Years back, a man from Arkansas tried to make Christmas magical for himself, his family, and especially his little girl, Breezy. He had the most incredible spectacle of lights anyone had ever seen, and people came from miles, no, hundreds of miles to see the annual display. Unfortunately, this man lived in Grinchville, and his neighbors complained. A lot. They didn’t like the traffic, the people, the mess the people made parking all over, walking on their lawns, and they demanded that this man take down his lights. Not to disappoint his family and his beautiful little daughter, this man went all the way to the Arkansas Supreme Court before finally accepting the fact in 1994 that he would no longer be allowed to put out his Christmas display.
But wait! In 1995, a Mouse came to the rescue. And from that was born the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights, courtesy of Jennings Osbourne and Mickey Mouse. The light display that made so many people happy would now be available for the world to see, as it transformed Residential Street at Disney MGM Studios into a Winter Wonderland, with colorful, twinkling lights and animated displays for as far as the eye can see.
Disney added lights and changed a few things over the years, and in 2003, due to renovations being made at Disney MGM Studios, the light spectacle was not displayed at all. But it came back in 2004, on New York Street. Each night during the holiday season, the lights go on in a short ceremony, snow comes gently falling down, and throngs of guests put on special effects glasses that make each light look like a snowflake, an angel, whatever they decide that year. There are vendors through the display offering hot cocoa in holiday mugs and you can take as long as you like, roaming up and down, admiring the talent and effort that goes in to putting up so many lights.
Is this a must see? I would rank this among one of the things not to miss if you are going to be in Disney World during the holidays. I would say in terms of holiday spirit, if I had to choose between this and the Candlelight Processional, I would choose the Candlelight every time. But this display is one of a kind, chock full of the spirit of Christmas, and a joy for the eye to see.