Early MK Closing for Grad Night- worked great for us

[foxfire]

Leading up to that --

We were in MK all day Monday (April 25) and, altho' it was crowded by noon, we got to do everything we wanted by being at the park at opening, using FP, and planning our strategy. By shortly after 11:00, we had been on HM, Peter Pan, Pooh, IASW, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and BTMR. We did really well getting into attractions in the afternoon, too...and still had time to get a Dole Float, find a shady spot near the bridge to Liberty Land, and watch the parade.

We wanted to repeat some attractions so we went back to MK last Friday which was closing at 7:00 for Grad Night. We met a friend there about 10:30, did several attractions, and decided it was time to eat. We don't like to make a PS for the days because we want to be flexible while in the parks. About 1:30, we decided to see if we could get into CP. We had only a 10 minute wait to be seated, had a delicious meal, & enjoyed seeing Pooh and friends.

As we were leaving CP, the afternoon parade was beginning, so we sat on the veranda & watched. As soon as it was over, people began leaving the park! Within an hour you could walk without constantly dodging traffic. We were amazed at how the crowd level dropped. We could walk onto or had very short waits for everything we wanted to ride. I had thought since the park closed early, we might not get to do all we wanted but from shortly after 3:00 - 7:00, it was great. We were in Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land most of that time. Did anyone else have that experience?

 

[monarchsfan16]

Well we had the opposite experience with Monday. We got on most of the rides we wanted to do, skipped the parade, but we did see Spectro and Wishes. However, the crowds definitely got in our way. We stayed out of the park Friday because my grandparents were visiting, but it was apparent by the crowd at the pool, and the masses of people that were streaming out of the MK when we were on a pontoon boat out on the lake not long after the parade ended that Grad Night was definitely affecting things. We were planning to use Grad Night to our advantage and go into MK again on Saturday, but it was just too hot for us northerners, so we saved the day on our park hoppers for our next trip. I did hear many people saying crowds really thinned out.