Night of Joy

[Jonell]

We wil be at WDW this weekend. We were thinking of maybe attending this at the MK. Any thoughts on it? I'm sure the tickets run about $50.00 each right? Are there different stages setup throughout the park? Is this event very crowded? Thanks

 

[Jonell]

Anyone?

 

[fla4fun]

I have been to NOJ several times. There are stages in various locations, and they give you a schedule of who is performing where. Some stages have more than one performer (such as in front of the castle, where the headliner groups usually do two sets each).

It can get very crowded and very boistrous, but if you are in to Christian music, it's a lot of fun.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

So approx how long do each of the headliners play?

I've been to Soulfest in Gilford, NH in the past and love the variety of music I can listen too. However, I do have my favourites and wouldn't want to be overly disappointed if they only played a short time.

 

[staxia]

Night of Joy is AWESOME!

I've been attending since 1989, and if my schedule works out and I can go this year, it'll be year 20 for me..

Night of Joy is awesome in that several different stages are running all at the same time, and usually they group the artists by genre, so if you like some Rock, then you'll get two bands that rock at one stage, and if you like a little more of an Urban edge, then there's probably two bands playing at the same stage that are a little more Urban.

I was going to tell you that each band will play 2x's, but from the looks of last year's schedule, they finally changed all that. (which I'm a bit disappointed about)

NOJ has had some changes in the last few years. It used to be at MK but then they moved it to DHS, and last year they moved it back to MK, and in doing so, changed the way the lineups were scheduled.

Here's a link to last year's schedule and it looks like each artist gets one time slot, for the most part.... Looks like they might get almost an hour each...

either way, however they decide to do it, it's a whole lot of fun!! Every once and a while, you've got to decide which band you're going to see, but they tend to put all the really big names at the Castle stage.

Some folks like to go for the rides and the music, some like to go for the music and a ride if they can fit it in! lol. Throughout the night, they're playing CCM over the loudspeakers, so you don't get your usual theming music in each land, but the artists that are at the event, and some others.. so it's kinda cool.

When I was younger (middle school and some high school) I would ride the rides and watch the music as I walked by... as i got more into the music, I'd stay more for the concerts and get in whatever rides I could at the beginning of the night.... now that I'm older... I love that I get to worship God at the most magical place on Earth! There's nothing more amazing than having one of the artists leading a sing, everyone's arms raised in front of the Castle.. it's surreal, I gotta tell ya!

I'm curious now, and gonna go looking for reviews from bloggers about last year's event! lol.

 

[Holly324]

I would LOVE to go see NOJ! I heard some of my favorite bands are playing this year. Hope you have a great time!

 

[05MM08MM]

Night of Joy is AWESOME!

I've been attending since 1989, and if my schedule works out and I can go this year, it'll be year 20 for me..

Night of Joy is awesome in that several different stages are running all at the same time, and usually they group the artists by genre, so if you like some Rock, then you'll get two bands that rock at one stage, and if you like a little more of an Urban edge, then there's probably two bands playing at the same stage that are a little more Urban.

I was going to tell you that each band will play 2x's, but from the looks of last year's schedule, they finally changed all that. (which I'm a bit disappointed about)

NOJ has had some changes in the last few years. It used to be at MK but then they moved it to DHS, and last year they moved it back to MK, and in doing so, changed the way the lineups were scheduled.

Here's a link to last year's schedule and it looks like each artist gets one time slot, for the most part.... Looks like they might get almost an hour each...

either way, however they decide to do it, it's a whole lot of fun!! Every once and a while, you've got to decide which band you're going to see, but they tend to put all the really big names at the Castle stage.

Some folks like to go for the rides and the music, some like to go for the music and a ride if they can fit it in! lol. Throughout the night, they're playing CCM over the loudspeakers, so you don't get your usual theming music in each land, but the artists that are at the event, and some others.. so it's kinda cool.

When I was younger (middle school and some high school) I would ride the rides and watch the music as I walked by... as i got more into the music, I'd stay more for the concerts and get in whatever rides I could at the beginning of the night.... now that I'm older... I love that I get to worship God at the most magical place on Earth! There's nothing more amazing than having one of the artists leading a sing, everyone's arms raised in front of the Castle.. it's surreal, I gotta tell ya!

I'm curious now, and gonna go looking for reviews from bloggers about last year's event! lol.

The link you posted now has the 2011 event info and does not show last year's schedule.

I have read a few post on this board that there are youth groups that go to this that do not act very Christian-like, what is your opinion/experience with that?

Also, I saw the ticket prices on WDW site, but was curious if they also offere AP discounts on these tickets?

Thanks!

 

[amzking]

I have read a few post on this board that there are youth groups that go to this that do not act very Christian-like, what is your opinion/experience with that?

Haven't been to NOJ but I do have experience with Christian concerts. What you have is a bunch of 12-15 year olds acting like 12-15 year olds. Often then have grown up listening to nothing but Christian music and they are just behaving as young kids do when they see their music idols rocking it out up on stage. Also, remember the cardinal rule, just because they attend church with their parents, or go to youth group with their friends, or listen to Christian music does not mean they are Christians, and therefore may not necessarily behave as Christians should.

I remember going to a concert held in a church. All the teens ran up front and were jumping up and down and dancing to the music. It was really surreal to see in a church, especially since I grew up Catholic and that would NEVER happen in a Catholic church.

I would imagine you will get a lot of teens there, acting as teens do, which is generally pretty annoying!

I would love to go one year. Maybe I'll check out this year's lineup...

 

[Timmy Boy]

What you have is a bunch of 12-15 year olds acting like 12-15 year olds.

Night of Joy is among the worst nights in WDW events. This event is notorious for finding kids having sex on rides, sneaking in drugs, drinking alcohol, acting drunk and getting in fights. I'd avoid it to prevent realizing how screwed we are when it comes to today's "christian" kids.

 

[staxia]

Night of Joy is among the worst nights in WDW events. This event is notorious for finding kids having sex on rides, sneaking in drugs, drinking alcohol, acting drunk and getting in fights. I'd avoid it to prevent realizing how screwed we are when it comes to today's "christian" kids.

I'm curious as to where your info comes from... Like i said previously, I've been going for MANY years... and a good portion of that was while living in Central Florida, going to college there and had friends who were CMs who worked NOJ and other events, and I've NEVER heard of sex, drugs or booze. As for fights.. well, I can't say for certain, I won't say it CAN'T happen, but I'd bet it's few and far between.

Listen, if it were a rowdy, offensive event, no matter how much I loved Disney or the music, I wouldn't go.. but it's not. My mom's church regularly takes adult groups, adults who are in their 60's and 70's some of them, and none of them have complained about seeing or experiencing activities like that, either.

Haven't been to NOJ but I do have experience with Christian concerts. What you have is a bunch of 12-15 year olds acting like 12-15 year olds. Often then have grown up listening to nothing but Christian music and they are just behaving as young kids do when they see their music idols rocking it out up on stage. Also, remember the cardinal rule, just because they attend church with their parents, or go to youth group with their friends, or listen to Christian music does not mean they are Christians, and therefore may not necessarily behave as Christians should.

What this PP said is very true.... You have teens acting like teens.. Sure, they're running, sure, they're yelling, but none of it is offensive.

Keep in mind that this is AT NIGHT, and is a CONCERT EXPERIENCE for many. There are large crowds in certain areas, there are people jumping and bopping around. In many cases people are ENCOURAGED to "GET PUMPED!!!!!!" If you think this is an experience for leisurely touring of the park with less crowds and some lite worship music playing, it's not like that. It's loud, it's outrageous, it's a rock N roll concert.. but it's AWESOME!! If that's not for you, then maybe you should rethink. I don't think I'd take small children.

IIRC, there aren't usually discounts beyond the group rate for NOJ... if they do an AP discount, it might be the same as the group rate. But I'm uncertain.

 

[chartle]

I'm curious as to where your info comes from... Like i said previously, I've been going for MANY years... and a good portion of that was while living in Central Florida, going to college there and had friends who were CMs who worked NOJ and other events, and I've NEVER heard of sex, drugs or booze. As for fights.. well, I can't say for certain, I won't say it CAN'T happen, but I'd bet it's few and far between.

With the cancelling of Grad Nights, many people, including myself, commented that all the shenanigans that happen during Grad Night may have been part of the decision to stop them.

A few CM's commented that there were not that many issues for Grad at least as not as many as Night of Joy. For Grad Night the kids are fully chaperoned and know if they screw up they will have to stay at the chaperon center, possibly not walk at their graduation and possibly ban their school from coming back.

From the CM comments here and another board that they frequent, its seems its the least desirable event to work and CM that are assigned to it or either being punished or they drew the short straw.

Here is a quote from the other site.

Yep. At least on Grad Nights there are lots of chaperons and Security has a very visible presence throughout the park. Most of the grads know better than to try anything as they know they'll get caught and won't be allowed to walk at graduation. When one does try anything Security is on them like white on rice hauling them to the chaperon center for the night if they're lucky, the Security offices if they aren't.

I've worked a few Grad Nights and I'll admit they weren't nearly as bad as the horror stories I heard from other CMs. The one Night of Joy I worked, OTOH, was, if anything, worse than the stories.

 

[mommy4allkids]

We wil be at WDW this weekend. We were thinking of maybe attending this at the MK. Any thoughts on it? I'm sure the tickets run about $50.00 each right? Are there different stages setup throughout the park? Is this event very crowded? Thanks

Hi Jonell,
I have only heard GOOD things about this concert. Did you get tickets? I'll be @ POP 9/8 - 9/22/11. I have tickets for both nights. Hope to see you there!

 

[justgeorgi]

My experience with Night of Joy

MANY, MANY unsupervised youth groups swearing, yelling at people and pushing past people in lines. Youth Leaders hanging out in groups saving spots for the concerts. A LOT of very rude ticketholders. I planned a surprise birthday/graduation gift for my daughter and we flew down from NY just for NOJ. We have been part of Youth For Christ events similar to NOJ in the northeast with some of the same acts that performed at NOJ and foolishly expected the same behavior from guests of NOJ. NOT SO. I felt ripped off by Disney because of the ticket price. We were just not able to enjoy ourselves at all.

I don't think I would go again...I just didn't enjoy myself at all and I've volunteered for years with teenagers at Christian "concert" events so I wasn't expecting everyone to be sitting around a campfire singing hymns but I was expecting MUCH better behavior from youth and adults. The cast members that we saw were overwhelmed and abused by the adult youth leaders mostly from what I witnessed. I made a small complaint at Guest Relations but really, what is a few complaints when the highest percentage of people going and paying for their tickets were the ones misbehaving?

 

[mommy4allkids]

My experience with Night of Joy

MANY, MANY unsupervised youth groups swearing, yelling at people and pushing past people in lines. Youth Leaders hanging out in groups saving spots for the concerts. A LOT of very rude ticketholders. I planned a surprise birthday/graduation gift for my daughter and we flew down from NY just for NOJ. We have been part of Youth For Christ events similar to NOJ in the northeast with some of the same acts that performed at NOJ and foolishly expected the same behavior from guests of NOJ. NOT SO. I felt ripped off by Disney because of the ticket price. We were just not able to enjoy ourselves at all.

I don't think I would go again...I just didn't enjoy myself at all and I've volunteered for years with teenagers at Christian "concert" events so I wasn't expecting everyone to be sitting around a campfire singing hymns but I was expecting MUCH better behavior from youth and adults. The cast members that we saw were overwhelmed and abused by the adult youth leaders mostly from what I witnessed. I made a small complaint at Guest Relations but really, what is a few complaints when the highest percentage of people going and paying for their tickets were the ones misbehaving?

Since I've already bought tickets for BOTH nights for DH,Me & DS11; Do you have any suggestions on how to enjoy this,i.e what part of the park to avoid;What part can be enjoyed the most, etc.,knowing all you witnessed?

 

[mommy4allkids]

Night of Joy is AWESOME!

I've been attending since 1989, and if my schedule works out and I can go this year, it'll be year 20 for me..

Night of Joy is awesome in that several different stages are running all at the same time, and usually they group the artists by genre, so if you like some Rock, then you'll get two bands that rock at one stage, and if you like a little more of an Urban edge, then there's probably two bands playing at the same stage that are a little more Urban.

I was going to tell you that each band will play 2x's, but from the looks of last year's schedule, they finally changed all that. (which I'm a bit disappointed about)

NOJ has had some changes in the last few years. It used to be at MK but then they moved it to DHS, and last year they moved it back to MK, and in doing so, changed the way the lineups were scheduled.

Here's a link to last year's schedule and it looks like each artist gets one time slot, for the most part.... Looks like they might get almost an hour each...

either way, however they decide to do it, it's a whole lot of fun!! Every once and a while, you've got to decide which band you're going to see, but they tend to put all the really big names at the Castle stage.

Some folks like to go for the rides and the music, some like to go for the music and a ride if they can fit it in! lol. Throughout the night, they're playing CCM over the loudspeakers, so you don't get your usual theming music in each land, but the artists that are at the event, and some others.. so it's kinda cool.

When I was younger (middle school and some high school) I would ride the rides and watch the music as I walked by... as i got more into the music, I'd stay more for the concerts and get in whatever rides I could at the beginning of the night.... now that I'm older... I love that I get to worship God at the most magical place on Earth! There's nothing more amazing than having one of the artists leading a sing, everyone's arms raised in front of the Castle.. it's surreal, I gotta tell ya!

I'm curious now, and gonna go looking for reviews from bloggers about last year's event! lol.

I'm glad to hear someone had a "GREAT time"; Anyone else have a good time &/or plan to go?

 

[justgeorgi]

Since I've already bought tickets for BOTH nights for DH,Me & DS11; Do you have any suggestions on how to enjoy this,i.e what part of the park to avoid;What part can be enjoyed the most, etc.,knowing all you witnessed?

YES I can! Since they roped off the front of the castle stage for the big artists 1/2 way thru the night last year I would think they will do the same thing this year. I'd say stake out a spot EARLY for whatever artist you would like to see. If you have guests with you who would like to do rides and what have you they cannot come back under the rope unless they call the person inside and that person meets them at the rope...which in reality means that you would lose your "staked out" spot. But if you are together it means that you could leave for a drink or potty break in shifts. I don't think there was a part of the park to avoid but it does get VERY crowded in between the castle acts. We were there mainly to hear Chris Tomlin sing and I think everyone else was too lol!

Just remember to keep your happy Christian face on at all times...I so wanted to yell at the nasty people I met up with but I tried really hard to remember WHY I was there I also wouldn't be afraid to go up to a cast member if any of the groups get rowdy because I wouldn't want to get confrontational with a youth leader. The acts lined up for it this year are great! Enjoy!

 

[sleeperclan]

We attended one night last year. I was a little hesitant to go because of the "horror" stories I read on this board. It was very crowded, but we did not see ANY inappropriate or any of the other various behaviors noted in some of the posts. It was indeed a wonderful time of worship and seeing a few of our favorite bands (as well as new favorites)! We will be going this year on the 9th and look forward to a great time! Well worth the money

 

[tjosmith]

My DD and I will be there too This will be our sixth year at NOJ. While it is crowded and some of the teens can be wild, the music is amazing Go and have a great time

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We have went and had an excellent time. I've never seen any of the issues the PP here mentioned. And while crowds may have been different when she was there I've never been to a standing room only concert of a popular band that wasn't crowded near the stage. We have been both in the midst of the crowds and stood back and watched from further away and had great views and a great time.

We also had really short waits for attractions with the sole exception of Space Mtn and that was in the 30 minute range which is pretty reasonable. Some rides we got to go on back to back during NOJ without ever getting off. I think its worth it for the short line alone even if you don't want to see some of the concerts.

 

[geenerbell]

Where would you suggest we stand for the castle stage shows. I prefer not to be right in the front or in the middle of the mob. Also, do they clear the park and then let you in right at 7pm?