Video Gallery Widget - Thumbnails + Overlay (lightbox)

With version 8.1 the Thumbnails + Overlay (lightbox) feature for video gallery widget does not work.  This is a known bug and has not been fixed in the upcoming  8.2 version to be released soon.  This is a major showstopper for us to upgrade from version 5.4 to 8.1.  What workarounds are present?  Could a custom widget be created to use our own version of fancybox?  Please advise.....