Saturday September 6, 2008

After getting up around 10am, my brother and I decided to skip the theme parks for the morning and instead headed to Downtown Disney and the Market Place. While there we picked up a Darth Mash, a Mr Potato Head dressed up as Darth Maul, for a friend. We also checked out the Art of Disney Store and the Pin Collecting store looking for unique items, but given our limited funds opted not to purchase anything else.

Since we figured that parking for Night of Joy was going to be limited we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios and even at 11am ended up being parked in what I refer to as the Clark Griswold spot, one of the farthest from the main get. I do not know how bad trying to get a parking spot later in the day was going to be. Seeing as though we did not have normal day tickets to the Disney parks, and Night of Joy guest would not be allowed entry until 4pm we headed over to Disney's Boardwalk resort.

Our first choice for mood of transportation to the Boardwalk was the Friendship boat launch from the Studios. While we waited for the boat to arrive at the dock, the extreme early September tempature felt much hotter than expected, and since it at least felt cooler to be moving, we decided to walk to the BOardwalk instead of waiting for the boat. By the time we walked to the Boardwalk it was lunchtime and so we ate the the ESPN Club. Since it was so hot outside we stayed in the restaruant for quite a while, and walked the first half the the Ohio State vs. Ohio Miami college football game. Surprisingly, Miami was actually winning at the half much to the disappointment of most of the patrons, with the exception of the one Miami of Ohio fan.

After luch we played in the ESPN Club's arcade, mostly playing a football throwing game. Then we went for a walk from the Boardwalk to the International Gateway in Epcot, and continued around Cresant Lake by the Yacht and Beach Club resorts and then back to the Studios to wait for the Night of Joy entry.

At the Stuios gate, Disney had set up entry for Night of Joy to the right side of the entry plaza and were having normal day guests enter to the left. This arrangement really confused most day guests as the did not realize that the now much longer than usual entry line was where they would have to go if they wanted to enter before the 4pm opening for Night of Joy. On a side note, this set up was similiar to what the Studios park did for other events such as Star Wars Weekends, and my brother and I were recognized by some of the Studios cast members as attending the Star Wars Weekends before and they were surprised that we would attend Night of Joy as well. I guess they figured that Star Wars fans would not be Christians or something.

While we were waiting for the gates to open, we did get to watch part of the Pixar Block Party Bash. More interesting to me than the actual performance was the two cast members at the front gate putting on their own small dance routine to the musical numbers. After the parade, the Night of Joy information table was set up in front of crossroads of the world. Then at about 3:45pm the gates were open to all Night of Joy guests. The wristband exchange was inside the park in a backstage area between Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard.

The first attraction that we headed to was the new Toy Story Mania. When we reached there, there was already a 60 minute waitfor the ride, but we figured that the wait times would just get much worse later in the night. Here is where I saw the first few instances of people behaving badly. As opposed to the perception that Night of Joy guests get, the following examples were from normal Disney park guests. Several guests skipped the line nearly completely, with other guests in line complaining but nothing being done by the castmembers. Also, one guest fell off a railing while sitting on it waiting in line.

As for Toy Story Mania, the Mr Potato Head animatronic was the most impressive thing about it, and he was in the miidle of the queue, not actually part of the ride. The ride involves traveling past several large screens, that then have 3-D projections of various types of shooting galleries. The ride vehicle is equipped with a cannon to shoot the various targets on the screens. The over all feeling on the ride I felt was that I was travelling through the Big Screen Television depart at a local Best Buy. More interesting to me was seeing some of Toby Mac's crew rding in the cars in front of us.

Following the ride we decided to go look at where the entrance to the concerts would be (which we guessed wrong later). Since we were in the New York street area we viewed Muppet Vision 3-D. After that, since the park was nearing its actual closing time of 6pm ,we decided to go visit one of the attractions that would be closed during Night of Joy. We went with the tribute to the life and achievements of Walt DIsney, One Man's Dream. Mostly it is a museum and I enjoyed the small models of some of the various theme park attractions around the world. Sort of depressing to me though was the display of Disney Interactive. In it it was still advertising the Virtual Magic Kingdom, which was a very popular online game that Disney had unceremonesly closed back in May, and here they were still touting it as a current attraction.

One Man's Dream does have a short movie about Walt Dismey's life, but as we wanted to be near the front for Red;s concert we starting heading to the Lights Motors Action stage. We did stop and have a pastry at the Writer' s Stop on New York Street. For the first few minutes in the shop we were the only guests there. Then the 1st of several high school groups entered. While I was sitting on a couch, some of the high schoolers jumped on it and nearly tipped me off. It was then at we went to the front of Lights Motors Action.

At the usual main entrance to the show, it was about 6:10 and asked the cast member at the entrance when guest would be admitted and was told it would be around 6:45. So we just sat around the area waiting for the opening. It was not until 6:30 or so, that the same cast member I had asked came over and told me and about 30 other peaople waiting in the area that the line here was the VIP entrance, and the regualr entrance was near the end of the Backstage Tour. That line was alreadly several hundred long and not very well marked.

At about 6:45pm the guests for the Red concert were not let into the main entrance of Lights Motors Action, but instead were lead to the exit area/ boneyard of hte Backstage Tour. Then we were held for about 15 minutes in the very hot late afternoon, early evening sun. Even after being let into the main auditorium, it was still very hot as Disney had not turned on any of the ventolation fans and they remained off until about 2 minutes before the concert.

While waiting in the auditorium, it became very obvious that this was a terrible venue for a rock concert, especially the way Disney had it set up. Instead of allowing the bands to use the full scope of the Lights Motor Action stage, a much smaller temporary stage was set up in the middle of the larger venue. Not only was it small but it was far away from very guest. The stage was seperated from the closest guests, standing in the VIP section on the ground level by at least 30 feet and there was also a small canal between them and the stage. All the other guests were even further back, sitting on very unconfortable metal bleachers with absolutely no back support. Also the stage had a very narror field of view as both speakers and stage decorations prohibited full stage view from any guest not directly in front of the stage.

Red took the stage at around 7:30 and they rocked hard. Unfortunately, due to the stage limitations it was hard for them to get the crowds into the music. It was not for lack of effort. As I learned later even they did not like the stage setupas they could not hear even the closest of fans, having no idea if the crowd was getting their message or not. This was a far cry from Red 's concert at last year's Night of Joy. Later year Red was booked into Cosmic Ray's Galactic Cafe, the smallest of all the Magic Kingdom venues. The singer even commented tonight how he chipped a tooth last year as one of the guests moshing last year bumped into his mic. This year, Red was lucky to see the crowds wave their hands. While Red's concert was still good musically, I believe that they would have killed if they had been scheduled to Universal's Rock the Universe with Skillet and the Newsboys with the much closer stage venues.

After the concert, we headed to the Sounds Dangerous stage to catch the A Joyful Conversation interview session with Red. Here was the most well behaved guests I saw all night. The few guest that were waiting outside were on the more sedate side and it reminded me of waiting to get autographs at Star Wars Weekends. While waiting to be let in, talking to other guests in line, we found out about half of the people here did not get to see Red's concert, either due to getting into the parks late or not being allowed intoLighths Motors Action after 7pm as Disney cut off the line to anyone wanting to enter. Most of the people here were hoping to get to hear a few songs by Red. Also while waiting, since this area was being used by local Christian radio station Z88.3, some of the guests were interviewed for the live broadcast (which in addition to being broadcast to the Orlando area, was also broadcast to most of Disney's Hollywood Studios).

Red was interviewed by DJ from Z88.3 and answered several questions from the audience. They did end up doing one song a capella. After the interview they did sign autographs and pose for a few pictures. (Video of the entire A Joyful Conversation is availible on the video page).

Now we went on a couple attractions, Star Tours and the Great Movie Ride. This both had under 15 minute waits. All the other attractions during the entire evening had at least a 30 minute wait. After the rides we stopped and watched a bit of Marcos Witt's concert at the Icon Stage in fromt of the Great Movie Ride. Musically, he had a good show, however as I do not speak Spanish I had no idea what the songs he was singing actually said.

As we were pretty hot, and the lines for most attractions were so long we went and sat in the YHotHD.com Dance Party in the Playhouse Disney stage. There was a DJ there and a small group of people dancing. Those not dancing, like at a Junior High prom, were sitting along the walls enjoying the air conditioning. We stayed here for about a hald hour. In addirion to the Christian dance music Disney also brought out characters to mingle with the crowd. In the time we were in there, there was Pluto, Goofy, and Minnie Mouse.

We went back to the Icon Stage to watch the first set of Fred Hammond. His music was some of the most spiritually uplifting that I heard during the entire weekend. During the concert my brother became very thirsty and looked for a drink. When he came back after about 15 minutes without a drink, he said there was only a very few open drink carts and the one or two that were open and prohibitively long lines. He even said that there was only one shop open between both Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard, and that was Mickey's of Hollywood.

Fred Hammonds concert was great, but it ended up being our last. During the final number, my brother had his foot stomped on, with the person who did it not appoligizing or even acknowledging it. My brother felt his toenail or even his pinky toe might have come off and wanted to leave. He told me that if I wanted to I could stay and do anything here that I wanted to. But since the attraction lines were so long, and the only remaining concert was Toby Mac's (which I would of liked to see, but it was at the terrible venue of the Lights Motor Actions stage) we opted to end our night. On the way out of the park, each guest was handed a CD of Christian Music, with some being from artists that performed during this years Night of Joy and a few samples of other artists.

Personally, unless Disney gets some big name performers and/or moves back Night of Joy back to the Magic Kingdom, I will most likely attend Univesal's Rock the Universe next year and skip Night of Joy.

Friday September 5, 2008

Starting extremely early in the morning around 4am, my brother and I leave south Florida and head up to Orlando and Universal Studios for Rock the Universe. On the way up the Florida Turnpike we have to deal with the harsh weather conditions dealt to us by Hurricane Hanna, which while somewhat intense are nothing compared to what the people living in Texas experienced with Hurricane Ike.

We arrive at Universal Studios earlier than necessary and have to wait about an hour not only for the gates to open but for any of the ticket booths to open so I can exchange my Rock the Universe ticket voucher for an actual ticket. Crowds in the morning are extremely small which I know will change later in the day. When the park does open we decide to go ride the Simpsons Ride but after being asked if we are employees of Universal, which we are not, being told that the far half of the park wont open until about 30 minutes later. Since only 2 attractions are open, Shrek and Jimmy Neutron, we opt to ride Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast.

After the first ride I stop and take a couple of pictures of the Yard Stage and the Rock the Universe signs in the area. Then we head for the first of many rides we will go on the Revenge of the Mummy over the three days. Next we head for the Simpsons Ride and I stop and take a picture of the Hollywood Stage and the Rock the Universe schedule sign. After riding the Simpsons we decide to head next door to Isoalnds of Adventure..

At Islands of Adventure we first head into Marvel Superhero Island wanting to ride the Hulk. The Hulk however is down for somesort of maintainance and looks like it would be a fairly rough ride in its current condition anyways. Instead we go on Spiderman and the ride is a walk on like all rides up to this point. As we are getting hungry we decide ro leave on go check into our hotel.

The check in to the hotel goes very smoothly, due in most part to being next to Wet-n-Wild and that water park having almost zero crowds due to the hurricane. Head off for lunch at a nearby Burger King and some of the bands for tonights event are also eating in there. Head back to the park and after wondering around for a bit go on E.T. After E.T. we exchange our Rock the Universe tickets for wristbands. Then after we have another ride on the Mummy we stop for a drink at Finnegan's Bar & Grill.

While we only intended to stay in Finnegan's for one or two drinks we end up eating dinner here. I had a great Guiness stew and I split an order of Scotch eggs with my brother. Finnegan's also had a pretty talented bar singer who was pretty entertaining. Left the restuarant and decided to check out the merchandise at Battery Park. Looked to find some small, cheap souvineer I was looking for guitar strap pins or buttons but did not find any for the bands I was interested in. My brother purchased a Skillet sticker for $1.

Waited around on a bench on 8th Ave. near Battery Park for the start of the concerts. As I was not familiar with either of the fist 2 groups performing I opt to say where we are near the Hollywood stage and watch Group 1 Crew, while my brother heads over to the yard stage to watch New Method. After watching Group 1 Crew, who are a type hip-hop group, for one or two songs, mybrothers comes and gets me to come watch New Method. New Method is a kind of punk rock groupp which is more more my style and we watch them until the end of there set. (After posting video of part of their set on MySpace, Doug the lead singer from the band added me as one of their friends and also posted some of my stills to their MySpace page)

After New Method, the speaker Darren Whitehead came out and addressed the crowd. His message involved a story about his daughter after she had been sick on an airplane and him picking her up and giving her a hug even with the mess she had made on her dress. He used this to illustrate that just like the love he had for his duaghter, God has the same love for us even when we are not clean, God loves us no matter what condition we may be in.

Grits was the next to get on the stage. Their musical style was a more aggressive stlye of hip-hop/ rap and was definately not my cup o tea. We did however, stay for the fisrt song just for respect, which I did for almost all the bands I watched this weekend. Then we headed over to the Hollywood Stage.

When we arrive at the Hollywod Stage, the previous group had ended and we waited for Skillet to take the stage. There was some pushing as people viied for position but overall the crowd was not yet that bad. Skillet put on a great show, filled with a lot of energy. My favorite part was when the lead told the story of how he got into Christian music. Someone had interduced to the band Petra but his mother wouldn't allow him to listen to it since she thought it was the Devil's music. When the singer found out that Petra was going to be performing in his hometown he convinced his mother to take him under the condition that they leave once Petra started praying to Satan. After the concert the singer said his mother became the biggest Petra fan he knew. Skillet was great and there concert while starting in daylight ended just after sunset.

After Skillet performed I was incredable thirsty and we headed toward the stage to a drink booth. Only after getting near the stage did we find out that Universal had completely blocked that area and would not let anyone out of the partioned area and we were told we had to go to the end of the barriers which were past the Horror Make-Up Sohw/ Youth Leader's Lounge. This was a very poorly made decision by Universal on crowd control. I would not have been as mad about it if there were signs on the barricades that said there was no exit toward the stage and only near the back of the area. After then searching for a drink stand ended up buying a Powerade from the T2-3D exit shop.

Since a lot of the crowd from the Skillet concert had left we decided to get as close as possible for the Newsboys concert. We ended up being to the right of the end of the catwalk into the crowd. Before the Newsboys came out AJ Styles from TNA Wrestling came out and gave a short motivational speech to the crowd. Then instead of the Newsboys coming out Paul Colman, gutiarist for the Newsboys came out and did a short aucoustic set.

The Newsboys come out on give one of the best performances I have seen. They have great energy and really know how to work the crowd. My favorite part was the use of the catwlak. The band came out to the middle and using only a keyboard did a medley of their older songs. Later the drum solos were awesome. Not only was there the spinning drum set on the main stage that the Newsboys have been using for years, but on the catwalk was a second drum set that was raised on a hydrolic lift about twenty feet into the air. The most explosive song of the night was of course Shine with its confetti cannons, followed by a little Breakfast and the usually throw of Captain Crunch cereal. (Those 2 songs left a lot of debris that parts of were still there in the park 2 days later).

After the Newsboys finished, we were going to the Battery Park merchandise tables where the Newsboys were signing autographs, but the line was already incredibly long, so we headed back to the Yard Stage to catch the end of the Switchfoot concert. While at every other concert over the weekend we stayed for at least 1 song, Switchfoot sounded so out of tune that we just decided to go and check out the lines for the rides.

At this point in the night, it was only a little past 10 and figured we could get in 1 or 2 rides before the park closed at 1am. The Mummy was over 2 hours wait so we kept going. Stopped in Amityville and watched other Rock the Universe guests play the carnival style games. One guest played the knock over the bottle game and succeed at least 4 times while we were watching. Continued our walk around the park, looked at the wiat for Men in Black, but even the single rider's line had extended outside the main entrace. Decided to go watch some of the My Coke Rewards Karaoke but while we saw about 1 song, that event ended at 11pm and it was about 10:45pm when we past by. As the lines were long and for the first time in my experience at Rock the Universe there were no concerts past 10:30pm wee decided to leave for the night and prepare for Night of Joy the next day.