The Osborne Lights

Just because we’d like to get out of here before park closing doesn’t mean we’re passing up on dessert. The spread of sweets is delectable. There are some chocolate & coconut bars that are as good as any homemade ones I’ve ever tasted.

Even with the selection and quality of desserts, Brandon’s disappointed. He remembers there being a substantial sundae bar with lots of toppings at our 2003 visit here. There’s still ice cream, but “only” two toppings and some sprinkles.

His disappointment doesn’t keep him from getting a huge bowl of ice cream anyway.

We’ve settled up at Hollywood & Vine and are ready to go at 7:50. With the park closing at 8, we have ten minutes to get over to the Streets of America to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

Along the way, Brandon spots that the wait time for Star Tours is showing only 10 minutes, but I urge him to keep moving. For one, he and I, and maybe Benjamin, would be the only ones interested in riding it. And besides that, the line is visible out the door. Even if all the queue switchbacks inside were bypassed, I can’t imagine it being only a ten minute wait.

We round the corner, and… oh my. Wow.

What can be said about the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights? There are lights. Lots of lights. They dance. It is spectacular. (Hence the name!) I’d seen pictures and video, but as I suspected, if you haven’t seen them in person, you won’t get the impact. It’s amazing.

Bob hangs back at the entrance to New York Street, taking pictures, but I want to be surrounded by this. Brandon’s gone ahead a bit and returns almost immediately -- “It’s snowing!!” Sure enough, the flakes are falling all around us as soon as we step into the street.

After we move a short way in, “Feliz Navidad” begins playing and the lights go into action. All around us the curtains and designs of light pulse and flicker in time with the music. We’ve seen individual houses set up to do this, but this is amazing. It is entirely immersive – everywhere you look, 360 degrees around you, and even above you, festive lights dance, music plays, snow falls. It’s Christmas on steroids.

And it has me smiling from ear to ear. I love Christmas, but by New Year’s I’m usually ready to put the merriment away for another year to keep it fresh. This, however, gets me in the spirit all over again.