This past Christmas season, the world said a special goodbye to a Walt Disney World spectacle. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights celebrated it’s 20th and final year at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Since 1995, The Osborne Lights have amazed guests all around the world and it all started with one girl.
Jennings Osborne was a successful microbiologist that was born in 1943. In 1980, he and his wife, Mitzi Osborne, had their first and only daughter, Allison Brianne. Jennings, being the successful business man he was, usually was away from home and busy with work, but one Christmas changed all of that for him.
On Allison’s 6th Christmas in 1986, she asked her dad for something that was not a normal or trendy thing for kids to ask for. This being to spend time together with her dad and hang up Christmas lights in the front of their house.
When Allison said this, it caused Jennings Osborne to realize the time that he had been missing with his young daughter and his wife. Because of this, he decided to go out and buy over 1,000 Christmas lights to hang up with his daughter that year.
In an article entitled Secret History of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, Jim Korkis states that “it became a tradition and Jennings kept adding more and more lights. However, his home was located on one of the busiest streets in Little Rock and, as the fame of this display spread, it resulted in severe traffic problems as visitors clogged the street to experience the illuminated spectacle” (Korkis).
Because of this publicity, the Osborne’s lights started to become an issue for some people. In 1994, after accumulating over 3 million lights, the Arkansas Supreme court ruled that the Osborne’s lights be taken down immediately.
After this occurred, the vice president of Walt Disney World at the time decided to give Jennings Osborne a call about the lights. After 9 years of using the Osborne family’s front yards as their display piece, the Osborne family decided to donate all of the lights they had to Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.
Combined, this entire showcase that the Osborne family had created up to this point included over 3 million lights, 100 angels, two working carousels, a 70-foot-tall Christmas tree, and a train conducted by Mickey Mouse. The entire display made it Disney on November 4th, 1995 and from there, the team of Disney’s Imagineers began to put up the lights.
By the end of November, the Walt Disney World had set up all of the lights and prepared them for the upcoming Christmas season. Everyone who came to see these lights were amazed at the spectacle and from that point on, The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights began growing in the Streets of America at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As of this past Christmas season, the Osborne Lights had accumulated over 5 million total lights!
The lights have allowed so many around the world to experience a showcase like never before for just over 20 years. Though it is sad to see the lights go, the legacy of The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights will live on forever.
Sources used in the blog: https://www.mouseplanet.com/11210/Secret_History_of_the_Osborne_Family_Spectacle_of_Dancing_Lights
TheWDWReviewer 