Night of Joy (festival)


Night of Joy was an annual contemporary Christian music festival that took place from 1983 to 2017 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The festival was normally hosted at the Magic Kingdom in early September. It was cancelled in 2018 and replaced with a mainstream Eat to the Beat concert series, with Christian pop rock artists MercyMe and Tauren Wells joining the lineup. Night of Joy inspired two other Christian rock festivals in the Orlando region: Cornerstone Florida, which ran in the month of May from 2003 to 2007, and Rock the Universe at Universal Studios Florida, in operation since 1998.

Venues

Most concerts were held at the Magic Kingdom, in front of the Cinderella Castle. Other venues include:
Six artists have performed at all three venues: Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, MercyMe, Newsboys, Red and tobyMac. Several other artists have performed at two of these venues.

Recent events (2010-present)

2017

Friday, September 8:
Saturday, September 9 :
The event returned at the ESPN Wide World of Sports and was scheduled to last two nights, but the September 9 event was cancelled as a precautionary measure against Hurricane Irma. Park tickets for September 9 could either be honored on September 8 or obtain a full refund.

2016

Friday, September 9:
Saturday, September 10:
Friday, September 11:
Saturday, September 12:
Friday, September 11:
Saturday, September 12:
Friday, September 5:
Saturday, September 6:
Friday, September 6:
Saturday, September 7:
Friday, September 7:
Saturday, September 8:
Friday, September 9:
Saturday, September 10:
Friday, September 10:
Saturday, September 11:
The event returned to Magic Kingdom after two years of being held at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

History (1983-2009)

2009

Friday, September 11:
Saturday, September 12:
The official 2009 lineup was announced in March 2009. It featured more rock bands than usual and incorporated three acts common to both days of the performance, following "Conversations" with acts performing one of the two days. This is the final Night of Joy held at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

2008

Friday, September 5:
Saturday, September 6:
This is the first of two consecutive events held at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Previously, Night of Joy was held exclusively at the Magic Kingdom theme park.

2007

Friday, September 7:
Saturday, September 8:
Friday, September 8:
Saturday, September 9:
Friday, September 9:
Saturday, September 10:
Friday, September 9:
Saturday, September 10:
Saturday, September 11:
Friday, September 5:
Saturday, September 6:
Friday, September 6:
Saturday, September 7:
Friday, September 7:
Saturday, September 8:
Friday, May 7:
Friday and Saturday, September 6 and 7:
Night of Joy 1985 is the only instance where an event occurred outside of September.

1984