Osborne Lights at Disney World
The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights ran at Walt Disney World for 20 years, but won’t be displayed in 2016-2017 due to Star Wars Land that began in April 2016. While this is a bittersweet ending to a great chapter of Walt Disney World Christmas history, we’re optimistic that Star Wars Land will be “worth it.” Read our “That’s a Wrap!” post for more reminiscing about the Osborne Lights and other now-extinct areas of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. What follows is historical info about the Osborne Lights from previous years as a sort of time capsule…
There are currently rumors of another, different light display replacing the Osborne Lights (possibly in a different park or Disney Springs), but those are simply rumors at this point. If you’re going to Walt Disney World this Christmas, definitely make sure to spend some serious time at the Osborne Lights, as it’s your last chance.
For those unfamiliar with the Osborne Lights, it’s a Christmas light display at Walt Disney World, in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. For 2015, the Osborne Lights run from November 6, 2015 until January 3, 2016 (Note: the Osborne Lights have been EXTENDED until January 6, 2016 as of 1/4/15. More extensions *could* be on the way through Marathon Weekend.). This post has been updated following the first few weeks of the Osborne Lights in 2015, with some new info based on the record crowds they are drawing.
More on that below, but suffice to say, be prepared for being squashed among other people when you visit the Osborne Lights…
When it comes to the Osborne Lights, “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.
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
- “What’s This?” – Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas
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. You can read the full story here–it’s pretty heartwarming and has a bit of a fairytale ending.
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. In the years since, Walt Disney World has added a nice tribute to him in the form of a lone white angel amongst the angels that circle the globe. A fitting nod to the man who 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 for 2015, as many locals are reportedly visiting often to see the Osborne Lights in their last year, and many tourists are making special trips down to Walt Disney World to see the lights. In other words, the Streets of America are always going to be crowded this year–it’s just a matter of how crowded.
Before you even get to the park, though, you should know about the parking situation (if you’re driving) that has been occurring regularly since the beginning of December 2015. Basically, from mid-afternoon on, guests trying to park at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are being redirected to Epcot and bussed over to DHS. This is every bit as inconvenient as it sounds, and if you can avoid driving to DHS, you really, really should. (We’d go as far as to recommend walking from International Gateway in Epcot to DHS as the most convenient option, as traffic has been bad, too.)
As for the Osborne Lights themselves, right when the lights are turned on is the absolute worst in terms of crowds. We highly recommend avoiding the lighting ceremony (it’s not really that cool). In fact, for the first hour or two of operation, it’s really difficult to move through the Osborne Lights, so our tip is to wait until after this.
Once you are on the Streets of America, head towards the side streets or the sidewalk of the main streets to get out of the sea of people. If you’re standing in the center of the street, expect to be bumped, pushed, and just generally “touched” by a lot of other people trying to get past you. (This might sound like an unpleasant experience, but really, the Osborne Lights are awesome–and worth it.)
In terms of crowds, we have found that the Osborne Lights are the least busy on nights when Disney’s Hollywood Studios does not have Extra Magic Hours and there is not a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party taking place at the Magic Kingdom. Crowds are also lighter during showings of Fantasmic and at the very end of the night.
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, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is probably the single-easiest environment for nighttime photography at Walt Disney World from a technical perspective since the lights are so bright. The real challenge is avoiding the crowds to take the photos! For thorough photography advice, read our Christmas Photography Tips post.
In years past, the lights have not been turned off until one hour after the park closes. This is true every night except when on the rare nights when there are private events. Heading over to the Osborne Lights around forty-five minutes before park closing will give you time to explore the display, stay after closing, and avoid the crowds.
Note that if you’re only visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios for one night, this strategy can be a bit risky, as there are a lot of nights when Disney’s Hollywood Studios books private events for after park close. Sometimes these events include private showings of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, in which case they clear this area out shortly after park closing.
Given that you won’t know if this will occur on the night you visit or not, I recommend planning to be off the Streets of America by 15 minutes after park closing–if you’re able to stay longer (and you should be able), that extra time is just icing on the cake!
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. You definitely don’t need to stay that long to enjoy it, but I also don’t recommend planning to go for 10 minutes, looking at it, and checking it off your “list” of things to get done. It’s a special experience that takes a little while to fully absorb. Slow done and soak it in.
The one Easter Egg you will most certainly want to find is Baby Sinclair. He’s located back on the left side of San Francisco street, and is easily my favorite thing about the Osborne Lights. Make sure to use #BabySinclair on social media to hype him up! 😉
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. For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and related articles.
For updates on Walt Disney World, the latest news, discount information, and tips, sign up for our free newsletter!
Your Thoughts…
Are you a fan of the Osborne Lights? Will you miss the Osborne Lights when Star Wars Land (construction) replaces them in 2016? What’s your favorite Osborne Lights fun-fact or hidden “Easter Egg”? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Here’s a question. Is it exactly one hour after park closing that they turn off the lights? I have an 8:05 dinner reservation at Sci-Fi Dine In and am wondering if I need to see them before dinner, or can I go after dinner.
Thanks.
When we have been there, it has been pretty precise, but I’m not sure if that’s always the case. I’d play it safe and go before dinner.
You can improve your folders using this application. The iphone should be operating the most current firmware, so if it’s not, perform this improve now.
Be sure to follow the instructions exactly as they are given.
Beneath The diabetic diet pregnancy, you may have small meals at regular intervals
per day. Training can also be important for normalizing
blood sugar and building new cells that recognize insulin.
Como era de esperar ahora todo está funcionando y el
ordenador no entrará en el modo de dormir . Sobre el otro lado, una ventana de
guillotina tiene ambas posibilidades funcionales.
Esta persona no se está ejecutando con el deck.5 completo.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures! I never tire of the lights, even though I have seen them many times now. I love showing them for the first to guests I bring to the park. Another amazing place for Christmas lights is the Moody Gardens show in Galveston. Among other features, it is a mile of non-stop lights on the waterfront. You can visit just to see that, or stay at the hotel and have it included in a package, which lowers the overall (already a bargain) price.
We stayed there before and after a DCL cruise that included a day at WDW, so both sets of lights were there for the taking in one trip. DCL is returning to Galveston, and I wish they would do a repeat of the cruise that makes the stop for WDW.
I might add that the hotel was particularly kind to us when we couldn’t make it back home did to the Ice storms and told us we could stay (at a very reasonable rate) until it was safe for us to make the drive.
I love the tip about going after closing, as we have always gone with the crowds. It will be nice to take it in slowly. Again, thanks for the great write up!
I just looked up Moody Gardens show in Galveston. That looks great! Love the reflections of the lights and pyramids on the water. Thanks for the tip!
oi estou programando minha viagem pra ir ai em novembro 2014 quando exatamente comeca esse show ????
We were there in Nov. last year and loved the light display. It was truly magical!! We had dinner and Mama Melrose…excellent by the way. We walked out and I think there is a Christmas shop right near there with a snow man and some fake snow on the street so seeing that before the lights kinda set the mood. I’m hoping they continue to do this year after year. Any news on 2014 if they are going to have the light show?
Yes, Osborne Lights will be back for 2014–they do the snow every year! 🙂
We have just returned from Disney and it’s our third visit there this time of the year. Fascinating as ever and would never get tired of watching the spectacle of the dancing lights. It’s just amazing and MAGICAL.
I would love to get one tenth of the spectacle displayed at my home. It would be MAGICAL as well!!!! Keep up the good work!!
Domenico
We are planning on going the week before Christmas. We can only stay one night and would like to know where the best place to stay. We would like to see the Osborn light display and also spend the day in one of the parks. Should we just plan on spending the day at Disney Studios and not go to another park? We are going with all adults. What hotel would be best for us to stay at if? We were thinking of downtown Disney but not sure if that is close to Disney Studios and easy to get to the park from there.
Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
If you stay at Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan or Dolphin there is a boat that will take you to Hollywood Studios and back for no additional charge.
I am hearing from some sources that they will be dismantling Osborne Lights and moving some of them to Epcot. Please tell me this isn’t true. We had to cancel our trip this year and it was going to be our first time when it was decorated for Christmas. We had to reschedule for next year. I don’t think it would look right at Epcot.
If they stop running them due to Cars Land construction, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be moved to Epcot.
Do you happen to know if the lights are still in the plans for DHS in Nov. 2014? If so, have you heard of a definite start date? We cannot find this information through any of the conventional methods quite yet. We are trying to schedule our trip so that the start date for the lights is the same day as the final day of our trip. Thanks for your thoughts.
Based on lots of online love, I made sure to walk over to see the Osborne Lights at the end of a long day on a plane and in DHS. I found my way to what seemed like would be a good spot and waited a few minutes…then the show started…and I thought to myself “oh right… I’m not really a fan of Christmas lights…” I watched for about 30 seconds, shrugged, and trudged away. I understand that other people love these things (there were park hoppers entering the park as I left who were coming specifically to see the lights), and they are impressive in their own way, but I’d have to list them as one of the more overrated Disney experiences. But me saying that is sort of like a person who doesn’t like drop rides criticizing Tower of Terror.
Your photos are beautiful, as always!
You don’t like the Osborne Lights?!? THAT is distinctly unpatriotic! 😉
Did I see somewhere that due to the WDW expansion (Toy Story & Star Wars) that 2015 will be the last year for the Osborne Lights? Say it’s NOT true! We love them! Thanks for the gorgeous pics!
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!
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?
I know the Streets of America has been used for one high school’s homecoming before (this past fall).
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…
I know this is an old question, but my experience is also old. In 2012 they turned the lights off at exactly the end of EMH. They played a song to end the night, then the lights went off.
The end time is not consistent. I believe at the end of EMH, the lights are turned off. Other nights, so long as there isn’t a private event after close, the lights are on 1 hour after park close.
Last year we visited during extra magic hours. So they’re definitely on during. Not sure how long they stay on after, though.
Thank you ever so for you blog post.Thanks Again. Really Great!!!
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.
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!
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!
Been there done that. GOING BACK AGAIN!!!
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!