Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Below is my FastPass+ based Disney World itinerary for higher crowd weeks.

If your arrival is May 27 or later the summer of 2017, use this for the first and second Sunday–including the FastPass+ you need to book for then–instead of what’s written here!

It does not work all dates, and some dates that it mostly works it may need some little adjustments. Check your week here.

The recommended dining reservations and FastPass+ that make it work are in the To-Do List.

Daily agendas are in the links:

• Saturday
• Sunday
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Even though it’s not so utterly Friday today…Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

SECRETS OF THE OSBORNE SPECTACLE OF DANCING LIGHTS

By Jim Korkis

The Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights has been exhibited for twenty Christmases beginning in 1995.

Disney has announced that this year is the final appearance of this breath-taking experience.

Over the years, the show has undergone several changes but here are a few items that guests may have missed over the years.

When the four 18-wheel Mayflower Moving Vans arrived at Walt Disney World on November 4,1995, and the lights were unloaded, Show Director John Phelan discovered that there was a figure of a cat with an arched back outlined in purple. Time was of the essence since the display was announced as opening in just three weeks on November 24.

Phelan contacted Jennings Osborne to try to identify where it fit into the overall Christmas display and if it were perhaps a tribute to an Osborne pet. An amused Jennings replied that it was actually part of his Halloween lighting and he had shipped it by accident. Osborne had three huge backyard storage sheds filled with his holiday lights so it was easy to make a mistake.

Phelan kept the cat and had it re-lit in a holiday style and added to the display. Each year, the Walt Disney World lighting crew hides it somewhere in the display without letting Phelan know its location, thus making him go and find it. It is in a different place each year. Phelan has since moved on to duties at a competing Orlando park but still returns to try to find the cat.

By the way, there is an homage to the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team, with a red razorback hog hidden among the lights since Jennings was a huge Razorbacks fan including hosting free barbecues at Razorback games.

In 2006, approximately four hundred dimmer relay and control switches were added to the display allowing the lights to be choreographed to a musical score. The holiday event now consisted of more than five million lights and was officially renamed the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

Disney was not the first to use dancing lights but its display was the largest. Disney continued to update and add more and more lights each year.

The nativity scene saw a little controversy and was eventually moved to the Italian pavilion at Epcot for the holidays.

One year, special glasses were given away where the guests could see images of angels in the lights. Again, because of a little controversy regarding religious aspects, those glasses were redone the next year so guests could see snowflakes instead. The glasses also worked on your own Christmas tree at home.

The lights for display have all been converted to energy-efficient LED lights beginning in 2011 making the lights not only environmentally friendly, less expensive in terms of electricity but also brighter.  Scenes and music from the ABC holiday show “Prep & Landing” have also been added.

The infamous “leg lamp” from the popular movie A Christmas Story is in one of the windows. Glow With The Show Mickey ears were introduced in 2013. Santa Goofy has been part of the experience for several years now.

Of course, there are dozens of hidden Mickeys as well from a toy soldier with mouse ears on his hat, to a marking spot on the rear end of a Dalmatian puppy to the more traditional three-circled images in a variety of colors.

By the way, the Mickey Mouse driving a train was part of the original display in Arkansas.

The radio station WJBO that broadcasts music throughout the night is a tribute to William Jennings Osborne.

That red canopy of lights used to adorn the outdoor driveway of the Osborne home. The canopy was lower when it was on Residential Street because Osborne wanted people to feel immersed in the lights.

“I like creating memories that people won’t soon forget,” Jennings Osborne once said. “I want the people to feel like they are inside the lights, looking out at the world.”

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. Jim has written more on the Osborne Lights here. I’m hoping to see them again on our December visit. The end of an era…

Come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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In my giveaway of two copies of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, Jan (comment 35) and Erin (comment 43) won. I’ve emailed each winner using the email addresses each entered in the comment form, to get mailing addresses.

For those who did not win, thanks so much for entering–and for the kind words many of you added.

You can still (as I write this early Monday) get 30% off Amazon’s already discounted price by using HOLIDAY30 as a promotion code on Amazon’s checkout page. But I don’t know how long that will last.

11/30 update: The contest is over, and Jan and Erin won!

I’m giving away two copies of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, each signed by both me and Josh, for Black Friday.

That’s his scribble at the top, and my chicken-scratch below.

To enter the contest, simply scroll down add a comment in the gray comment form below.

While a paragraph expressing your undying admiration for this site and all the people it’s helped (nearing ten million) would be appropriate, you could simply enter the words “Me!  Me!”  Anything counts…

The contest will close Sunday at midnight Eastern time, and I’ll randomly pick two winners and announce them Monday.

Want to learn more about The easy Guide?  Then see the detailed review on Military Disney Tips that came out earlier this week.

Meanwhile, if you can’t wait for the contest results, Josh has a post here on how to get 30% off The easy Guide.  And The easy Guide is now available as a PDF, too!

And there’s another way to get The easy Guide free–if you book a qualifying trip through Kelly, she’ll give you a copy for free!

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: NOVEMBER 28 TO DECEMBER 6, 2015

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on December 2015 at Walt Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28/-12/6/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-11p 11/28, 9a-7p 11/29, 9a-11p 11/30, 9a-7p 12/1, 9a-11p 12/2, 9a-7p 12/3 and 12/4, 8a-12MN 12/5, and 9a-7p 12/6

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 8a-11p 11/28, 8a-8p 11/29, 9a-8p 11/30 through12/3, 9a-9p 12/4, 9a-9.30p 12/5, and 9a-8.30p 12/6

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-8p 11/28, 9a-8p 11/29, 9a-5p 11/30 through 12/2, 9a-6p 12/2 and 12/3, and 8a-6.30p 12/5 and 12/6

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28/-12/6/2015

Saturday 11/28 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 11/29 Morning:  none Evening: Hollywood Studios

Monday 11/30 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 12/1 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 12/2 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/3 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 12/4 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 12/5 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Sunday 12/6  Morning: none  Evening: Hollywood Studios

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28/-12/6/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 8 and 10p 11/28; 9 and 11p 11/30, 12/2 and 12/5

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28-12/6/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 9p 11/28; 10p 11/30, 12/2 and 12/5

Illuminations at Epcot: 9.30p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7 and 8.30p 11/28 and 11/19; 7p 11/30 and 12/1; 7 and 8.30p 12/2 through 12/6

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28/-12/6/2015

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28/-12/6/2015

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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For the last month–while you thought I was just goofing off–I’ve been updating my lower-crowd itineraries.

I published the core new eight night itinerary in mid-October, and over the past week published the three shorter variants

• A seven night version with a Sunday arrival
• A seven night version with a Saturday arrival, and
• A six night version

The reasons behind the new variants are detailed here, but they boil down to a new pattern for Extra Magic Hours (and thus for crowding), the closure of Soarin, and the openings of Rivers of Light and Frozen Ever After.

Any questions?  Leave me a note in the comment form below.

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