After a fantastic night last night at Night of Joy 2009, we decided to sleep in a little bit for the start of Saturday.
The first thing we did was go to the Walgreens near our hotel since I needed to buy a new SD card for my camcorder as I had filled the one I had during last nights event. Walgreens was running a special on the 4GB card and that was the one I bought. We went to Downtown Disney, this time to the Marketplace instead of the Westside we went to yesterday. We parked by Team Mickey, and found out that guests were no longer allowed into the entrance on the parking lot side. This would not been that big of a deal except that it had started to rain quite a bit at this point. While at the Marketplace I decided to test the SD card I had purchased from Walgreens. It was a good thing that I did, since it did not read in my camcorder. Due to this we went back to the Walgreens where I purchased the card, and luckily I was able to exchange it for one that did work, although the only one my camera would read was a 2GB card.
Since it was then around lunch time we headed out to the Crossroads Plaza across 535 from Downtown Disney. We had planned on eating at the McDonald's there. The McDonald's however was overwhelmed by a large portion of church buses and youth groups, and we did not feel like waiting in that huge line. Instead, we went to the Quiznos in the same plaza and even though it was the closest neighbor resturant to McDonald's, we were the only customers there. The food at Quiznos was great and not much more than if we had eaten at McDonald's.
After lunch we went ahead and parked at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was probably about 1:30pm and since we had at least 2 hours to kill, we went over to the boardwalk. We were going to take the friendship launch over to the Boardwalk, but there was at least a 2 boatload wait at the dock, so instead we walked. We went to the ESPN Club, with the intention of playing some of the arcarde games there. Unfortunately, the ESPN Club's arcarde was much smaller than we had remembered and did not find games we wanted to play. Instead, we headed over to the Yaught and Beach Club and found their much larger and better arcade. We played several games here, but mostly Air Hockey, the Pirates of the Caribean pinball, and some games of skill. Even after playing the arcade we still had time to kill so we did a walking tour, including the Swan and Dolphin, and walked back to the Studios.
At the Studios park, we again were the first people in the Night of Joy line, so spent time talking the Cast Members about Disney's take over of Marvel comics and other things. Some of the guests that were next to us were people we had met yesterday at the Joyful Conversation with the Newsboys. Once again we had to wait for the Pixar parade to clear before we were let into the park. It was more fun watching the Cast Members dance to the music than the actual parade.
Once the gate opened, we headed immediately to the Rock and Roller Coaster, and agian used the single riders line. Unlike yesterday however, even the single riders line extended outside the building. We did wait, but only rode once. We then went and rode the Great Movie Ride. It was a complete walk on. After that we saw the second to last regualar day show of the American Idol Experience. It was the first time I had seen the show, not being a fan of the television show, but overall, not too bad for a theme park attraction. There were three contestants, all with very large groups of supporters. Two of the performers did well, but one was very nervous on stage. The male contestant was the winner of the show.
We then went and got a small snack at the Backlot Express again. We went back to the Amercial Idol Experience to try to catch the final for the normal day guest shows, but arrived too late as the theater was already full and there was a substainal standy by line. We instead headed to Muppet VIsion 3-D as it is near the Premiere Theater for a Joyful Conversation. In the Muppet show, we arrived just as the preshow was starting, meaning that there was about a 15 minute wait before the main show.
After the Muppet show, we went and lined up for a Joyful Conversation. The guidemap indicated that instead of Skillet, like what was listed on Disney's press release, the first interview would be Flyleaf. The waiting line was moved from the Muppets overflow and instead was right next to the Premiere Theater, presumably for better crowd control. The Cast Members did inform guests waiting in line of the change to the schedule if people were unaware. It was about 15 minutes before the scheduled start time of the interview that we were informed that Flyleaf was not going to be the group interview, and it would instead be John Cooper, the lead singer of Skillet. Only a few guests left the line while told of this change. To see the interview of John Cooper please check out the <a href="https://nightofjoy2000.tripod.com/video.htm">video page</A> on this website.
After the Joyful Conversation, we headed over to the Sorcerer's Hat Stage for Flyleaf's first set. The crowd was huge in the area. By the time we arrived, we were standing on Hollywood Boulevard, near the Keystone Clothiers building. It was nearly impossible to see the performers on the stage from our vantage point. We did stay for about 2 songs of Flyleaf's set, but because they did not song very good, (presumably due to some sort of voice problem, possibly the reason they cancelled their appearance at a Joyful Conversation), we decided to go check out other bands.
We checked the schedule and decided to go see MercyMe's second set on the Lights Motors Action stage. It was here that our Night of Joy wristbands were checked before entering a venue, the only time during the entire weekend that our wristbands were checked. Since it was raining we decided to sit in the covered bleachers away from the stage. This did have the advantage of being able to see the video screen above the stage much better. MercyMe's stage setup included several LED light screens that projected, video, light patterns, or lyrics to their songs. It was in the middle of MercyMe's set that they said that they had both good news and great news. The good news was that MercyMe had been invited back to play at Night of Joy 2010, and the great news was that Night of Joy 2010 would be moved back to the Magic Kingdom.
After MercyMe's set, there was an annoucement that the crowds had to leave as they needed a forklift to be brought in to move the stage set-up. After a few minutes they said those of us in the bleachers could stay. (Although, when I tried just to use the restroom the Cast Member was going to force me to leave the auditorium). When the crowd that was waiting outside was let in my brother went down to get closer to the stage. I didn't want to get into a huge sweaaty crowd for Skillet and at first decided to stay in the bleachers. Disney then made an announcement over the loud speakers that "Moshing, Crowd Surfing, and Stage Diving are not allowed. We know doing them is fun, but it is strickly prohibited." This announcement was not used during last nights shows and was presumably added due to the crowds at the P.O.D. concert. Since I knew the crowd wouldn't get too crazy for the show I went down to find my brother. He was not standing as close as I thought he would and was actually standing directly in front of the sound control booth. This did have the advantage of being able to lean against the crowd barriers during the show.
Skillet started by having the stage go dark, and making the announcement that they would not be responsible for "rocking your face off." They did put on a great show that included both some of Skillet's standards like "Comatose" and "Last Night", and included new material like "Monster." Skillet did have some insane fans, from the usual panheads, to one fan who dressed up in bandages like the cover of Skillet's lastest release "Awake."
After Skillet's set we went to try and see Family Force 5 over on the Theater of the Stars. The crowds were pretty heavy walking through the park. We did see the end of Jars of Clay's first set on the Sorcerer's Hat Stage, where they played their huge hit "Flood." Since Family Force 5 was still in the middle of their first set no one was allowed into the theater. Due to the number of guests waiting for the show, and the fact that my brother was not impressed by what we could hear of their set, we decided to go catch Skillet's second set.
I am glad that we did go catch Skillet's second set. We did sit in the bleachers this time, so that we could get a different vantage point on the show. During this set, while Skillet did play many of the same songs from the first set they did change a lot of it up. Also there was a great 10 minute drum solo from their drummer. Most surprising was at the end of one of the songs John Cooper tried to spin his bass around, but his strap broke and his bass went flying across the stage. Still, they were able to overcome this by having a second bassist and they continued with another great show.
Night of Joy 2009, was a great success to me, with Friday being my favorite night ever at any Night of Joy. I want to thank Disney, all of the bands, and the cast members that helped make Night of Joy 2009 one great experience.
