Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam! at Disney's Hollywood Studios
At the conclusion of the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam! fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a Christmas tree is projected onto the Chinese Theater.
One of the new things I was looking forward to seeing on our Christmas 2016 visit to Walt Disney World was the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam! nighttime show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The show was based on one of our favorite holiday specials from recent years, Prep and Landing, and besides that, we hadn’t seen a fireworks show at Hollywood Studios in many years.
We did know ahead of time that much of the show involved projections onto the Chinese Theater and surrounding surfaces, and because we didn’t arrive way ahead of time, we didn’t get the best location for being able to get photos during the show. We could see what was going on okay, but much of the view was blocked by palm trees and people, as you can see:
I can understand wanting your child to be able to see what is going on, but I can also understand having some respect for those behind you. Oh well. I can also understand the palm trees in front of the Chinese Theater, and they are great for atmosphere most of the time. But they did block the view from several of the surrounding areas, as I checked it out after the show. I’m not saying that they should cut those down or anything, though. Save the trees!
Anyway, the show was good. And as I had heard, it was in fact more of a projection show with fireworks than a fireworks show with projections. And spotlights. And lots of lasers, which I think are cool. In fact, the Christmas tree that you can sort of see on the roof of the Chinese Theater in the photo above is a laser projection. Cool! I actually think all of the projection shows they are doing these days are cool, although I have heard that some people were disappointed that there weren’t more fireworks in this show. Personally, I liked this one better than the Star Wars fireworks, but more about that another time.
I did manage to get a slightly better photo just after the show ended and people began to move out of the way:
At a few key moments during the show, snow was falling from the sky, which to me is another cool effect whenever I see it there. It looks like real snow, but you don’t have to be freezing cold to enjoy it. My kind of snow. After the show, the snow continued to fall along Hollywood Boulevard, which was a nice touch.
As you can see, it was really coming down out there. Fortunately, it wasn’t accumulating, though, since it was actually just soap suds and all. I was happy that there was enough light to capture the snowflakes in a photo here.
A few more notes about the first photo at the top of this post. After the show ended, we walked up by the front of the Chinese Theater so that I could get that photo. I was hoping that the projection wouldn’t end before I got there, and fortunately it didn’t, although some of the spotlights overhead were turned off. Also, you can see that they had the courtyard roped off, because they had just finished the extra-ticket dessert buffet there that went along with the show, for those who wanted to pay extra. It might be cool to be there with the projections almost surrounding you and the fireworks right overhead, but it wasn’t cool enough for an extra ticket for me, so I may never know for certain.
I suspect that this show was added to somewhat make up for the fact that they don’t have the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights anymore, and they needed some way to keep people in the park longer. While it wasn’t quite as immersive as the Osborne lights, and it was over relatively quickly instead of allowing you time to go through it at your own pace, it was still a pretty neat addition.
And it made me want to go home and watch Prep and Landing again one more time.
As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person. - Proverbs 27:19
About the Photos
These were more nighttime photos without a tripod. You can read more about that in the “About the photos” section of the previous Christmas at Night in the Magic Kingdom post. Pretty much all of that applies here as well, including the part about using different lenses for the different looks of these photos.
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lenses: Olympus 14-42mm IIR and Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: December 22, 2016
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World, Florida
