The Happiest Place on Earth!

Last weekend, I got a chance to participate in what is known as "Night of Joy." It is an incredible Christian event put on by none other than...DISNEY WORLD!! We took 42 middle school and high school youth up to Orlando on Friday night, spent the night in a church up there, and then headed on to Disney early Saturday morning. We just went to Magic Kingdom for most of the day, which if you know anything about Disney World was only a small portion of what you could have done inside the park. (Although they really get your money there because every park you go into, you have to pay the full price, it's not like Schlitterbahn where you buy one ticket and go to all the parks...) Anyways, I was more than thankful to get to spend a day in Disney because instead of paying for it, I got paid! The kids have to pay to go to night of Joy, however, the ticket prices are significantly reduced, and most meals are paid for, so it's an incredible deal for these kids to get to see something that is so physically close to them and yet so far out of reach of their normal lives.

I was assigned to look after six middle school and high school girls. So, you can only imagine the drama that ensued when one of them wouldn't want to do what the rest of them wanted. We got to the park around 8 and walked around and rode rides until 3:30. That gave us the chance to ride every ride in Magic Kingdom at least once. It was raining all morning, which ended up being a blessing, because 1) this little white girl didn't get sunburned, (although I had to explain to my youth why I was putting on sunscreen when it was raining outside...let's be honest, I get sunburnt at night...) and because 2) nobody else is crazy enough to be walking around Disney in the rain, so that meant little to no lines on all the rides! By 3:30, the girls were tired, the sun had come out so they were complaining about it being hot and muggy, and I was ready to leave. However, that was only the beginning of the day! Night of Joy actually happens at night. (Makes sense, right?) So, at 3:30, we made our way over to Hollywood Studios to hang out a little bit before the Joy really began. We got to ride the rides there, however, Hollywood Studios is much more about the Hollywood aspect and less about the rides, so there was really only two/three rides available. We rode both the Rockin' Roller Coaster (Aerosmith's ride. I had to explain to my youth who Aerosmith was... A direct quote: "I know Aeropostal, but no AeroSMITH.") and the Tower of Terror, which the youth literally had to drag me on and I have never felt more scared in my entire life. I walked off the ride still shaking. Don't ever ride it. However, since those were the two big rides in the park and everyone was at this one park for Night of Joy, you easily had to wait one to two hours before even getting on the ride. Worth it? Maybe. The girls thought it was. Around 7 was when the Night of Joy actually got started. It's big name Christian artists putting on free concerts from all areas of the park. There were three stages going on at the same time and the concerts ranged from 30 minutes to one hour and lasted until 1 AM. We watched MercyMe, Jars of Clay, and Mandisa, who was on American Idol in 2006. The concerts were fantastic, although I might have gotten more out of the whole night than the youth. It was frustrating to me to hear the youth whine and complain because this was such a gift that they were supposed to be able to enjoy. I'm pretty sure I used the line "This is the happiest place on Earth, therefore, we WILL be happy."

It was an interesting trip. I was able to form bonds with many of the youth in an outside Branches setting, which was probably the best part of the trip. The kids had a blast and were able to participate in something that was out of the ordinary for them. They were surrounded by Christians all weekend long, rather than their friends and families that often act less than Christian, to say the least. However, it was exhausting and frustrating a lot of the time as well. We got back on the bus around midnight and drove back to Branches arriving around 4:30 AM. Then I got to drive back to Miami, putting me in bed around 6 AM, only to have to wake up a few hours later to host one of the most amazing barbeques of all time for the National Director of D.O.O.R. and many of our new friends. I am still recovering from last weekend. However, at the same time, I really felt like I was where I needed to be. These kids need to see that there is a different life available to them. They need to feel loved and appreciated and to get out of the house and have fun from time to time. That is what the true joy of the night was.