Walt Disney World Christmas Report – Part 2

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From there, we headed to Suzannah and Scott’s wedding. We had a great time at the wedding, celebrating with them their love for one another. The wedding was beautiful and intimate, and the happiness of their special day with one another, family and friends–some of those relationships forged through a common interest in Disney–reminded me of that role that the fan community has played in my own life.

As with all online communities, the Disney fan community certainly has its good and bad, but overall, it has been a net positive in a huge way for us, and I’ve often advocated engaging and interacting with people in online communities and forming friendships. The vast majority of my close friends I met through the Disney fan community.

For me, these friendships have been real, and have extended far beyond Disney. I have been employed by those friends, traveled to different continents with others, and grown as a photographer with others still. Suffice to say, it’s not just a matter of tweeting back and forth or sharing rumors about theme parks (although in some cases, that’s exactly what it is). I can’t imagine how different our lives would be had we never decided to revisit Walt Disney World as adults on a whim in 2006, but I’m guessing dramatically so.

This wedding underscored that: not only were we friends with the bride and groom thanks to Disney fandom, but also many other guests. We had known Suzannah and Scott, individually, for a long time. I want to say the first time we met Suzannah was at a meet-up for Walt Disney World’s 40th Anniversary (but I could be wrong), and I’m not going to speculate as to the first time we met Scott, because I’m really bad with names and faces, but I think it might’ve been 2011. In any case, we’ve known them for several years, and have watched them grow together as a couple.

I almost glossed over the wedding entirely as it skews more towards “personal” and I don’t view its events as particularly germane to a trip report, but I wanted to share that as an example of the positive powers of this fan community.

If you’ve been hesitant to participate in the online community, I would implore you to do so. This is 2015: we are living in an era with robot vacuums and bathroom mirrors with built-in televisions. Online friendships are no longer creepy and weird. You won’t form close friendships overnight, but you will never form friendships at all if you are too scared/reluctant/dismissive to give it a try.

After the wedding, we headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios where we were doing a private ticketed dessert party for the Osborne Lights.

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I have a lot to say on the topic of the Osborne Lights, and the controversy that arose when Disney announced that this would be their last year, but I feel like I’ve already “lectured” you too much in this installment, so I’ll save those remarks for a future installment.

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I will just say that this night photo of the Streets of America pre-lighting is probably about as compelling as a case as can be made for getting rid of this portion of the park. It’s like seeing a tabloid photo of a celebrity without make-up on.

I’ll let the beauty and grandeur of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights mostly speak for itself with the photos that follow…

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While I did get a few good photos, this visit was mostly about soaking up the ambiance with minimal crowds. I am really going to miss these lights.

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I’ve recently cut back on using the fisheye to shoot buildings and other architecture, but I’ll make an exception for the Osborne Lights. The distortion works in the whimsical context of this display, I think.

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The sheer number of visual gags, hidden references, and areas to explore is really something else. This is going to be a tough hole to fill in the Christmas line-up next year.

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I’ve tried tons of zoom exposure photos of the Osborne Lights throughout the years, and almost all of them have sucked. It’s a subject that should lend itself to this type of shot, but I’ve never been able to pull it off. This is about the best I’ve done, and I’m still not all that pleased.

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I’m guessing this switch does not actually control the lights. I was tempted to see, but I would’ve been mortified on the .001% chance I was wrong.

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Even though it was already midnight as we were leaving the Studios, I somehow convinced everyone else that we should walk over to Disney’s BoardWalk Inn to grab an Uber from there (buses were no longer running after the party), and also check out the Christmas decorations. Score one for time zones, I guess.

BoardWalk has a nice tree outside that is taller than a normal tree you’d find inside, but is still significantly shorter than one of the icon trees found around Walt Disney World. It’s a cute tree, but nothing spectacular. I’m also not a huge fan of the cool blues of these (and other) LED lights around Walt Disney World. If they are going to use LED lights (and I understand the rationale behind doing so), they should go for lights with warmer colors. LED blues are just too overpowering, I think.

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For the last couple of years (at least) the BoardWalk Inn (or BoardWalk Resort, per the display) gingerbread display has been pretty weak, if you ask me. It used to be an elaborate gazebo with characters inside and a lot of little details, but now it’s just a very block-ish shop called “Ginger’s Bread and Cookie Shop” with a little postcard display adjacent to it.

It looks like they took the most boring, bland Food & Wine Festival they could find (or the infrastructure for one), grabbed some extra gingerbread shingles from the Grand Floridian, pasted them on, and called it a day. This is really sad as compared to what the gingerbread display used to be, but honestly, I’d rather see something totally unique here. I think the “lifesize edible gingerbread” displays are a bit played out and overdone.

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Fortunately, the trees and garland inside by the fireplace are still beautiful and very tastefully done. A bit of a lackluster “Happy Holidays” photo spot when you compare it to the grandiose icon trees in other Deluxe Resort lobbies, but pretty nonetheless.

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The details on the trees are worth pausing for a closer look, as the ornaments are on-theme and charming. This is one thing about the smaller trees as opposed to the tall, icon trees that I’ve noticed. While the icon trees will stop you in your tracks as you approach, the oversized ornaments usually are as cool upon closer inspection. By contrast, smaller trees typically have a lot of detail in their ornaments.

We didn’t have long to explore the lobby, as our Uber pick-up arrived within about 7 minutes of us getting to Disney’s BoardWalk Inn…

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. OurWhat to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it.

For overviews of all of these topics and so much more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience!

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16 Responses to “Walt Disney World Christmas Report – Part 2”
  1. Mi Mi 5 January 14, 2016
  2. Dee December 29, 2015
  3. Greg s December 25, 2015
    • Tom Bricker December 25, 2015
  4. Phil Reed December 24, 2015
    • Tom Bricker December 25, 2015
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  7. Scott December 23, 2015
    • Tom Bricker December 25, 2015
  8. Lisa C. December 23, 2015
    • Tom Bricker December 25, 2015
  9. Mike Day December 22, 2015
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