Twinkling lights, colorful displays, and beautiful music–it was the most amazing Christmas lights display that I have ever seen in my life!
Christmas lights are one of my favorite things during this time of year! My husband is even known as the neighborhood Griswald for his growing Christmas light displays each year. We had never had the chance to see The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in person so we were so very excited that we had a winter trip planned to Disney and Hollywood Studios was our first stop! I couldn’t wait for it to get dark so we could go see the streets light up! Our children were 6 and 3 and I think I was more excited than them! The sun had finally set and the time had come for us to go see what everyone had been talking about. We turned the corner and there is was–twinkling lights, colorful displays, and beautiful music–it was the most amazing Christmas lights display that I have ever seen in my life!
It was magical-probably the most magical moment from my trip that year. I was in awe of the work that was put into it, the countless number of displays to look at, the sequences of lights dancing to the music BUT most of all was seeing my children (and my husband’s) reactions! Their faces will forever hold a special place in my heart. The joy and pure happiness was indescribable. I am so thankful that we had the chance to see this magnificent work of art before it closed January 6, 2016. After reminiscing of one of my favorite magical moments, I wanted to learn even more. Where did the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights come from?
History of The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights
A little girl asked her daddy one year if he could decorate the outside of the house for Christmas; what started as a 1,000 light display for his daughter grew bigger and bigger each year.
Jennings Osborne was a business man in Little Rock, Arkansas (Fun Fact: I currently reside near here so I thought it was pretty cool that this all started where I live!!) He founded the Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center. Soon after, he was able to buy property in the middle of town and start his family. When his daughter was 6 years old she asked her daddy if he could decorate the outside of the house for Christmas; what started as a 1,000 light display for his daughter grew bigger and bigger each year. He actually purchased the two properties adjacent to his own and expanded the display into them. Now that is dedication and LOVE! Each year more and more was added, eventually there was an illuminated globe, with Little Rock and Bethlehem marked, mounted in the back yard, two rotating carousels of lights, placed on each end of the estate’s circular driveway, a 70-foot tall Christmas tree of lights with 80,000 lights in three colored layers, mounted atop the home’s kitchen, and a canopy of 30,000 red lights over a section of the driveway AND MORE!!! As his light display grew, so did the popularity of it, along with the some disgruntled neighbors. News stations would report on the amazing work he did and people would drive from all over to see this spectacular display, but in turn it caused major traffic issues and many complaints. In 1993, he started having some legal troubles; 6 lawsuits were filed by neighbors stating that emergency vehicles could not get to their homes if needed and traffic was a major issue. Jennings had to shorten the length of his display and continued to fight to keep it going longer. It lost at the Arkansas Supreme Court level and he pushed it to the Supreme Court, where it ultimately was ordered to be shut down in 1995.
The story gained national attention and this is where Disney comes in! Jennings got a lot of different offers from various companies to move his lights. Project director, John Phelan discussed moving the display to the Walt Disney World resort. Osborne was interested but thought it would be put back onto another residential street in Orlando and initially declined. This was until he understood the “Residential Street” was actually a back-lot section at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. Jennings was a huge fan and happily accepted!! It was then that The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney’s Holllywood Studios (known then as Disney-MGM Studios) was born!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios gave it a really good home for 20 years. Of course it grew even more and was an amazing sight to see starting in mid-November and running into the first week of January. Disney added even more displays and lights to see. When songs would play, the lights would “dance” and be in perfect sequence. It even received a major overhaul in 2011, when it was all switched to LED lights! Starting in September, it took 20,000 man-hours to install the display each holiday season. The lights had a few moves to different streets during its tenure in order to make way for new attractions; ultimately,The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights closed January 6, 2016. When this display closed most of the light were donated to Walt Disney World to the Give Kids a World Village for their “Night of a Million Lights” event, which we just highlighted during a previous Magical Monday! Click the Magical Monday tab to find it and read more about it.
Lucky for us there are tons of YouTube videos available so you can watch and see. I have even added one below for you to enjoy! I wish that The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights was still a yearly tradition so that I could take my youngest to see in person. I will forever cherish the memories we made and the magic that we felt that night!
Source:YouTube/InsidetheMagic
