During a recent trip to Orlando, I heard an interesting tidbit concerning the fate of the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney/MGM Studios. Disney had this display in their park from 1995 until 2016, when it was removed due to construction of the new Star Wars land. Here are some photos I took in 2006:
https://wdw.disneyfans.com/DisneyMGMStudios/DMGM2006/OsborneFamilyFestivalOfLights/index.html
A bartender at one of the Universal resorts heard us mention Silver Dollar City and came over. He was originally from Arkansas, and that is where the Osborne’s originally had their display before it went to Walt Disney World.
He said that Silver Dollar City ended up with (some of?) these displays after they were removed from Disney, but they were not allowed to mention where they came from. This is similar to when certain off-the-shelf rides from Disney ended up somewhere else, but the new owner was not supposed to tell folks “it’s a Disney ride!”
Indeed, when we first visited the Silver Dollar City event in 2024, there were a number of displays that really reminded us of the Disney/MGM displays.
He said there were side-by-side photos online that showed some of the former Disney displays and the current Silver Dollar City ones.
Does anyone reading this know more? Please leave a comment. If we drive down to SDC this Christmas season, I may take the photos I took at D/MGM with me and see if I can spot anything that looks like a match.
Until then…