Attractions We Miss: Osborne Family Lights – Gone But Still Glowing!
As winter creeps its way across the Northern Hemisphere, snowflakes tumble down, and our breath plumes into the grey sky. While afternoons might be feeling drear, at night, the stars shine all the brighter for the cold. This season’s display of the Milky Way reminds me of another galaxy’s worth of lights, like the fireflies who danced in the dark just mere months ago.
Although a manmade spectacle, the Osborne Family Lights that once twinkled over Disney World sparked just as much awe and wonder as wintertime constellations. Numbering in the millions, these Christmas lights were about as numerous as the stars – and WAY more colorful!
This attraction simply took your breath away.
While the lights no longer glimmer across Disney’s Hollywood Studios, they burn brightly in our memory here at MouseEarsTV, and today, we’d like to bask in that glow once again. Please join us as we revisit one of our favorite discontinued attractions: The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights!
(You might want to slip on some sunglasses. It’s about to get bright!)
A Single Spark (and the Supreme Court)
Before it was a Disney attraction, the Osborne Family Lights were a backyard attraction.
It all started when Jennings Osborne’s six-year-old daughter – nicknamed Breezy – asked her father if they could cover their house in lights for Christmas.1 Unable to say no (how could you turn down a request like that?), Jennings decked out their property in 1,000 Christmas lights. That was in 1986.
While I imagine Breezy must have been elated, it was Jennings himself who actually caught the Christmas decorating bug. Drawn to the lights like a proverbial moth, Jennings added more and more (and more) lights every year. By 1993, he was putting up over three million Christmas lights every December – and loving it!
He had a globe made out of lights, dancing light angels, and even a full-blown carousel – you guessed – entirely made up of lights. No inch of his property went undecorated – no, not even his gas grill went unilluminated.2 Times Square had nothing on Jennings Osborne.
When the sun set, people flocked to the Osborne family’s street just to catch a glimpse of their ever-growing display. In fact, the light display became so well-known that neighborhood traffic often became congested and – according to the neighbors – unbearable.
Far from feeling the Christmas spirit, neighbors began complaining that the Osborne family lights were a hazard, and those complaints snowballed into a lawsuit. From county court to the Arkansas state court, Jennings Osborne never let his lights go out. (In fact, he actually added more.)
However, when the Christmas light case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Jennings’ appeal was denied. The street became dark once again.3
While three million lights might have been too much for an uptight Arkansas neighborhood…”For Walt Disney World, they seemed ‘the perfect way to celebrate the spirit of the season.'”4
Lights, Camera, Christmas!
Luckily for Disney, Jennings was a longtime fan of Mickey Mouse, so he was happy to donate his lights to Residential Street in MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios). However, the transfer almost didn’t happen. Legend has it Jennings was initially reluctant to make the deal, thinking “Residential Street” meant an actual residential street in Orlando instead of the park! Thankfully, it didn’t take long to shed some light on the misunderstanding. (Yes, pun intended.)
So, in 1995, the Osborne Family Festival of Lights debuted to a rapturous audience at Disney World. His Christmas lights – so abhorred by his Arkansas neighbors – couldn’t have received a warmer reception than they did in Florida. (Even Jennings’ light-up razorback hog was welcomed into gator territory!5)
Every year, Disney continued to grow the attraction while always including Jennings’ original pieces. During a period of renovation in 2003, the lights were lamentably absent. However, by the next year, they had returned to a new location on the Streets of America (then New York Street).6 Eventually, the lights were upgraded to LEDs capable of flashing in time to music, thus creating the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.
Favorite Osborne family light pieces included stockings for each of their family members, fluttering angels, flying reindeer, wooden soldiers, the iconic “MERRY CHRISTMAS” lettering, and of course, a giant Christmas tree. (Oh, and an accidental Halloween cat!)
Every building on New York Street was completely covered in lights, and most also hosted a Christmas-themed window display (bedazzled with more lights, of course!).
Throughout the years, Disney added their own touches, Disney added their own touches, including plenty of hidden (and some not-so-hidden) Mickeys. The most obvious Mickey Mouse was the one placed inside the giantic Christmas tree made of lights. Additionally, characters like Olaf, the 101 Dalmatians, Mr. Toad, Goofy, and even Stitch in a Santa hat could be found nestled in among the lights.7
As the show started, the lights would come to life and dance along to everyone’s favorite Christmas jingles like “Feliz Navidad.”8 It was a fun and dazzling spectacle that left guests spellbound. The spectacle always seemed to capture the wonder of Christmas in a beautiful neon glow.
Unfortunately, the glow of Jedi lightsabers was destined to take the place of this annual attraction as construction on Star Wars Land began in 2016.9
Christmas of 2015 marked the last performance of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights, with millions of LEDs glittering along to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and, as their last dance, the “Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater” song.10
“Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company…”
Where are the Osborne Lights Now
While we’re sad that the Osborne Family Lights are no longer an annual Disney tradition, that doesn’t mean we have to have a blue Christmas! In fact, enjoying this light show can still be an annual tradition for you and your family!!
Rather than throwing the lights away, Disney paid it forward. Jennings donated the lights to them, and they donated the lights to Give Kids the World!11 This amazing charity organization uses the lights during their “Night of a Million Lights” fundraising event. While it’s not an exact replica of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, it’s still incredibly breathtaking and definitely worth the price of admission.
While we loved the Osborne Family Lights at Disney, in the hands of Give Kids the World, this display is shining brighter than ever before. More than just glowing with Christmas cheer, these LEDs are helping illuminate the lives of critically ill children with much-needed hope.
Did you get to experience the Osborne Family Lights at Disney? Feel free to share your memories of it in the comments below – we’d love to hear your stories! Or tell us about a recent experience you’ve had with “Night of a Million Lights!”
Shine on, everybody!
Cover Image
Photo: simon17964 via Flickr
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