The Callaway Gardens' outdoor light show has been running strong for 17 years, attracting more than 150,000 visitors each holiday season.

Special-effects masterminds groomed by Disney make the Callaway Gardens Fantasy in Lights show work each year.

"We've been involved in the Callaway Gardens show from day one," says Bill Ferrell, who heads up , a special-effects systems integrator from Van Nuys, Calif.  "We also do a lot of work for Disneyland, and this show really came out of a team of designers and producers who were ex-Disney people and were involved in the electrical parades."

Ferrell says what sets the Callaway Gardens Fantasy in Lights show apart from others around the country is the sophistication of the show controllers. Each of the show's dozen scenes has its own style of design and custom music.

"Santa's Workshop is the highest level of sophistication," Ferrell says. "We have background music tracks, but we also have sound effects built into the rhythm line. The sound effects are localized to different elements of the animation in the scene. If you look at the toy testing center, you have an elf pulling out a string to make a baby doll talk. You see that visually with the lights and at the same time the baby doll says 'Mama, Mama.' The words 'Mama, Mama' are in the rhythm line of the background music."