Florida Guide > Hollywood Studios
The Osborne Lights at Hollywood Studios
From mid November to Early January, the Streets of America come to electric mega-watt life at Hollywood Studios with the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Every inch of the New York and San Francisco back-lot are blanketed in millions of twinkling lights which dance in synchronized splendor to carefully choreographed holiday music.
At the start of the nightly show, Phineas and Ferb, from the Disney Channel series of the same name, undergo some technical difficulties, but rest assured they are on hand with a quick solution as the lights commence their dance to ' Christmas is Starting Now' from their Christmas Special show. Every 10 minutes from 6pm onwards, the lights dance to favorite songs such as Jingle Bells by Barbara Streisand, Feliz Navidad sang by Jose Feliciano and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra' s production of Christmas Eve to name just a few.
As well as covering every facade of the buildings, the dazzling display also features heavenly floating angels, Santa and his sleigh dancing across the street high above, a giant rotating world globe, marching soldiers, a steam train and a multitude of three dimensional and motorized characters.
The life of the lights began in 1986 when and Arkansas based businessman, Jennings Osborne, started to hang Christmas lights at his home at the request of his 6 year old daughter Breezy. The family tradition started with 1000 lights and grew each and every year until they had amassed over 3 million lights by 1993. A law suit from neighbours finally put a stop to the family display, then Disney came to the rescue and offered to host the lights. As would be expected, Disney added their own touch of pixie dust and add more lights and new ideas each year. The lights are now one of the most popular seasonal attractions in Orlando.
It takes a huge amount of planning to prepare and create the spectacle and there are over 5 million individual bulbs stretching along 350 miles of light string. Look carefully and you will spot over 40 Mickey imaged inter-tangled and hidden within the dancing displays. Disney' s busy ' elves' begin their work in August and it takes them over 20, 000 hours of installation and the lights use a mighty 800, 000 watts of electric. There are 35 miles of extension cord, 15 miles of rope light, 1000 dimmable relays, a red canopy containing 30, 000 lights, 170 flying angels, 150 regular angels, a 70 foot Christmas tree with 80, 000 lights, a 30 foot Christmas tree with 27, 000 lights, two thirty foot carousels, 18 giant candles, 10 snowmen and a million tie wraps holding it all together. Phew!
Christmas just wouldn' t be the same without snow and if anyone can create snow in hot and sunny Florida, it' s Disney. During the light spectacular, they use 44 snow machines and billow out 55 gallons of snow flake fluid and you don' t even need to shovel - just enjoy the splendor and leave all the hard work to Disney!
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