Category: hdr

The Lights of Christmas Past

For many years, The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, lit up the Streets of America at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Begun as a gift from Jennings Osborne to his six year old daughter in Little Rock, Arkansas. The display kept growing until neighbors complained of the traffic and inconvenience. By 1993 the display had grown to over three million lights.

Disney Project Director, John Phelan reached out to Osborne’s attorney about bringing his display to Disneyworld. In 1995, the first Osborne Spectacle of Lights adorned the backlot at the then Disney/ MGM Studios. They appeared every holiday until January 2016 when work began on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

For more information check out…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Osborne_Family_Spectacle_of_Dancing_Lights

by janoseagle

Give Kids The World for Christmas

Henri Landwirth’s “Give Kids The World” features a resort Give Kids The World Village an 89-acre, nonprofit “storybook” resort in Central Florida. Children with critical illnesses and their families are treated to weeklong, cost-free vacations. Due to changes in the world because of COVID, this year, the village is lit with over a million lights. The product of hard work by all of the Central Florida community, this village takes on a truly sparkling holiday magic.

Night Of A Million Lights will run through Jan 3, 2021. For more information check out their website and order tickets.

https://www.gktw.org/lights/

by janoseagle

Making Christmas

Where can you find the perfect mix of Halloween and Christmas? Look no further than Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. The old New Orleans Square attraction gets a holiday overlay beginning in September and running through the Holidays.

Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is trying his hand at Christmas decorating. Jack O Lanterns with Santa hats, Wreaths with skulls and spider webs and Scarecrows impersonating the man in the red suit appear on the grounds of the deserted mansion.

Inside, the townspeople from Halloweentown are busy at work getting ready for Jack’s big holiday mash-up.

by janoseagle

Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirates Life For Me

Originally conceived as a walk through wax museum attraction, The Pirates Of The Caribbean has long been considered one of the most immersive dark rides in the world of Theme Parks.

When the attraction opened, Disney found the fake skeletons that the Imagineers had made to be missing “something”. It was then that they decided to use real human skeletons to represent the dead pirates. No one knows when these former cadaver skeletons from UCLA were swapped out with fake ones. But today, only one set of bones are the real thing (or so the legend goes.)

According to some longtime cast members, look for the skeleton in the big bed as you sail through the cavern. Behind his head is a skull and crossbones that is noticeably darker than the other bones in the attraction. This has never been acknowledged by Disney but one can only imagine.

Pirates of the Caribbean was the last attraction that Walt Disney worked on before he died in 1966. The cost to build it was over $8 million, coincidentally, this was the same amount the United States paid for acquiring New Orleans as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

Over the year’s the attraction has has several updates. Actor Johnny Depp starred as Captain Jack Sparrow appeared in The Pirates Of The Caribbean films. Captain Jack appears in the attraction several times.

The Pirates themselves became more politically correct over time. The infamous Wench Auction scene now features the townsfolk bringing their valuables to the auction master to be sold.

Helping sell off the town’s prized possessions is Red. You may remember her as one of the brides up for auction. Now, she has joined the pirate raiders and is helping with the proceedings.

If you’d like to join this band of marauding pirates, just take a visit to Disneyland.

by janoseagle

Something So Familiar

One of my favorite parts of any film studio is the backlot. The Warner Bros. Studio saw many classic films produced in their backlot. From Spiderman to Annie, used the famous Hennessy Street set.

Originally called Tenement Street, it was renamed Hennessy Street after Art Director Dale Hennessy. Hennessy was the Art Director for John Huston’s movie “Annie”. He redesigned Tenement Street to represent Annie’s New York city and the Orphanage where she lived.

If you saw the Movie “Gremlins” then you may recognize these steps down to the basement store where Hoyt Axton buys his son Gizmo. Unfortunately, the magical shop doesn’t exist at the bottom of the stairs.

The many fire escapes set the scene for Tobey Maguire’s and Kirsten Dunst’s upside kiss in “Spiderman” and Prince’s “Purple Rain” cover.

Around the corner from Hennessy Street you may see Hazzard County from “The Dukes Of Hazzard” where the Bo and Luke Duke would raise cain.

Even the Tanner Family from “Full House” have a house on the backlot. If you expect to find Uncle Jessie or Kimmy Gibbler hanging out on the front steps you will disappointed. It was only used once for a photo shoot and never appeared in the original series or the new version “Fuller House”. Even star Candace Cameron featured the fake Tanner House on her own Instagram.

There’s so much more to explore at The Warner Bros. Studio. For more information on tours check out this link below.

Home
by janoseagle

The World Of Harry Potter

Fans of The Harry Potter series will be excited to see some of the film’s iconic props up close and personal at The Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

The candy store, Honeydukes was full of wizarding world confections. Check out the detailed graphics on these candy packages.

Creatures from the films, costumes and concept art are in every corner of the gallery. The life size Dobby was made for the scene where Harry buries him at the seashell cottage. I wouldn’t recommend getting too close to Aragog.

Fantasic Beasts is also represented in the exhibit. You can take an up close look at Gellert Grindelwald, Johnny Depp’s wicked sorceror.

by janoseagle

The Prop Shop

Did you ever wonder where TV shows and Movies get all of the “Stuff” to make their sets look real? One of the stops on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour takes you through The Prop Department.

If you need a library full of leather bound books or a creepy skull, look no further. Propsmasters and Set Decorators comb through the stacks and stacks of things you never thought you needed. You can even rent the Samurai armor from “Inception” or President Bartlett’s desk from “The West Wing”. Keep your eyes open, because you never know what you might spy.

You can check out some of the items for rental at the link below.

https://property.warnerbros.com/

by janoseagle