Old Photo: Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights at Walt Disney World
Lights fill the sky and cover buildings and just about anything else in the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World in this Old Photo from 2009. As you may know, the name of the Christmas light display was later changed to Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights once the lights were synchronized to music. Also, the park’s name was changed from Disney-MGM Studios to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. And lastly, the lights are no longer there this year, because the Streets of America section was removed to make way for the coming Star Wars Land. Lots of changes have occurred since this photo was taken 7 years ago!
Of course, the only constant is change, and that especially holds true in the theme park world. Still, I wonder at the decision not to find another home for the Osborne lights in Walt Disney World. After all, they seemed to draw large crowds every night. They definitely were always one of our favorite Christmas things in all of the Walt Disney World parks. I am sure they helped keep more people in the park for longer in the day than they might have stayed otherwise, which leads to higher spending from those people since they usually need to eat while they are there, and probably shop, too.
Maybe it is just that there now isn’t a good place to display the lights and handle all of the crowds of people that would wander through there every night. Maybe it is just a logistics problem of that sort. Maybe they are storing them backstage somewhere, waiting for the right place to display them in the future. Or maybe even though they seemed to draw large crowds, that didn’t actually translate into large profits after all. Who knows? I’m sure someone does, but apparently if there is a real story there, the public doesn’t need to know it.
Yes, they have a new Christmas-themed fireworks show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios now, and it looks pretty interesting, although I haven’t seen it in person yet. But for me a 10 minute fireworks show, no matter how impressive it is, isn’t quite the same as something that you can wander through at your own pace, stopping to see all the little details, setting your camera up for just the right shot, getting some photos of your family with those cool lights in the background. We would often spend well over an hour looking at all the lights, and later on watching them “dance” to the music.
But life is full of changes, and that’s how things go. Here’s hoping that all of the new stuff they are adding to Hollywood Studios will be even better in the long run.
As a bonus, here is a second photo from the Osborne Lights, taken on the same night as the above photo:
By the way, have you seen the teaser for the new Christmas lights coming next year to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri? Take a look:
They sure do look familiar, don’t they? However, spokespeople from Silver Dollar City deny that they bought the Osborne Lights or that they were inspired by the displays at Walt Disney World. Hmm, I’m not so sure.
You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:14
About the photo:
These photos were handheld shots with my old DSLR camera. On the next visit, I took along a tripod for longer exposures, but these still turned out really well, I think.
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: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Date: December 30, 2009
Location: Disney-MGM Studios, Walt Disney World, Florida
