Orlando Sentinel

Woman hit, killed trying to cross road

- By Tiffini Theisen

A 42-year-old pedestrian was killed late Saturday night as she was trying to cross a road in Osceola County, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The victim, who was from Kissimmee, was walking across Pleasant Hill Road, not at an intersecti­on or a crosswalk, from west to east when a sedan hit and killed her at about 11:15 p.m.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The sedan’s driver, a 20-year-old Kissimmee woman, was not injured.

The crash, which took place near the intersecti­on of Pine Ridge Circle, remains under investigat­ion.

Walt Disney World is making visible progress on “Harmonious,” the nighttime spectacula­r in the works for Epcot. A recent developmen­t that theme-park visitors can see is the placement of a large upright ring upon a floating platform.

“Our icon show platform includes moving fountains, moving lights, show-action equipment, pyrotechni­cs and most notably, our icon ring, which will stand over six stories tall about the World Showcase Lagoon,” Grace Brown, associate project manager with Walt Disney Imagineeri­ng, said in a video posted on the official Disney Parks Blog.

The ring currently is flanked by two other barges, and there eventually will be five floating platforms, permanentl­y moored and positioned like a compass, said Imagineer Zach Riddley, Walt Disney World site portfolio executive, in the post.

Although the ring looks formidable and prominent in the water, it is less than half the height of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth, which is listed at 180 feet tall.

Signs posted around the edge of the lagoon note that “by day, a dazzling fountain will sparkle. At night, iconic Disney music and images — reimagined by artists around the world — will inspire with the stories we share.”

No time frame or debut date has been set for “Harmonious,” and Riddley said the show is in early stages of developmen­t. But he also wrote that technical designers have been programmin­g elements of the show in a virtual environmen­t.

“Our music producers at Walt Disney Imagineeri­ng have been remotely directing recording sessions with an incredibly diverse array of musical artists, performing in studios around the world,” Riddley wrote.

“Harmonious” will move into a nighttime slot once occupied by “IllumiNati­ons: Reflection­s of Earth,” which ran for 20 years at the theme parks before closing in 2019. That production was followed by “Epcot Forever,” which ran for less than six months. It and other nighttime spectacula­rs did not return when Disney World reopened after its four-month shutdown due to the coronaviru­s pandemic.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosen­tinel.com. Want more theme park news? Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosen­tinel.com/ newsletter­s or the Theme Park Rangers podcast at orlandosen­tinel.com/travel/attraction­s/ theme-park-rangers-podcast.

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