- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- home style today articles
- home style today q&a
- traveling today articles
- traveling today q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Making Merry with Mickey
Walt Disney World at the Holidays
By Lyn Mettler
If you love holiday lights, Disney-MGM Studios is the place for you. The park's backlot features more than five million lights as part of its Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights (and no, it's not Ozzy Osbourne and crew!).
In the mid-'80s, Jennings Osborne, an Arkansas businessman, put up a light display at his home, which grew bigger and bigger every year, eventually topping out at more than three million lights. A lawsuit forced him to take down his lights and so he joined forces with Walt Disney World in 1994 to put up his fabulous display at Disney MGM-Studios.
Guests can stroll through the park's backlot, which consists of houses used on the sets of TV shows The Golden Girls and Empty Nest and the movie Ernest Saves Christmas, viewing the lights through special holographic glasses under a real Florida snowfall. Visitors may tour the spectacle of lights with park admission.
It's not just the parks that are in the spirit of the season; Disney's resorts are also decked out for the holidays, each in the style of the era or region they represent. And, for us, part of the fun of Disney World is staying at one of its more than 20 themed resorts.
Guests at Disney's Beach Club Resort will be treated to a life-size, totally-edible gingerbread carousel made with 100 pounds of icing, 50 pounds of dark chocolate and 100 pints of eggs.
Want to see more?
- Check out our Article Library.
- Talk about it!
- Be Our Guest: 10 Best Children's Activities at Walt Disney World
- Orlando, Florida: Where to Stay and Play in America's Fun Capital
- Trip of a Lifetime: 13 Tips for Disney World First-timers
- Disney in the Off-season
- California Adventure Park: Kid-friendly Fun with Some Familiar Faces
