form a loop in the center of World Showcase Lagoon, this show had a fan of barges that stretched from Mexico to Canada, much in the same way Disneyland’s World of Color is preformed today. 

The show, meanwhile, relied on mainly fountains, synched lighting, and simple pyro effects launched from the barges. Lasers were also used, but it wouldn’t be until 1984’sLaserphonic Fantasy that they would be utilized as projections, and it wouldn’t be until 1988’s first version of IllumiNations that the actual pavilions received a lighting package and effects to help give the show more of a flare and impact on the viewer. 

Although there are no known recordings of the score, we can surmise that it was much like Laserphonic Fantasy’s: the original IllumiNations score, but under the guise of a heavy synthesizer. 

However, despite all these negative qualifiers, this was the first! The first EPCOT Center night show that used the classical music of the nations of World Showcase, and the technical wizardry of Future World. A perfect synthesis for the grand and inspiring showcase that EPCOT Center is.