Fire-flies like in pirates of the carribean ride?

I saw an article recently about some fake fireflies you could buy. Apparently they are something like grain-of-wheat bulbs on some micro-thin wire, and have a tiny fan on them that makes them bounce around. Has anyone seen these or something like them? They were priced at $100 (!) for a strand of, like, six, - too rich for me.

I've always loved those fireflies in the Blue Bayou part of the ride and would love to have some. I seem to remember those ones bobbed around on some kind of wobbly wheel that spins slowly, though not sure.

do a google search on 'artificial fireflies' theres a few sites for the do-it-yourselfer, also some to purchase 'off the shelf'.

theres a cached site homemade fireflies unfortunately, the pictures are gone ~ but the text looks promising!

elicia

We have the real ones out here. They seem to like moisture, so if you spray your bushes with water just before sunset dozens of them will hang around all night.

I remember reading the website that Elicia posted. That guy/inventor was an Imagineer at Disneyland.
Here is the website of the fireflies.
http://www.fireflies.tv/
Tiki-bot you thought they were expensive now? They are going up to $150.00.

Grain of wheat bulbs are dirt cheap:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/prods/umb.htm

And computer fans (to blow the bulbs around) are rather inexpensive too. All you need is a standard PC power supply and you should be in business.

The old-style Pirates of the Caribbean fireflies had a small piece of stiff wire towards the end of the bulb with a piece of black electrical tape on it. The bulb hangs by a long wire and the fan blows it around. When the electrical tape is between the viewer and the bulb, the firefly disappears. A very low-tech but beautiful effect.

Here's a site with instructions for fireflies:

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Imagineering/Imagineering.html

Someday (when I have a house, and a yard), I might have to try it--for that long portion of the year when the real ones aren't around.

[ Edited by: Erika on 2004-07-10 13:54 ]

[ Edited by: Erika on 2004-07-10 13:54 ]

A cheap source for computer fans is C & H Sales in Pasadena.

If anyone is still interested in "Firelies," like the ones in the Pirates of the Caribbean, Tim Carter is the inventor of the ones used in the movie and sells them as well. He recently opened a page on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bayou-Fireflies/404931106256720

Very cool MaukaHale.Thanks for the link. I've always wanted to do this at my jungle outpost.

Fairy Berries On A String create a good firefly effect when placed in a tree or shrubs. The lights fade in and out at different times and they look cool.
They're battery operated and you can operate 5 strings on 1 battery pack. The orbs are 3/4" in diameter and put off quite a bit of LED light so a dark yard would be the best way to use them.
Unfortunately, I have only been able to find them in white instead of firefly yellow.
I bought mine on Amazon. There are a bunch of different variations of Fairy Berries.
They come in rainbow colors and even single use individual orbs. http://www.amazon.com/Fortune-Products-FB-40W-Berries-String/dp/B00DI41018/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1378221863&sr=8-9&keywords=fairy+berries

I bet a sharpie marker would yellow those right up.

I was doing some research for a tiki fete this past spring of 2014 and stumbled across a website that sold artificial fireflies THAT MOVED! How cool is that? They were affixed by wires to a base as I recall -- can't remember if they moved via mechanical means or a small fan, though.

Not only that, this site also sold a large selection of anatomically correct artificial butterflies, moths, etc. -- some of them very large and tropical -- right out of the jungles of New Guinea or the Enchanted Tiki Room!

At the time I cheaped out and now just a few short months later, alas and alack, I can't find the site... If any of you intrepid jungle explorers have any leads please let me know...

Thanks for the information already provided above by others. I did visit Tim Carter's site -- unfortunately his shop http://www.bayoufireflies.com was not active when I checked just now and his last Bayou Fireflies Facebook post was from July 24th of 2013; looks like a great product and I hope it comes back! I also found http://www.fireflymagic.com which sells what appear to be stationary fireflies which I intend to give a try until my search for El Dorado yields gold...

On 2014-09-20 17:27, Alexander Monday wrote:
At the time I cheaped out and now just a few short months later, alas and alack, I can't find the site... If any of you intrepid jungle explorers have any leads please let me know...

He has an FB page, try contacting him directly there: https://www.facebook.com/BayouFireflies