Category Archives: Christmas

Light up my street!

Posted on by
1

So it’s almost Christmas and this will be the last of my posts covering the most wonderful time of the year at Walt Disney World.

For those of us who have been to Walt Disney World at Christmastime we will have made our way over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to experience the wonder of ‘The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights’.

We all know the story; Jennings Osborne and his wife Mitzi had a daughter nicknamed Breezy. In 1986 Breezy asked her parents if they would decorate their home in lights for Christmas. Jennings obliged by decorating the house with 1000 lights. Each year following Jennings would cover the house in lights, the number growing and growing. By 1993 Jennings had bought the two adjacent properties to decorate and the display had grown to cover over 3 million lights. By now the display had become famous across the world, with news crews often visiting the street.

Unfortunately some neighbours became tired of the traffic congestion caused by visitors to the display and filed a lawsuit. Jennings was finally forced to shut the display down in 1995. But the media coverage of the court case had caught the attention of the Disney company, who contacted Jennings with an offer. And in late 1995 Jennings accepted the offer to set up ’The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights’ at Disney-MGM Studios.

Orignally the lights didn’t ‘dance’ like they do today, but for me the main difference is that they were originally set up on ‘Residential Street’ at the Studios. Residential Street was part of the original Backlot tour and was built to look like a working outdoor film set. The buildings resembled houses of famous movie and TV families, including The Golden Girls (who we all remember, right?).

During the Christmas season the houses were decorated as part of the Osborne display and when I first saw them in 2000 I loved it. Back then it was less common for houses in the UK to be decorated with outdoor lights so seeing a scene like this made me think of American Christmas movies, such as National Lampoons or Home Alone. Walking down that street with the crowd made me feel like I was looking around a studio set which was decorated ready to film a Christmas special.

In 2003 the Residential Street closed to make way for the construction of the arena for ‘Lights! Motors! Action! Extreme Stunt Show’. The Osborne Lights display was moved to its new location on Streets of America.

The display continues to grow each year and is now made up of over 10 miles of rope lights, connected by 30 miles of extension cords, held together by 2 million ties! It’s an impressive and festive sight to behold, with many hidden Mickeys to find along the way. I love that as technology moves forward so does this event….but I still miss my houses all dressed up for the season :)

Retail therapy Disney style!

Posted on by
5

Shopping at Walt Disney World is great. Shopping at Walt Disney World for Christmas is AWESOME!!

There are a couple of shops on property which sell Christmas items all year round (Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Magic Kingdom, Days of Christmas in Downtown Disney) but in November and December nearly every shop in the parks and resorts is bursting with holiday goodies.

I especially like picking up Christmas items which have a year on them, this way each Christmas when the item is put on display (or worn) it will remind me of my WDW trip that year.

This is a dated Vinylmation which I picked up last December, produced for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

This is my favourite tshirt from my WDW collection. Although red isn’t my usual colour it’s just so festive, I like the play on words and the fact that it reminds me of my trip in 2005.

And then I have my mug from 2001. This was originally filled with soda and bought outside the Fantasmic area. Retro yet?

I tend to go a little bit crazy with shopping when I’m visiting the World and with all the Christmas merchandise I find it difficult to know when to stop! Unfortunately I’ll miss out on my WDW shopping this December but the Disney Parks Blog kindly published a ‘Disney Theme Park Merchandise Holiday Guide’ this week. It appears you can even phone them quoting the product number and they will ship it to you…..yes….the little voice in my head has already told me to put down the guide and step away from the phone!!!

A tale of two parties!

Posted on by
1

One thing I enjoy about my trips to Walt Disney World is that no matter how much of a Disney ‘expert’ you think you are there is always something new to discover and learn about the parks. This certainly applies when attending at certain times of the year and special events. I was lucky enough to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) in 2005 and 2010, and the experiences couldn’t have been more different!

As soon as I first heard about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party I knew that I just HAD to attend! As I might have already mentioned I love Christmas at WDW and the opportunity to spend time at Magic Kingdom at a special event after regular park hours sounded like something I could not miss. Unfortunately at the time my visits involved staying at an off site hotel, with no car, so staying late at a park wasn’t exactly practical. But in 2005 I finally got to stay at a resort on Disney property and I knew that this was my opportunity to attend MVMCP.

Perhaps it was because I was so excited to finally attend that I had such high expectations of the event. I had read so much about Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade, the snow on Main Street, Holiday Wishes, the complimentary cookies and cocoa. I wanted to do it all and for it all to be magical!

The reality of that first party was somewhat different. I got caught in the rush for special party merchandise at The Emporium on Main Street, so much so that by the time I could get to the rails only XL shirts were left. We saw guests staying in the park after general closing and not being checked for party wristbands. We wanted to watch the parade on Main Street so had to stake out our spot a couple of hours beforehand and then deal with people squeezing in beside us. Even the cookies and cocoa didn’t taste as sweet as I had imagined.

Sometimes I think we expect too much from our Disney experiences; we expect everything to be as perfect as we daydream. Of course the parade was still amazing and the fireworks took my breath away but I came away from that event feeling a little let down and thinking that I wouldn’t pay the additional amount to attend the same event in the future……

And so as I planned our 2010 visit to the World I came across the details for MVMCP which would once again been happening during our stay. Did I really want to put myself through that again? Could I learn from my mistakes last time and make the event as special and magical as it should have been? Of course I could give it a go, after all, Disney is about believing that dreams do come true.

This time we dressed for winter, wrapped up in several layers, knowing that it was unusually cold in Orlando for December and knowing that we could be standing around waiting for parades and fireworks. We arrived at a later time and joined the queues of party guests waiting to get into Magic Kingdom. There was no rush, we had all night to take in the festivites. Once we were through the turnstiles instead of sticking with the crowds around Main Street we strolled over to Tomorrowland and emerged into….silence….

No one had ventured as far as Tomorrowland at that point, just us wearing our Christmas Mickey hats, watching the lights cast festive shapes onto Space Mountain. We were able to walk straight onto Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain and the TTA. At each attraction a cast member checked for our party wristband, which made us feel like we were at an exclusive party. After our attractions we took our time collecting cookies and cocoa from Cosmic Rays and then strolled through a fairly deserted Fantasyland.

As we were enjoying taking things at a slower pace we even joined the queue for the forty-five minute wait to have our photo taken with the Seven Dwarfs! We knew that they only came out as a group for photos at special events so we wanted to make the most of our opportunity to pose with them. Just as we had finished it was time for Holiday Wishes; we didn’t have time to get back to the front of the castle so we took up a spot in Fantasyland. I had never seen the fireworks from this area so it made the viewing extra special. The fireworks were making Christmas shapes in the sky all around us and I could see all the guests in the area looking one way and then the next. Every time a firework lit up the sky I could see so many smiles around me and it felt magical.

After Wishes we wanted to catch the second Christmastime parade. I knew that I had taken many photos of the parade during our previous visit so this time I could just watch and enjoy. We chose a spot in Frontierland and chatted to a cast member while we waited, telling her about where we were from and how long we had to save in between trips! Just before the parade was about to begin the cast member thanked us for taking the time to talk to her, she said that it had made the time go quicker for her and had stopped her from thinking about how cold she was! Again, a small but magical moment.

After the parade we wandered through Frontierland and Adventureland, taking our time to look at merchandise and attractions as we passed them. The park was clearing and we felt as though we were the last few guests to leave. We had had a magical night, full of the Christmas spirit that I had hoped to experience at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

And so these two very different parties taught me that I’m not always in control of everything that happens in the parks, things aren’t always going to go as planned and more importantly sometimes we have to slow down, take it easy and notice the small things that surround us in the magic :)

Deck the halls….and Main Street USA

Posted on by
1

We can all picture the scene in our minds…..the monorail pulls into the platform, we gather our belongings (taking small children by the hand) and we follow the crowd down the concrete slope towards the turnstiles into Magic Kingdom. Once we’re through bag search and we’ve had our tickets checked we walk through Main Street Station, our excitement building until we come back out into the daylight and here we are….in Town Square, staring down Main Street USA with Cinderella Castle in the distance.

However from November to January the scene that greets us is slightly different. There is a wonderfully tall Christmas tree in the middle of Town Square, there are garlands hanging from the lamp posts lining Main Street and the usual background music has been replaced by jolly Christmas tunes. And that is because we are here at my favourite time to visit Walt Disney World; yes its Christmas again!

All the parks, just like the resorts, have their own themed Christmas decorations. Obviously the main attraction for Magic Kingdom is the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights, 200,000 twinkling LED lights covering the castle in an icy glow. But I also enjoy the subtlety of the red and green ribbons and garlands that feature in Main Street, and the Poinsettia that are planted carefully around the important Partners statue.

As you walk down Main Street you’ll notice that the window displays have been changed for the holidays; some may even tell the tale of famous seasonal stories, featuring our favourite Disney characters of course! Others will show glimpses of the wonderful festive merchandise available in the store.

All these decorations are on show during the day and along with the seasonal music makes the main hub of Magic Kingdom feel like Christmas has really begun, but it is at night when the real Christmas spirit appears. Not only will you see Cinderella Castle bathed in pink, white and blue but if you are lucky enough to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party you may just see Main Street USA covered by snow…..but that is a whole other blog post waiting to be written…. :)

‘Twas the month before Christmas…

Posted on by
Reply

It’s the beginning of November and signs of the holiday season are starting to appear all over Walt Disney World. Christmas is my most favourite time of year to visit WDW; in fact, my last four visits have been at the beginning of December. I love the decorations, festive music, special events, festive merch and much much more. I thought it would be nice to share some of my observations of the season through a series of blog posts.

The Disney Resorts take on a whole new magical appearance for Christmas. Each resort will be decorated with a theme and will have a centrepiece (usually a magnificent tree) that will make guests ‘resort hop’ across WDW property to take in the sights and smells of the festive season.

Last December I was lucky enough to stay at the Wilderness Lodge Resort for the very first time, and this also happened to be in December. The lobby at WL is rustic and pretty all year round but when I saw that Christmas tree I was blown away. It really does add some seasonal magic to your stay.

I had also read so much about the life-sized gingerbread house which is constructed at Grand Floridian so I knew that this was the visit where I had to take the monorail from Magic Kingdom over to GF to see it for myself. Looking over the balcony and seeing the gingerbread house, the tree and the band I just knew it was Christmas!!

I happened to be over at the Beach Club Resort during my stay and got to see the gingerbread carousel too, this thing actually moves like a real carousel and the lobby was full of the smell of Christmas!

Just when you think the Disney resorts can’t get any prettier Christmas comes along. And this is one of the reasons why I can’t wait to get back and hop on over to the resorts showing off their seasonal displays :)