Celebrate Gospel turned Disneyland into a church complete with soaring choirs, stained glass windows and plenty of praise and worship as the Anaheim theme park celebrated Black History Month with wall-to-wall music.

The Fantasyland Theatre hosted church and community choirs, a cappella groups and headliner Kierra Sheard on Saturday, Feb. 19 as the first of two Celebrate Gospel music festivals on back-to-back Saturdays got underway at Disneyland.

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The Disneyland resort was overflowing with music on Saturday with warm-up performances in Downtown Disney before the Celebrate Gospel song fest in the newly reopened Fantasyland Theatre and a cool-down gig at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel after the main event.

Don’t fret if you missed Saturday’s musical showcase. Celebrate Gospel will return for a second performance on Saturday, Feb. 26 and Downtown Disney will play host to R&B, funk, reggae, Motown, doo-wop and even more gospel throughout the rest of February while jazz will fill Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel lobby each night of the month.

The returning Celebrate Gospel music festival is now part of Disneyland’s new Celebrate Soulfully event that honors the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history.

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Saturday’s music extravaganza kicked off with the Singers of Soul on the Downtown Disney stage. The six-member Los Angeles-based a cappella group combined harmonies and choreography to “bring a little bit of church” to the outdoor shopping mall next to Disneyland.

Celebrate Gospel got underway with afternoon performances in the Fantasyland Theatre by Friendship Baptist Church Choir (Yorba Linda), Fresh Generation (Inglewood) and Spirit and Truth Ensemble (Riverside) that had the audience clapping their hands and dancing in the aisles.

The Sacred Groove a cappella group performed a mix of modern and classic church hymns between gospel acts as the stage was being reset for each choir.

KJLH Radio Free Voices from Inglewood blew the roof off the Fantasyland Theatre — or at least the canvas canopy that serves as a roof on the 1,800-seat outdoor theater. The 40-member choir let loose soaring solos and angelic harmonies as they put on a high-octane performance that felt like a constant crescendo with little room to pause for a breath.

It was surprising to hear the exaltations of “God is great” and “Raise your hands for Jesus” from a Disneyland stage as the Southern California tourist destination tends to stick to secular entertainment.

Disneyland hosts the Candlelight Processional on a December weekend each year with a 600-member choir that brings to life the story of Christmas — but most visitors don’t think of Disneyland as the place to come for a Sunday church service.

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Celebrate Gospel headliner Kierra Sheard served as head pastor of the Disneyland congregation while performing her mix of gospel, R&B, hip-hop, pop and dance songs. The vocal acrobat hailing from Detroit delivered high-voltage ragers and swaying slow jams — often within a single song. Throughout the show, Sheard encouraged the crowd to sing along and “Let God hear you.”

Sheard delivered the evening’s church sermon as she challenged the audience to change their lives for the better while introducing her song, “Something Has to Break.”

“I believe You’ll lead me through it,” Sheard sang with the crowd joining along. “I believe You’ll get me to it. I believe that You will do it right now.”

Disneyland turned the Fantasyland Theatre into a church with stained glass window graphics on the video screen stage backdrop and informational displays at the back of the theater that traced the history of gospel from pioneering sextets to Holy Hip-Hop.

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The Celebrate Gospel performance marked the first time the Fantasyland Theatre has been used in nearly two years — with the stage remaining dark ever since the pandemic closure of the park in March 2020. The “Mickey and the Magical Map” proscenium still framed the stage — although the tiered video screen set had been removed.

The live music on the Fantasyland Theatre stage brought back memories of the venue’s Videopolis days when pop bands like New Kids on the Block and New Edition performed in the 1980s.

The move from Stage 17 at Disney California Adventure to the Fantasyland Theatre meant Celebrate Gospel had a lot more space to work with — and a lot more seats to fill. Celebrate Gospel deserved a bigger crowd than the few hundred spectators that filled the Fantasyland Theatre throughout much of Saturday afternoon.

The outdoor theater was rock concert loud during most of Celebrate Gospel with Disneyland employees wearing ear plugs. Despite the loudness, the concert could barely be heard from the It’s a Small World promenade where a lone A-frame sign promoted the show.

After the Fantasyland Theatre show, the music continued with Mood Indigo at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. The jazz quartet provided a slower, mellower and cooler jazz vibe that fit the mood of the hotel lobby.

As a nightcap, Midnight Hour performed on the Downtown Disney stage. The female-fronted band played Motown hits by the Marvelettes, Supremes and Gladys Knight and the Pips that had kids and moms dancing to the beat.

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Celebrate Gospel returns to the Fantasyland Theatre on Feb. 26 with headliners Jonathan McReynolds and Mali Music performing contemporary gospel and Christian music.

The church and community choirs playing the Fantasyland Theatre stage on Feb. 26 include Amazing Grace Conservatory (Los Angeles), Rhythm and Moves Children’s Youth Community Choir (Pasadena), Los Angeles Inner City Mass Choir and Greater Los Angeles Cathedral Choir.

The Singers of Soul a cappella group will be back on Feb. 26 at the Fantasyland Theatre this time as part of the second Saturday of Celebrate Gospel — trading places with Sacred Groove who will move to the afternoon slot on the Downtown Disney stage.

Nightly Downtown Disney acts in February include Philly Phonics (Doo-Wop), Forward Motion (R&B and funk), Urban Music Society (R&B and funk), Del Atkins and the Lyfe Band (jazz), StandardMel & Friends (jazz), Island Reggae and LALA Brass.