Best time to view Osborne lights at MGM EMH?

[jacksmom]

We plan on going to MGM during evening EMH and wonder what is the best/least crowded time to enjoy the lights?? Thanks for any help!

 

[Stacerita]

I dont know when the best or least crowded time would be. But if I were to go back I would avoid right when they start. We did that last week and it was wall to wall people. No where to move and very overwhelming. Everyone was just moving about the street bumping and pushing into each other and didn't really give us time to take in everything. Extremely crowded in my opinion and what made it bad was there was no order to it either.

 

[NancyIL]

I would go on a weeknight...NOT a weekend night. Also...go during Fantasmic.

 

[LoveWDW]

I agree about when it starts. It was literally wall to wall people. We lucked out by standing at the end of the street by the barriers to the blocked up area. It was also raised a bit so we could see most of the lights. But the people in the center- I hope they didn't have claustrophobia, it would have been unbearable. We zipped out a few minutes after the lights came on- it wasn't easy, but we got behind someone else who was leaving and let them blaze the trail.

 

[jacksmom]

Thanks! What time does it start?

 

[civileng68]

Thanks! What time does it start?

It starts at 6:00 pm and the best time is whenever Fantasmic! is showing.

 

[jaysmom4285]

We have found that a good time to go is right after the last Fantasmic show. Yes, the entire crowd does head over there. But just let them go ahead of you by lingering over a snack somewhere, or ducking into a shop if there's one open nearby. After the crush has subsided, just wander through at your leisure. We did this with great success last year. The CM's made no effort to hurry people through, even though by then it was past park closinng. When you get to the end, the CM's will just direct you to the park exit.

 

[BWVPam]

We have found that a good time to go is right after the last Fantasmic show. Yes, the entire crowd does head over there. But just let them go ahead of you by lingering over a snack somewhere, or ducking into a shop if there's one open nearby. After the crush has subsided, just wander through at your leisure. We did this with great success last year. The CM's made no effort to hurry people through, even though by then it was past park closinng. When you get to the end, the CM's will just direct you to the park exit.

This is what we did five years ago and it worked out great! We plan to do it again when we got next Sunday or Monday (12/18 or 12/19)

 

[jwfla422]

Yes unfortunately it's set up differently than it was 5 yrs ago. It was in the residential area then which I personally liked better, now it's on NY street. It's a very different type of display and even seems like a smaller area.

When we were there 3 yrs ago we started out with the crowd at 6pm, oh I just couldn't deal. It was just me & 4 yr old dd at the time in her stroller, she couldn't see a thing. We made a mad dash out of a side street and stumbled upon Mama Melrose so we went in and had some dinner. An hr later, about 7:40 we left and returned to a virtually empty display and it was amazing!!

Last yr we looked forward to doing the same thing. We didn't eat at MM's but didn't get there til 7:45 and it was packed. We felt like cattle, just not the same But, this Thurs. we plan to give it another go hopefully during Fantasmic, but I really miss it from when it was on the residential street area.

 

[michellex2]

Just came from MGM extra magic hours on December 10th (Saturday) night. Note to self (and any others that may be interested): Do not, repeat, do not go to MGM during extra magic hours with Osburne Lights. I have never seen such crowds and I was at Disney at Thanksgiving last year which is supposed to be a busy time. We arrived at 6pm and the parking was nuts. The entry lanes to pay parking were backed up. Entry into the park itself was OK. But once inside, you couldn't move. Anywhere. At Osburne lights, you not only couldn't move, you couldn't breathe. It was no fun. We left by 7 pm and if anything the crowds were worse not better. If you do go, I'd suggest bringing a trained pack of porcupines to surround you and allow both movement and breathing space. If you don't happen to have a trained pack of porcupines, I'd go sometime other than EMHs...

Except for this slight miscalculation re: EMH and Osborne lights, the trip's going great so far.

 

[Madi100]

We went one night last week, and I'm not a very emotional person. But to see all of those lights go on at the same time was just awesome. But the crowds were HORRIBLE!! We were standing towards the back and we snuck over to the coffee shop. We went to the back and had some hot chocolate. After we finished we walked around, and while there were people there, it was not crowded. I think part of the magic of it is seeing them lit. And then it's so much fun to go around and hear people singing the Christmas songs along with the music. It was WONDERFUL!!!

 

[NancyIL]

I couldn't wait to see the Osborne Lights in 2004, after not having them at WDW the previous year. I was disappointed in the new location, and really preferred the coziness of them being on Residential Street. However, there's no going back to the way it used to be, so I managed to enjoy them much more this year.

I went for the first time on a Wednesday night ~ 6:30, and it wasn't crowded at all. I returned Friday night just before 6, and the place was packed. However, it was cool to witness the lights going on, so you should try to see that at least once.

 

[civileng68]

Quite frankly, to me, even when it's very crowded it's easy to navigate and move around and see everything on NY St.

 

[QuickGold]

I would see it on a weekday during a Fantasmic! showing

 

[mickeymom55]

We saw the Osborne lights on Sunday, December 3. We were there about 9:30 PM (an EMH evening). Crowds were minimal - even room for people dancing in the street to the Christmas music! Fantasmic was at 7 and 8:30 that evening. What an experience! This timing worked out very well for us. Hope you have an opportunity to see them without a huge crowd. It was wonderful.

 

[Lucky4me]

I saw them Sunday the 4th around 7pm and Tuesday the 6th around 8pm with no big crowds. People were walking up and down both sides of the street and just milling around the center. It was wonderful. Although I've seen it many times, I still stood there with my jaw dropped for the longest time. It's mesmerizing.

 

[foxfire]

We saw the lights on Sat., Dec. 3rd. after Fantasmic. We waited until pretty much all the crowd had cleared from Fantasmic before leaving, then went over to the lights and that worked out really well for us. I think we spent about 45 minutes to an hour looking at them and searching for the hidden Mickeys. As we were getting ready to leave, we had a Photopass photographer take a picture. She said we picked a good time since we had hardly any people in the background of our picture.

 

[never_enough_pooh]

We went on 12/4/05 (EMH). We viewed the lights around 10:00 pm. There was hardly anyone else viewing the lights!

 

[handicap18]

I was also there on Sunday 12/4. We were in the area around 6pm. We left the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play set at 5 and were hanging around the Streets of NY for a while. It did start to get more crowded but I didn't find it out of control.

We ended up in the store right across from Pizza Planet till about 6:10 or so then went to check out the lights before heading over to H&V for 7pm dinner.

These 2 pictures were taken at 6:15pm that night, I didn't find it real crowded. I have more pictures that I took later that night during EMH and it was not crowded at all.

 

[shellybaxter]

We saw the Osborne lights on Sunday, December 3. We were there about 9:30 PM (an EMH evening). Crowds were minimal - even room for people dancing in the street to the Christmas music! Fantasmic was at 7 and 8:30 that evening. What an experience! This timing worked out very well for us. Hope you have an opportunity to see them without a huge crowd. It was wonderful.

We were there that night too, at 6:00PM when the lights went on. I thought it was GREAT!! I get panic attacks in large crowds and didn't have any problems that night at all. We stayed for quite some time, leaving about 7:30 for dinner at the Brown Derby. Maybe the key is to go early in December.