Paul Tudor Jones has flipped the switch on lights display

The holiday lights display at the Belle Haven mansion of Paul Tudor Jones II Sunday night, Dec. 2, 2012. The holiday lights display at the Belle Haven mansion of Paul Tudor Jones II Sunday night, Dec. 2, 2012. Photo: Bob Luckey Photo: Bob Luckey Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Paul Tudor Jones has flipped the switch on lights display 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Staff report

"Joy to the World" is right.

The extravagant holiday lights display at the Belle Haven mansion of hedge fund magnate Paul Tudor Jones II -- whose spectacle has become the stuff of legend -- has officially been turned on for the season.

A Greenwich Time photographer spotted the lit display Sunday night, when Greenwich police at the scene said lighting technicians were doing final tests to ensure the extravaganza ran smoothly through its roughly four-minute cycle. Those who decide to take in the display from their cars can watch the lights dance to synchronized music at 90.5 FM, a short-range radio station.

Jones, a philanthropist and the man behind the Tudor Group and Tudor Investment Corp., typically hires Greenwich police officers to direct traffic through the private neighborhood.

It's hard to miss the light show, with its pair of giant lighted globes festooned with flags from around the planet, flanking the tree-lined driveway leading to Jones' mansion. "Merry Christmas" and "Joy to the World" sit atop the pair of globes.

In the past, carloads of spectators have waited in line for close to an hour to see the display, the centerpiece of which has featured an archway of lights over the driveway, with elves passing Christmas presents to each other and a 16-foot-diameter lighted replica of Earth gracing the home's facade.

Jones, who checks in at 108th on the Forbes.com list of richest Americans at $3.6 billion in net worth, flipped the switch on the display over the weekend, even though Belle Haven sustained considerable flooding during Superstorm Sandy.

The final night of the lights show is expected to be Dec. 22.

The tradition, which is said to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, reportedly started in 2000, culminated the first year with a private Christmas party headlined by the Rockettes and has been replicated for Halloween and Thanksgiving.