Just found this on www.touringplans.com. Total bummer 
:
"Earth barge out for refurb finally
The earth barge from Illuminations finally went out for refurbishment after tropical storm Fay passed the area. It will be out for 3-4 weeks and is said to be receiving some nice upgrades.
Posted 2008-08-24"
I feel like they just did this not too long ago...
May 2008 CSR 
The fireworks equipment (including the Earth barge) is so very unsightly!!!! Don't you think they could make that all come up out of the lagoon or appear on one of the islands with some kind of a shroud in place during the day. At the very least, the barges could be attractively painted? What does everyone else think?
The fireworks equipment (including the Earth barge) is so very unsightly!!!! Don't you think they could make that all come up out of the lagoon or appear on one of the islands with some kind of a shroud in place during the day. At the very least, the barges could be attractively painted? What does everyone else think?
May 2008 CSR
fjfuchs wrote:The fireworks equipment (including the Earth barge) is so very unsightly!!!! Don't you think they could make that all come up out of the lagoon or appear on one of the islands with some kind of a shroud in place during the day. At the very least, the barges could be attractively painted? What does everyone else think?
Don't they have it docked behind the world showcase all day and then bring it out before showtime? I know there's some of the day that you can see it, but I didn't think it was ALL day...
Attractively painted might make sense...at least blue and green like an actual globe maybe?
I think that might interfere with the display. 