National Treasure Baby Sinclair in the Osborne Lights at Disney World
Baby Sinclair of Dinosaurs fame appeared in the now-extinct Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Walt Disney World. It was a true Christmas miracle and almost got Disney’s Hollywood Studios added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This post offers a wistful retrospective of that fateful day when we learned Baby Sinclair had moved into the Streets of America at WDW.
Since we only cover the hard-hitting news and have the utmost journalistic integrity here at Disney Tourist Blog, a team of drunken monkeys has been working for like 10 minutes on this post we’ve been carefully researching this critical development since Baby Sinclair first appeared in order to bring you our thorough analysis, and have finally completed this arduous task. We present the fruits of our labor in this brilliant essay about Baby Sinclair in the Osborne Lights.
At this point, some of you are probably muttering, “who is Baby Sinclair, and why should I care?” First, shame on you. Second, Baby Sinclair is the voice of a generation: my generation. Before we get to his significance in the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Walt Disney World, a bit of background is probably in order so you can understand just how important this is, and what it means for the future of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Dinosaurs is a sitcom that ran in the early 1990s from Jim Henson Productions–the first major project after the death of Jim Henson–that lasted only four seasons. It features a family of dinosaur Muppet-esque characters in an edgy family sitcom. For youngsters like me, the show was all about Baby Sinclair. In a retrospective on the show, Vulture described him succinctly as the “silly TV candy meant to lure younger viewers into what is otherwise a family sitcom with a sneakily serious agenda.”
Baby Sinclair was something special for my generation. A hero. Not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed. Perhaps “hero” is the wrong word, but he was a dinosaur and he was awesome, so it seems about right. If anything, he seemed like the character Generation Me deserved: rude, narcissistic, and demanding that his parents cater to his every whim. These lovely attributes became hallmarks of my generation, and there’s a distinct possibility that Baby Sinclair was partially the catalyst.
There’s also a good chance that he was written to have dual meanings: one as the “candy” that would draw in younger viewers with his catchphrases and adorable obnoxiousness, the other as commentary on the same young viewers who loved him.
After all, once you got past the mind-blowing awesomeness of the fact that you were watching the actual, recreated social dynamic of dinosaurs in their natural habitats as they actually lived millions of years ago (source: science), Dinosaurs was, at its core, social commentary.
If you haven’t seen Dinosaurs, imagine Aaron Sorkin’s take on a family sitcom about dinosaur life, except with less walk and talk. At the time, this level of satire was unprecedented (especially in a show that was ostensibly for kids), and although today it isn’t nearly as edgy as something like South Park, in re-watching old episodes, I have been surprised at the topics covered, many of which are just as relevant today as they were over two decades ago.
Plus, if you’ve been itching to know what Bob Dylanosaurus would look like (and truly, who hasn’t wondered this), Dinosaurs answers that burning question. When I was younger, all of this was well over my head, so I guess the show succeeded at working on two levels. It’s like watching an entirely new show as an adult.
At this point, some of you are probably muttering, “what does all of this have to do with the Osborne Lights at Walt Disney World, and why should I care?” It has nothing to do with the Osborne Lights.
That was merely the Walt Disney World subterfuge for me promoting and convincing you to watch (or rewatch) one of the pinnacle achievements of mankind in the last 50 years (or at least one of the top television shows), that seems long forgotten. So in a sense, I guess this post was sort of clickbait, but I make no apologies. (You’re welcome.)
You can purchase Dinosaurs – The First and Second Seasons and Dinosaurs – The Third and Fourth Seasons for about $20 each. Talk about the deal of the Quaternary period. Buy multiple copies for when the first discs wear out.
As for the significance of Baby Sinclair in the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World…uhh…well, he appears at the end of San Francisco street on the left side of the street, which is critical because…San Francisco is (probably) a place where dinosaurs once lived, and…?
Actually, my guess is that a Cast Member found the Baby Sinclair prop from the “Dinosaurs Live” show that ran at the Disney-MGM Studios sitting around backstage somewhere and thought, “hey, dinosaurs are awesome…perfect for Osborne Lights!” and stuck it in some random window. After Baby Sinclair was a smash hit at the Osborne Lights last year with Disney’s key demographic of weird people on the internet like me, they decided to throw us a bone and bring him back.
Regardless of the reason, Baby Sinclair is easily the awesomest Easter Egg in the Osborne Lights, and you should make plans to spend an hour or two standing in his presence, marveling at him. As for what the future of Baby Sinclair holds…that’s anyone’s guess; my guess happens to be that next year when you walk onto the Streets of America at Christmas-time, you will be entering “The Sinclair Family Spectacle of Dinosaur Lights” (presented by WESAYSO Corporation).
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Your Thoughts
Have you made the pilgrimage to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to see Baby Sinclair? What was your second favorite thing about the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, after Baby Sinclair? Are you going to Walt Disney World for Christmas this year? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
really informative
very exciting
Somehow, I had never heard of the TV show Dinosaurs. I guess I’m just a bit too old – I watched the Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, but I was in the last years of high school/first years of college when Dinosaurs was on.
I used to watch this all the time as a kid as well! I had no idea that it was streaming on Netflix, but thanks to your knowledge, I do now. I watched the first 4 episodes the other night after reading your post and this show is really good! I actually wanted to keep watching it unlike a lot of the other shows from my childhood. Most of those are fun for a minute, but get old quickly. The topics and humor in this show are fantastic! I will surely be watching the rest of the episodes once I get a chance.
Thanks Tom, you really do have the best posts!! 🙂
You get paid to write this shit?
Yes, I have accrued a vast fortune writing superfluous articles about sitcom dinosaurs appearing in the Disney Parks.
Or not.
Either way, the joke is on you, as you’re the one who read *and* commented on this “shit.”
Long-time reader, first-time commenter…
After reading this, I must commend you for doing a write-up on this. Dinosaurs is indeed everything you said it is. My kids love the show, to the point I plunked down $60 for a twenty year old plush talking Baby Sinclair for my daughter. My kids watch at least one episode per day. When we arrived in the area of the Osbourne Lights, the first thing i did was ask a castmember if they still had it, and where he was. I’m happy tosee that he is appreciated by others as well.
I wrote a post about the Dinosaurs “Big Songs” cassette and it’s my second most popular post ever. Not that that’s saying a lot but I usually get at least a hit a day from someone searching “I’m the baby gotta love me”. Unfortunately, the tape was nowhere near as clever as the show. Definitely not something I enjoyed re-listening to beyond the nostalgia factor, and this from someone who listens to Sonny Eclipse almost daily.
Is this really only his second year? I could swear he was there during my honeymoon in 2012 but I’m probably misremembering. In any case, I love when Disney engages fans with these fun little touches. Let’s you know there’s someone there thinking about us, even if it’s something that was probably not a calculated decision at it’s inception. Management could’ve easily said, “What’s that doing there? Get rid of it!” Instead it’s back another year. Costs them nothing, makes us happy. Win win win win.
i noticed Baby Sinclair last year while waiting in line to get my picture taken. I didn’t know who he was or his significance (or even what he was – I thought he was an alien) but I was still intrigued by him. Now I know! Thanks for the enlightening info 🙂
That house is the coolest house in the whole display. Not only is it Baby Sinclair’s house, it also has Jack Skellington (and a hidden Mickey) in the front yard, a Christmas Story leg lamp, and Mickey’s Christmas Carol playing on the TV. This was all there last year and is back this year as well. During the first week this year, this house also had the Halloween cat on the side. However, when we went back the day after Thanksgiving, it was gone. Didn’t find it that time, but Michael’s comment above explains that. I don’t recall seeing Roger Rabbit, but we are going one more time the weekend before Christmas so I’ll be sure to be on the lookout.
Baby Sinclair looks like the dwarf from DON’T LOOK NOW
I had the pleasure of visiting the lights for the first time this year- and I was mightily impressed! I found myself standing around waiting for my sister, when I spotted Baby Sinclair in the window right above me. I was then distracted by a family nearby, having an argument. I eavesdropped, as any curious person would. They were arguing about Baby Sinclair- or rather, they were arguing over whether it was Baby Sinclair, or it was Mr. Toad. They decided it was probably Mr. Toad, and shuffled off down the street…
We were there the 2nd week of the Osborne lights, and talked to a cast member. He said they were reading blogs and were forced to move the cat already because someone posted his location, and they thought they were going to move him weekly to keep people from revealing his location. He also asked if we had found Roger Rabbit and Baby Sinclair. Just like you mentioned, he said the guys were getting bored at night and found old props and figured they would hide them in the lights.
I was actually expecting to see “not the mama!” as the first comment to this post. Good to know all four seasons are on Netflix. Gonna see if I can watch a few episodes this weekend.
They FINALLY released all the Dinosaurs episodes in Germany on DVD last monday…
BEST! PRE-CHRISTMAS! PRESENT! EVER!!!
Yeah, I had read some rumors of concerns that Germany had not finished its disaster management plan in the event of an “Awesomeness Overload Epidemic” caused by the release of the DVDs, hence the delay.
This post may be the paramount of your career. Well done, sir. Well done.
Oh, don’t you worry, I’ve already reworked my obituary to make mention of it!
I have seen the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights this year, but it was a very quick viewing because I ran through it as part of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon. Even though I slowed down to look at the lights, it was difficult because it was raining and my glasses were so fogged up that everything looked blurry. Sadly, this year’s blurry spectacle did not leave me time to locate Sinclair or the black cat. 🙁
I’m sure Baby Sinclair was guiding you through the race in spirit! 😉