Christmas at EPCOT, originally uploaded by gpwelch.

Beginning this year, there will be no more Lights of Winter at EPCOT Center. What a shame. This was usually one of the first Christmas decorations that went up at Walt Disney World, and it was wonderful to walk through this structure as the music played and the lights pulsed.

The picture above is a shot of the Lights of Winter on Thanksgiving Day, 2006. This is one of my favorite pictures, and it came after a wonderful day of having Thanksgiving dinner with friends at Portobello at Pleasure Island and then topping it off with a trip to EPCOT. (As a side note: I really miss being able to do this. But, it’s my fault for moving away. Sorry, C & M!)

Disney says that the technology to operate the lights became obsolete, so they’re retiring it. Here’s the Twitter entry

Really? That’s the excuse? After upgrading the millions of Osborne lights at DHS to LED and having them dance to the music just in the past three years? I call BS! They’re Disney, for goodness sake. This is the company that has a whole division of Imagineers dedicated to making the impossible possible. This is simply a cost cutting measure, and they should have said so. It wouldn’t make it any less upsetting, but at least we could understand it, especially in these tough economic times.

I really, really like the new official blogs and Twitter accounts; so far they’ve given us a lot of behind-the-scenes information and announced things before the unofficial sites. But come on. Don’t start lying to us and trying to put a spin on it..