Good afternoon fellow Disney friends!! I don’t know about you but I’ve been filling my time this week reading all the exciting news coming out of Disneyland….those Imagineers continue to amaze us 
But now….direct from the bright lights and star filled streets of Disney’s Hollywood Studios….here is your Friday question…..
Which do you prefer ‘Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show’ or the ‘Studio Backlot Tour’….and of course….why???!!!
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
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!!!
