Walt Disney World will not host any further Night of Joy events

May 03, 2018 in "Night of Joy"

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Posted: Thursday May 3, 2018 12:41pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney's Night of Joy event at Walt Disney World will no longer be on offer.

Last held in 2017 in its 35th year, Night of Joy moved from the Magic Kingdom to ESPN Wide World of Sports 2016.

Although Disney has not offered a reason for discontinuing Night of Joy, we understand there were a lot of operational difficulties in hosting the event.

Disney has included Night of Joy regulars MercyMe in the upcoming Eat to the Beat concert series at Epcot.

Night of Joy at the Magic Kingdom

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larryzMay 31, 2018

Well, I've gone back and reviewed the tape, and you're right. The music is all carols, and the narrative focuses on the Biblical story. But it's still not a religious service. It's a commercial production.

MisterPenguinMay 31, 2018

Ummm... you got your facts wrong. The entirety of the narrative is biblical readings, not just 'some.' And all of the songs are religious. All of them. From beginning to end it is the story of the birth of Jesus proclaimed as the prophecized Messiah and God in the flesh and Savior of humanity, both in spoken narration and sacred song. There's not one Jingle Bell or Rudolph, or song about snow or "that special time of the year." It is unabashedly religious in nature.

larryzMay 31, 2018

One stands during the Alleluia as a prelude to the Gospel reading during a church service. In this case, it's the finale of a commercially produced celebration that happens to include some biblical readings and Christmas carols (not all of which are religious).

MisterPenguinMay 30, 2018

People stand because it's a liturgical tradition to stand for the singing of the Alleluia which precedes the reading of the Gospel. If the King George II story is true, then he stood because of that tradition. Not even the most ardent royalist would follow a custom simply because some previous monarch did it once. ("The queen once opened a closet door with her left hand, and so, we all now use our left hand to open closet doors!") One stands for the Hallelujah, not for some dead potentate whose foot fell asleep that one time.

LAKid53May 30, 2018

Those Hanovarians were a tad crazy, especially No. III... 😉 Her Majesty doesn't stand for the National Anthem.

Master YodaMay 30, 2018

That could be a good thing or a really, really bad thing.:cautious:

MisterPenguinMay 30, 2018

Stay seated. You'll get a good view of the rear end of the person in front of you. :p

larryzMay 30, 2018

Thanks. When the King of England is attending the same CP I am, and he stands, I'll stand.

CorylancasterMay 30, 2018

I believe he was referring to this... https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)#The_Hallelujah_Chorus

larryzMay 30, 2018

Why?

mysmile4uMay 30, 2018

One of the things people don't realize about churches is that in a lot of places they bring kids for "missionary" work - often they are the most troublesome kids in the area. And we bring kids whose parents are sending them to church because they aren't doing the parenting work - they are deficient in that area, so they look for other people who they think can fix their kids. They often aren't even members. So many kids at the churches I have been at are "dropped off" and hop church to church - whoever has an event and is willing to deal with their problem this week. So we take the rap for misbehaving kids, but we are just trying to reach out to them, it is part of the community work churches do. The churches understand the chaos this leads to, but they have a goal. Disney, on the other hand, just sees all the unruly kids, which I understand. And in a way, I can understand how NOJ might bring in worse kids than other events.

trainplane3May 12, 2018

I'm not much of a religious person but I'll say I love the show. We had NPH for our most recent one and he was great. I highly recommend it. And do the dining package, it'll save you from having to sit in a stand-by line for hours.