Experience with Grad Nights

[momoftwins]

I asked this on the Theme parks board, and will also ask here.

It looks like the Grad nights for 2004: April 23rd, 24th, 30th
and May 1st.

MK will close early on these nights. What a shame to be there in the warmer months only to have the park close early. We will be there 4/18 - 4/27. Now I am wondering if for these grad nights they have lots of students staying onsite. We are at the PC and am now wonderig if a lot will be there?

Has anyone had any experience with the Grad nights? Do lots of kids stay onsite?

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Grad-Nights are for Florida Seniors, they are bused to Disney and usually are taken to DTD area until time for them to enter Magic Kingdom. This is something special Disney does for Florida Students and to my knowledge none stay in Orlando as they are bussed back home when the park closes in the A.M.

 

[CarrieAP]

There are also grads from out of the area. I have not noticed the grads at the resorts, but do see many in the parks. Epcot had many grads in it one evening last year and what a joy they were! They were enthusiastic and really enjoying themselves, strolling hand in hand and singing after viewing Illuminations. They really added positively to the spirit of the evening and presented themselves in a very mature, yet young at heart, way.

 

[Sammie]

While certainly this does appeal to many Florida students many schools from other states do come and stay at the resorts while there for Grad Nights.

 

[PamOKW]

Yes, it has expanded to cover students from all over. However, they all must follow strict guidelines for behavior and chaperoning. The majority are still bused in & out just for the event. My experience has always been that I wouldn't even notice they were there except for MK closing early.

 

[DIZZNY]

We were at the Contemporary last year during one of these. It was our last night so the closing of MK was not too big of a deal for us. We went over to Epcot for the fireworks and it seemed everyone else had the same idea. It was absolutely packed and there were very long lines for food at every spot. Wished we had eaten at the CR before we went to Epcot (my sister and SIL settled for margaritas since the food lines were so long - not such a bad idea in my opinion!).

We had a room facing MK on the North Garden Wing and even though we heard the fireworks at midnight??, most of us slept thru them.

 

[katypop]

i have been 3 times during grad nights and have never found it to be a problem yes, mk does close early so we just planned to be somewhere else and didn't find crowds to be too bad. the only time it really disrupted our plans was when we went to Pleasure Island and it was closed due to the grads celebration, it did open later on in the evening and we just would have planned differently if we had known. we have stayed at ASM, CSR and AKL during these weekends and never noticed anything different. i am going again during grad nights this year, i just plan around them, and i have noticed they are showing spectro twice during each of the 2 weeks i'll be there which makes up for them not showing it on weekends
katypop

 

[BadgerBruce]

If you go to grad-nights.com you can get an idea of the events. It would appear they are very strict about clothing & behaviour in the parks, etc. It also says something about pre-parties at the Campground & Pleasure Island. We've been to WDW many times at that time of year & have never seen any problems because of these events. Like Katypop, we did go to PI once & it was closed until later--so check with GR at the resort before heading out on those evenings. We'll be there April 16-25, here's hoping for great weather!

 

[jodifla]

I went to grad night, many many years ago, and the kids are bused in to the park, then out the following morning. They don't stay at the resorts. There are a lot of strict rules about attending grad night.

 

[MelissathePooh]

When my husband was in high school (in FL) they had to wear a jacket and tie to grad nights! I don't think dresscodes are as strict now, but they are pretty tight. I just wonder if they're policing Tom Sawyers Island better these days??? Apparently that used to be the hot spot!

 

[RickinNYC]

Boy this post brought back a ton of memories! I went to high school in northern Florida (Orange Park High, class of '84) and was on of those Grad Night kids.

What a great time!

I can assure you that Disney is incredibly strict during those evenings. In fact, at that time, they had security posted INSIDE a large number of attractions to insure that there was no hanky panky or free flowing booze. And you couldn't turn a corner without seeing more security on the walkways. They had it all covered.

On the incredibly rare occasion that anyone acted up in any way, they were either escorted out immediately or brought to their chaperone. One way or the other, busted!

And if the Disney security even suspected you of anything, they stopped you and would chat. In fact, we had ridden the teacups, then Space Mountain, then the teacups again, to the point that my buddy ended up throwing up. He couldn't make it to a bathroom so he very, very surreptiously tossed his cookies into a trash can. When he was done, we all apologetically walked over to a cast member to let her know what had happened so that they could remove the basket liner.

Well, before we could even get over to the young lady, two security personnel came over and immediately started talking to us, asking why Kevin had thrown up. We talked with them, apologized profusely and offered to change the liner ourselves. It seems they were simply trying to determine whether we had been drinking. When they realized we were the penultimate in goody goody, they laughed and let us go on our way.

So rest assured folks. The absolute vast majority of young men and women who attend Grad Night know without a doubt that they are being watched like a hawk. And they know the consequences if things get carried away.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Originally posted by RickinNYC
Boy this post brought back a ton of memories! I went to high school in northern Florida (Orange Park High, class of '84) and was on of those Grad Night kids.

RickinNYC
I can't believe you went to OPH I'm located in Orange Park not to far from the high school...Say, don't you owe us a few more reports on your trip.
Small World.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by jodifla
I went to grad night, many many years ago, and the kids are bused in to the park, then out the following morning. They don't stay at the resorts. There are a lot of strict rules about attending grad night.

This does apply to the Florida schools. However schools from other states do stay usually for several days. My niece came from Georgia and they stayed 4 nights. They stayed at All Star Sports.

 

[Imagineering or Bust]

First off the Grad-Nites are open to all highschool seniors in the Country who school endorses it! I went to Grad Nite 99, my group stayed a week from the Mid-West. Anyways, they are well supervised and should only be staying at the All-Star Resorts! Plans are that PoP Century will NOT be a group or convention resort. Therefore, yep you guessed it, no high school kids. Hope that helps!

PoP Century Front Office Cast Member
Joshua

 

[RickinNYC]

Originally posted by MAGICinMYHEART
RickinNYC
I can't believe you went to OPH I'm located in Orange Park not to far from the high school...Say, don't you owe us a few more reports on your trip.
Small World.

I promise, promise, promise to finish my trip reports! Work has just been so crazy during the day, at night and over the weekends that I haven't had the opportunity. Sorry!

But yep, I went to OPHS! In fact, I'll be there this June for my 20th high school reunion. AAAAaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

 

[MelissathePooh]

Originally posted by MelissathePooh
When my husband was in high school (in FL) they had to wear a jacket and tie to grad nights! I don't think dresscodes are as strict now, but they are pretty tight. I just wonder if they're policing Tom Sawyers Island better these days??? Apparently that used to be the hot spot!

This is Melissa's Husband.

I don't remember if we had to wear jackets, but we for sure had to wear ties. We couldn't wear tennis shoes, had to wear dress shoes. There was a lot of music acts. It was a lot of fun. It used to be just for Florida students, and everyone was bussed in and out. But for several years it has been open to any group - they follow the chaperone guidelines of course. I think if you go you have to stay with your group - like if your family has dvc points you can't stay over there on your own. Most of the kids will still come in and out on the bus though. I remember noticing last May that they had those big nice charter busses! It was the nasty old yellow blue bird for us back in the day. Anyway, I doubt you'd notice that it was grad night at all.

"What a shame to be there in the warmer months only to have the park close early. "
Not for several thousand high school seniors it isn't a shame! We are going to be there that week in April, too, and I thought wow, the park sure does close early for the weekend, but I thought it was too early for a grad night. Thanks for letting me know it is grad night. I think I'm just going to stay home at wilderness lodge and let the kids have fun at magic kingdom and the crowds have fun at epcot.