Avoid Grad Nights?

[jnshakun]

Our family, which includes two small children, will most likely travel next April or May. I've heard of Grad Nights--that the MK closes early, lots of teens are bussed in--but I'm wondering if they pose much of an inconvenience outside of the Magic Kingdom. So, for anyone who might know, please tell me if these two weekends are ones to avoid or if it's not a big deal. Are MK area resorts affected? Are crowd levels at other parks affected?

 

[caseyem67]

We were just there for Grad Nights--UNFORTUNATELY! Generally speaking, most of them were rude and inconsiderate. They were loud and obnoxious and ruined things for younger kids. I will definitely stay away from these nights in the future. Examples...during Fantasmic their comments never stopped..."Oh, Mickey, now what can you do?" " Watch out for..." Rock N Roll Roller Coaster...constant comments in queing area. Just obnoxious stuff.

As for inconvenient...not too bad as long as you plan around them. MK closed at 7. AK at that time of year is only open until 5. That left EP and MGM for those nights. You have my issues above from MGM. We didn't go to EP so I can't comment. Just remember since only 2 parks are open after 7, that is where most people will be. We planned a dinner for one of the nights. Also keep in mind that busses won't be operating at MK either. We had dinner at Polynesian and had to get back to SSR. Were planning on picking up a bus at MK after taking monorail there. Didn't work out. Had to wait for DD bus and then walk from DD to SSR. Took over an hour. Needless to say, my impatient DH was not happy.

My advice...stay wawy from Grad Nights if at all possible. No reason to add that to your plans if you can avoid it.

 

[WDWNicole]

We've been twice during Grad Nights and it didn't affect us at all. We went to Epcot one of the nights (normal crowds IMO) and did not go into the parks the other 2 nights. I actually expected to see more obnoxious teenagers around, but I did not notice them at all.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I was just there with my 3 yr old dd 4/29-5/3. Our first night there was a grad night. We stayed at the Poly and didn't notice anything off at all. We didn't go to the parks that day as we had just arrived but did go to DTD. I'd never been there before so I don't know if it was more crowded or not. It seemed crowded to me but it could always be that way! We had dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the GF and didn't notice anything bad. We sat on the beach there and watched the electric water parade around 9:00 and we were alone and it was very quiet. Took the monorail back to the Poly and it was nearly empty. The only way I could even tell it was grad night was that the monorail drove through the MK terminal and I could see all the kids getting off the busses to go in. I don't think our trip was affected at all. I would think it may be more noticeable at the value resorts since that is probably where a lot of the teens stay. JMO.

Shelley

 

[jnshakun]

Oh, I didn't realize the kids stayed over. I assumed they were bussed in and then left after the festivities.

 

[luvlumpy]

We were there last week during Grad Night and I didn't notice any difference. We didn't see any extra teens during the day. In fact I mentioned the fact that it was the fewest number of teens I had seen at WDW in a long time. Most are bussed in that night, go to MK and then leave. At least that's what we did when I was in high school. I would not stay away because of Grad Night. Aside from the fact MK closed at 7pm those nights and I heard it here, I would have never known it was Grad Night.

 

[luvthatduke]

My advice: DO NOT stay at ASMo on those weekends!
Thank the Lord the first Grad Night weekend of our
vacation last April ('05) was our last nights stay!
We will NEVER stay during Grad Nights again at any All Stars.
The kids most definitely stay over,
ASMo was full of them, room after room after room.
We couldn't get around them with our toddler & stroller
when returning at night, they were loud & obnoxious, etc.
DH & I were really thankful we only had to be there
for a short time with them.
If we'd booked our stay to coincide over both weekends,
I don't know what we would've done.
(I will say that we have no idea of park impact,
as our trouble was being at the same resort).

 

[eeyoregon]

We were there a few weekends ago. We got off our Disney Cruise Saturday morning and decided to spend the afternoon/evening at Magic Kingdom. We were aware that MK was closing at 7:00 but I wasn't sure why - we later found out. After it closed we hopped to Epcot, which was VERY crowded!

We were surprised at how empty Magic Kingdom was and how short the lines were between 5-7pm. We rode more rides in those 2 hours than we have done in 8 hours on a peak day! The grads didn't arrive until we were out of the park at 7:00.

The local grads don't spend the night on property. There were however several thousand teens on property that were there for the music festival. Luckily we were staying at a DVC property so that eliminated any rowdy teen problems!

My theory is our worst day at WDW is always better than my best day at work