Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights Tips & Review
The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is a Christmas light display at Walt Disney World, in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Actually, “light display” is severely under-selling it. More like, amazing, light-up-the-entire park epic dancing light extravaganza! That’s right, the lights dance to awesome Christmas songs by the likes of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (if you’re going to have a dancing light show, you better include music from TSO!) and many other legendary Christmas artists. The lights are so vibrant and plentiful that even Clark Griswold would be proud. The display runs from November 9, 2012 until January 6, 2013.
Approximately every 10 minutes, the lights dim and then begin their “show” as they start rocking out (dancing) to holiday music. The songs include:
- “A Mad Russian’s Christmas” – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12-24)” – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- “Feliz Navidad” – José Feliciano
- “Jingle Bells” – Barbra Streisand
- “Christmas is Starting Now” – Phineas and Ferb
Most people know the story of the Osborne Lights by now, but if you don’t, here goes. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights began in Arkansas when Jennings Osborne put up a lot of lights one year for his daughter, Breezy. Every subsequent year, he added more and more. Some of these light displays were just plain crazy (you can still find some of these odd items on display at the Studios), but crazy in a good way.
In the mid-1990s, Jennings was sued by his neighbors for the spectacle and traffic problems the lights were solving. A settlement was reached that seemingly ended the situation, but after violating the terms of the settlement, Jennings was sued again. Ordered to dismantle his awesome display (as Sam the Eagle would say, the judge must have been distinctly un-patriotic), the Osborne family decided to share their lights, and offered the display to Walt Disney World Resort. The display first ran on Residential Street, but when that was eliminated for Lights, Motors, Action!, the display was expanded and moved to the Streets of America. The Osbornes were special guests for the lighting ceremony of the lights at Walt Disney World numerous times throughout the years. In 2011, Jennings Osborne passed away. It remains to be seen whether Disney will tribute him in some way with the lights Jennings created that shine so brightly on the World.
Before I get ahead of myself with the review, here are some tips.
Tips
In the way of tips, there really aren’t many. When The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights are running, the Streets of America can get packed. This is especially true right when the lights are turned on. For the first hour or two of operation, it’s really difficult to move. Although this can be one of the best times for photography since you will have the deep blue dusk sky to compliment the colorful lights, you will find crowds to be much lower if you wait. As far as photography goes, in general, the lights actually aren’t much of a challenge. It’s so bright back here that most cameras should be able to handle photographing the lights fairly easily in an auto mode. If you shoot in manual modes, consider opening up the aperture a bit (wide open isn’t necessary). You might also have to lower the shutter speed a tad and raise your ISO a tad. All in all, though, it’s probably the single-easiest setting for nighttime photography at Walt Disney World from a technical perspective. The real challenge is avoiding the crowds to take the photos!
In years past, the lights have not been turned off until one hour after the park closes. Heading over to the Osborne Lights around a half hour before park closing will give you time to explore the display, and avoid the crowds. Definitely make sure you give yourself enough time to see the lights, as there are a lot of “Easter Eggs” to look for within the Osborne Lights. Sarah and I typically spend around 4 hours per trip, spread out across a couple nights, wandering around the lights.
Review
As far as a review goes there isn’t really much to say. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights are one of the highlights of Christmas at Walt Disney World, and are absolutely not to be missed. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this display, other than that it makes the Streets of America really underwhelming the rest of the year. We could stand around and stare at those lights for hours, and hours, and hours. If you want to learn more about the Osborne Lights, you should definitely listen to WDW Today Episode 802, an interview with John Phalen, Show Director, The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.
For comprehensive tips for planning your Christmas-time trip to Walt Disney World, check out our “Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World.“
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11 Responses to “Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights Tips & Review”
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Amazing as always! How in the world were you able to get pictures with no people in them?
Thanks for all the work you’ve put into this website- it’s great!
Been there done that. GOING BACK AGAIN!!!
I’ve always loved going here! My first time was last 2009 and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen! I’ve never felt so happy, and it’s the only time I’ve ever seen anything that dropped my jaw! Such a great experience!
I’m from Arkansas. Saw the Osborne Family lights in Little Rock several times. The traffic snarls were legendary! Although we were sad to see them go (obviously we were NOT neighbors) I have to say, with his creativity and Disney’s “magic” – this display is Fantastical! Not to be missed!
Another wonderful article and absolutely beautiful photos. I love going every December. I hope to get to see you this December and thank you in person for all of your articles and photos that you share here.
Thank you ever so for you blog post.Thanks Again. Really Great!!!
Are the lights on for all of the Extra Magic Hours and then an additinal hour? Do they shut off when Extra Magic Hours start? I want to make sure I don’t miss it!!!
That’s a good question, and one I don’t know the answer to. I’ll see if I can find out. My guess is that at the end of Extra Magic Hours, the lights are turned off. If not immediately, within 10 minutes. That’s just a guess, so let me do some digging…
Last year we visited during extra magic hours. So they’re definitely on during. Not sure how long they stay on after, though.
I agree that the Streets of America seem underwhelming without the lights. First time seeing the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights this year and loved it! The snow was especially magical. But it does make me wish they did something more with the streets during the year. Have the Streets of America ever been used for anything else?
Hey Tom,
Thanks for the camera settings advice. Heading down next week for a conference, and have never seen them in person before.
Look forward to experiencing Xmas photography in Disney for the first time!