Back when the Back Lot tour took the original route, you could see them all during the day. Of course, it is nowhere near as pretty.
I've been planning my trips for the 1st or 2nd week of Dec. for the last few years. It starts getting dark around 6:30-7PM or so.
Good thing to do is schedule dinner for around 5 or 5:30 at one of MGM's restaurants. Once you are done, you can get a quick tour of the lights.
One other thing I've managed to do is go see Fantasmic and then as it empties out, go down to the lights. The only problem with this is that if you sit close to the Fantasmis show, you end up with about 5000 people in front of you on your way to the lights!
Believe me when I say it looks like that picture of the last chopper leaving Saigon. You would think that the lights will be on for 200 seconds and that's it. It is a mad rush to get down there and you can expect at least 4 stroller enemas by the time you get there. :lol:
Other than that, that is about the only 2 plans that work out other than just plain old waiting for dark. :xmas: