Night of Joy-I was there last night!

[PeterPan09]

First, for those who don't know-Night of Joy is a hard ticket event at MK where Christian music artists play concerts. I love Christian music and went to the event last year, and was back last night.

The party mix for us was 2 adults and 2 children, ages 5 and 8. These guys LOVE music and know the artists and songs even better than the adults so they were very excited to see their favorite artists.

My overall comment was that the event was extremely well handled by Disney staff. There was visible security everywhere, Disney managers walking all over the park and if I could see that many folks I'm sure there were plenty that I couldn't see. The event brings in a great many teens, and as anyone who has ever traveled with teen groups knows, they can be a challenge. There are legendary stories passed around CM's backstage about Night of Joy and Grad Night with the teens. However, we were not in any way negatively impacted by any behavior at the concerts. We also noted that security was watching the parents of younger kids too, and if a parent chose to put a child on their shoulders to see better-there was an officer there in seconds to ask them to take the child down and hold them.

The friend I attended with had gone to Universal's Rock the Universe event last year and said that it was very poorly organized, the stages were not set up where you could see the artists well and nobody was policing the kids. At Disney there were 3 stages-the Castle, the Rocketeer Stage by the People Mover and the Galaxy Stage behind Buzz Lightyear. We were able to easily navigate around all 3 and see the artists we wanted to. We didn't spend any time on rides, but I was watching wait times and they were very short all night. Even Peter Pan was only 10 minutes!!

We're going back again tonight for the second shows and really looking forward to it. If you are a Christian music fan, this event is a lot of fun and if you have friends or family members who aren't as into the music, they'll love the easy access to the rides and attractions. I'm not sure I would take a child younger than 8 or 10 though because it is a really late night. We left a little early and got out of there about 12:30 am. My friend's little one fell asleep in the stroller and missed most of the night. Her 8 year old LOVED it though and it was really cute to watch him singing every word.

 

[nuzmom]

We had a different opinion on last night's NOJ event. We did not attend last year, but did the year before when it was held at HS. I thought that night at HS was MUCH better run than last night.

Last night, we lined up by the rope by the castle stage VERY early and was assured several times that we (and other early birds) were at the "front of the line" to get in. I'm assuming it was because of the terrible rain storm we had earlier, but it took quite a while to set up the stage. I seem to recall that the stages were pre-setup at HS - that seemed to work much better. Anyway, another cast member came by and had to "rearrange" the rope and stated several times - don't worry, you won't lose your place in line, but please shift back (which we did). Well - you guessed it. When he "opened" the line, it actually drew from the BACK of the pack. Another CM rushed over and said, "no, no, this rope needs to drop first". He said no, but she did it anyway (good thing - people were pretty mad over that).
So, we rushed in to get a spot by the black partitions and did pretty well, but ended up having that swinging camera CONTINUALLY passing in front of us.

What topped it off was the groups that were let down in front. I understand there was a VIP area, but MANY, MANY non-VIPs got down there. A group of about 20 just ducked under the ropes and ran up there. Others trickled in off and on (no VIP wrist bands). Before Newsboys performed, a large group got in there and stood DIRECTLY in front of us. Needless to say, our "front row" position (for our younger son to be able to see) was almost completely blocked. When asked to shift over, they said they "couldn't". So not true!!!

I just don't understand how you can be "blocked" by "non-VIP latecomers" when standing at the "front" of the crowd. We were not the only ones not happy with how the whole situation at the castle stage was handled.

I will agree that there was a lot of security and that was great to see. We also chatted with several CMs while waiting and they were very nice. Overall, I'd say that Disney needs a MUCH better way of handling the crowds at the Castle stage (letting people in and the vip area).

We are also going again tonight (because we bought the two day tickets). I would say the crowds were MUCH smaller when it was held at HS - It was crazy last night, I'm scared to think of how crowded it will be tonight!!!!!

 

[PeterPan09]

We were wondering how people got up to the front of the castle, because we saw it was all blocked off. We were there again last night and stayed back by the Partners statue for most of it. Again, we did not have any issues other than the usual large crowd things. Honestly, people-if you're going to go to a standing rock concert, you just might have someone "in your space".

It was more crowded last night than Friday, but we were fortunate that we had no rain! Concerts were amazing, Toby Mac put on an amazing show and Mercy Me was outstanding. Already excited about next year!

 

[nuzmom]

Last night was run MUCH better at the castle stage!!! The ropes were handled well and the front section was handicap only (from what I could tell). There also seemed to be a little more space between the front partition and the back of the handicap section - making it not seem like someone was standing right in front of you.
We had one "issue" with a bunch of kids plastering my son into the front partition - seriously, it was really bad. We were all momentarily VERY scared!!!! His legs were totally trapped and had grate marks on them. Unfortunately, it became apparent that this group got to the front by "pressuring" others out of the way. But, that was at the end of the evening and we "managed". Overall, the people we were around were great and the evening was fun.
If we go again, we will try to find a location where we can see, but not down front. I expected "concert conditions", but it was totally different from what we experienced at HS two years ago. Now we know