Osborne Lights Officially Returning for 2015 for 20th and Final Season

mm52200

mm52200

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
This event became way too crowded too enjoy IMO. Thousands of people packed in like sardines is uncomfortable and doesn't allow you time to enjoy the details.
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Really? We were there between Christmas and New Years Eve this year, the busiest time of year and every time we went to the lights it was very easy to move around and look with plenty of space. Sure there were people there and some parts were a little tighter than others but otherwise the crowds were very manageable. I mean if you go as soon as the lights turn on for the night they're gonna be more crowded, but they eventually thin down to a manageable crowd.
 
surfsupdon

surfsupdon

Well-Known Member
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Osborne Lights will be missed- thanks for the memories!
 
surfsupdon

surfsupdon

Well-Known Member
Biff215 said:
Goodbye Osborne lights...thanks for all the amazing Christmas memories, our holiday trips will never be the same!
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The Christmas trips will never be the same, you are right. As an above poster said, the Lights were the main draw for our Christmas trips- sure there are beautiful decorations elsewhere, but Osborne Lights were the centerpiece of the Christmas decor for us, the pinnacle. I think of all my friends and family I visited the Lights with, and I smile.

Thank you to Mr. Jennings and WDW for great memories.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
The Tuna said:
I don't usually mind when rides or attractions leave, but these lights were something else. I will miss them horribly. No point in going at Christmas time anymore for me. The other decorations are great, but not worth specifically going to see. I hope they (or something like them) come back in some form somewhere at Walt Disney World.
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First the Epcot Christmas Lights and now this? Christmas will never be the same at Walt Disney World for now on.:(
 
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BroganMc

Well-Known Member
It has been my dad's and my tradition to fly down to Disney for New Year's ever since becoming DVC owners about 10 years ago. We'd go to the Studios to see midnight fireworks (watched from Echo Lake just outside 50's Primetime Diner), go to a ride (TSMM, Muppets, or Star Tours) then spend the last hour of EMH that night roaming about Osborne Lights. We didn't leave until the last song had played. We hunted the purple cat and red armadillo. We danced to Feliz Navidad with the college CMs. We counted up as many hidden mickey's as we could find. I photographed every corner. I've filmed every song. I've even filmed a full hour just looking down the street from under the Empire State Building.

When you stayed for evening EMH, the crowd dispersed. Not many could stay away until 2-3am.

This year we took our family for all of New Year's week. We saw the Candlelight Processional. We saw the Voices of Liberty and Canadian Holiday Voyagers concerts. We met Pere Noel and the Chinese good luck lion. We were in Magic Kingdom for New Year's fireworks (on Dec 30) and EMH marathon rides. We saw Star Wars fireworks. And we got to visit Osborne Lights 4 out of 7 nights while in Florida.

Sunday was our last night in town. It was cold and rainy. The bus was late. I risked getting a huge cold, but I had heard Disney was doing a special sign-off goodbye. Sunday was supposed to be the final day. They extended it to Wednesday just hours before I left for the park. I'm so glad I went one last time.

Because of the weather, there were no PhotoPass people stationed anywhere. The crowds were EMH low. So I parked myself at the foot of the Empire State Building and began filming the last songs of Osborne. I put it up as soon as I got home Monday night and shared with friends.

My feelings are very bittersweet. Disney did a good job saying goodbye to the lights this year. I understand the figurines are going back to the Osbornes. The entire block will soon be demolished and the whole area turned into a construction zone for the next 3-4 years. My dad and I will have to come up with a new NYE tradition to ring in the new year. Next year will not include a trip to Disney. The year after that may not include any trips to DHS. At least not while the bulldozers and cranes dominate the land.

I know there will be many more videos flooding the net over the next few days. So many loved this display and made it part of their holiday. For us, we incorporate all ou Disney video in our train garden. (We put a big screen TV behind a Magic Kingdom section of the garden. All fireworks shows appear behind our porcelain Cinderella Castle while the toy monorail glides by.)

This video is of the very last full song, the Mickey Mouse club sign off and Peanuts' "Christmas Time Is Here" (the sad little ditty used to serenade people out of the area). I only stopped filming when there was nothing but silence, darkness and CMs asking me to vacate for fireworks.

I hope you enjoy it.



And in case you want to know what a typical NYE week (including late night EMH) was like in Osborne, here's my playlist of the week. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL87U8D-NA9OJGGXOH-bOnyRRJWQ3lwjf4
 
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Brian

Brian

Well-Known Member
I was there Wednesday night as well and definitely teared up. It was my first time seeing the lights, and obviously my last. But as with every attraction/show closing, I take comfort in Walt's wise words: "Around here we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
 
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BroganMc

Well-Known Member
Brian said:
I was there Wednesday night as well and definitely teared up. It was my first time seeing the lights, and obviously my last. But as with every attraction/show closing, I take comfort in Walt's wise words: "Around here we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
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I'd take comfort in that if I believed in current management to keep Walt's vision alive. They have been making too many idiotic, cost-cutting, profit-over-guest decisions the last 2-5 years for me to trust them. I know Imagineers want to keep a light show and move it elsewhere during construction, but they aren't being given the budget and support to do it. Management is half-assing it.

Just look how they fired Mulch, Sweat & Shears before the holiday season and replaced them with a mediocre (and less expensive) DJ. The NYE party was terrible because of it. Bad music choices and lack of energy in the mosh pit crowd. Only thing they did right this year was the Star Wars fireworks display.

It all started with the jerk-move execs pulled with EPCOT's Lights of Winter. That display was unceremoniously scrapped and tossed in a field to rot. Excuses and outright lies given to guests why that was done. Didn't matter that guest complaints soared. The bean counters had their international and once-in-a-lifetime tourists to balance out their numbers. We've been boycotting EPCOT for years on NYE because of their sad holiday displays. Now we're boycotting Disney altogether.

Only comfort I have is believing at least these displays will go back to the family that made and cherished them. They won't be left to rot in a field. (Unless we're talking Mickey's train and Micky/Santa shaking hands. Those "original" creations may very well be found later rotting in a field.)

I hate to be so bitter. I just know too much about how the place is being run these days. Only thing that will move management to do better is poor attendance and sales numbers.
 

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