Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 15 - The Osborne Family Spectacle of DAncing Lights

For the Christmas season Disney puts up a collection of lights originally owned by a family named Osborne (not those Osbornes!) from Arkansas who put up so many lights and attracted so many viewers that neighbors complained about the traffic and they were forced to stop.  Disney stepped in and took them to put up in Hollywood Studios.  There are over a million lights.  It is awesome.  If you love Christmas lights, book a trip now because you must see them in person!  And while you can't tell in the photos, they are hooked up to computers and "dance" in sequence to music.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 14 - DHS at Night

Some night shots of various buildings or scenes around Hollywood Studios:

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 13 - Fantasmic!

Fantasmic! is our favorite Disney night time stage/fireworks/show spectacular.  Housed in a giant outdoor amphitheater that can fill up fast, it pays to arrive early to get seats near the bottom (especially if you want to take pictures - it is dark so the closer you are the faster you can set your shutter speed and the less you'll need to zoom in so you can maximize the widest aperture to get as much light as you can... but enough technical talk!)

The concept is that Mickey is having a dream but the evil witch Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty) decides to turn his dreams into nightmares, and brings in all of the other Disney villains in to help.

Maleficent then turns herself into the giant dragon (you can see the glowing gold eyes and nostrils near the mountain below).

But have no fear!  Mickey realizes it is just a dream and he can control the outcome, finds a magic sword, dispatches the dragon, ends the nightmare and celebrates by becoming Sorcerer Mickey (from Fantasia) and climbs to the top of the mountain to direct fireworks for the finale.

And my favorite Fantasmic photo has to be this one - Mickey shooting sparks from his fingers.  Sweet. :)

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 12 - Toy Story Pizza Planet

One of the counter service restaurants at DHS is the Toy Story Pizza Planet - taken straight out of the Toy Story movie and featuring games and quite a few little green aliens - as well as Buzz Lightyear himself.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 11 - Mickey Water Towers

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 10 - Streets of America

This section of DHS used to be called Streets of New York but they have since decided to expand the scenery a bit to include San Francisco and Chicago and hence changed the name.  Some views:

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 9 - Muppet Vision 3D

One of our favorite attractions at Hollywood Studios - the Muppet Vision 3D show.

It is a comedy show in 3D featuring all your favorite Muppet characters, including a penguin orchestra, which we, of course, love.  But the show isn't the only amusing part - the entrance and waiting area can be just as funny if you look around at all the funny comments and signs everywhere...

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 8 - The Great Movie Ride

The Great Movie Ride at DHS is housed in a replica of the Chinese Theater and is...

"A Spectacular Journey Into The Movies" - the sign says so!

It is dark and the trams don't stop often, so getting photos is tough, but here are a few from the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom scene:

And I suppose you can't have a ride about great movies without including Casablanca:

Here's lookin' at you, bloggers.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 7 - Indiana Jones

The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is a stunt show that recreates well known scenes from the I.J. movies with live actors on three different "stages" that roll on or off as required, and include some fiery pyrotechnics.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 6 - Moving Along

Time to leave Beauty & the Beast and head over to catch Indiana Jones... but first, a reflection, a ship, and a dinosaur:

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Part 5 - Beauty and the Beast Stage Show

Erin's favorite Disney princess story is Beauty and the Beast - a beautiful brunette who loves to read books... if I were a giant hairy beast it would be our life story!

Here's a great way to avoid being bored while waiting in lines or for shows to start: watch a Disney movie on your iPod!  In our case, we were watching Wall-E.

The stage show is a bit like a baby broadway musical with acting, singing, and dancing.

And of course there is a happy ending - it's Disney World!  Everything has a happy ending!

And at the end of the show one lucky little girl from the audience is given the enchanted rose as a souvenier.