Grad night - one-off bad experience or the norm?

[cmph]

I didn't grow up in the southwest, so no personal experience with grad night for comparison.

My oldest attended grad night on the 24th as part of a three-day grad trip to SoCal that our district offers every year. She referred to grad night as "a bust" and said their day at Magic Mountain was MUCH better. In fact, she says she wants to go back to MM as a family but has no interest in going back to Disneyland again. Being teenagers, they were (of course) most interested in rides - and therein lies the problem. It wasn't a great day at DL for the pre-grad night portion. They were in line for Splash for over a 90min and then it went down, the Space line was 2h, etc. By the time they had to move over to DCA, they had managed to go on Pirates and Space, and they had pizza; that was it after like 6h in the park. I am sure many of you are thinking "what do you expect, the afternoon/early evening should be avoided," but the arrival time was not their choice, and apparently anyone under 18 could not buy Genie+ for themselves (if it would have even helped to buy that late in the day).

What clinched the "bust" aspect for her was the actual grad night portion in DCA, though. She said it was too crowded to have a good time. Rides were not running all tracks, which didn't help; lines were very long. Our most recent trip was the week between Christmas and New Year's (park days 12/27-12/30/22), so I will admit I was surprised that she thought grad night was so crowded with that as a baseline. I specifically asked her if she meant that it was more crowded than that week - and she said yes, by a lot. Hard to imagine!

So - is it the norm for grad night to be even more crowded than high season days (like late-Dec)? Do other kids seem to enjoy it anyway? I'll admit I'm pretty sad that grad night ruined Disneyland for her.

 

[starry_solo]

I never went to my HS grad night, but I do seem to recall that grad night is not just for one specific school, but multiple schools such that there are thousands of people there at one time.

For DLR, you're fighting with the day crowd.
DCA should have been better, but maybe all of it wasn't open?

 

[cmph]

I never went to my HS grad night, but I do seem to recall that grad night is not just for one specific school, but multiple schools such that there are thousands of people there at one time.

For DLR, you're fighting with the day crowd.
DCA should have been better, but maybe all of it wasn't open?

Grad night is not booked per night by schools or districts or anything like that. (Sure would have been sweet for DD and her friends if the 6 buses that comprised their group had the whole park to themselves LOL!) No clue what the capacity is, but it must be quite high.

Right, I wasn't surprised that they had a less-than-stellar time in DL on an afternoon/evening. The ride closures and down time made it worse, and that is sadly expected now. When we were there in December, we had Genie+ and got anytime LLs when something went down; we used standby lines pretty infrequently, so we never waited 90min to have something go down and nothing to compensate us for the time wasted. The kids were stuck with standby, so they couldn't strategically plan around rides going down, and consequently the DL time was worse this week for her than our family trip.

It was the DCA part that surprised me - largely that she thought it was so much more crowded than Christmas time. She said that GOG was only partially running (not sure how they found that out?). The only full ride closure she experienced was GRR - which was unexpected. It wasn't that it went down, it was just not open all night, and her group was really disappointed about that. Weird to have it down the whole night, b/c the kids obviously would want to go on it. In comparison, it ran the whole time we were there in December, even though it wasn't that popular that time of year. In any case, I'm not sure one ride being closed made that big of a difference to the crowds elsewhere.

 

[Aspencreek]

So DCA was super crowded back in December when you went? And then grad night was even worse?

 

[Narcoossee11]

That is why WDW does not do grad nights anymore.
CM hated it. The story's are wild.

 

[cmph]

So DCA was super crowded back in December when you went? And then grad night was even worse?

Yes, exactly. I'm a big planner, and we knew Christmas week was going to be nuts, so we used Genie+ strategically, booked WOC dessert party, made ADRs or ate at weird times, ordered QS on the app, had hoppers - basically did everything I could to maximize the trip. Still, we encountered things you can't plan for (like the LL lane for Incredicoaster backing up all the way to Lamplight one day) and LLs ran out (except for GRR b/c of the weather).

I was shocked to hear that there was a marked difference, b/c it didn't seem like you could pack that many more people into the park, but DD is not prone to exaggeration. And, like I mentioned, it was this past Christmas break that she was comparing to, not years ago, so her memory is pretty fresh.

 

[starlite_]

I am surprised they didn't let them buy genie+ because of their age. I did not know that was a thing.

That said, I'm sorry she didn't have a good time.

 

[cmph]

I am surprised they didn't let them buy genie+ because of their age. I did not know that was a thing.

I was surprised, too. I have no idea if that is a general rule or just a grad night ticket rule.

 

[Nonsuch]

...They were in line for Splash for over a 90min and then it went down...

Disappointing Splash went down, but these are the last few days so long waits are to be expected. Could be some extra long waits on Tuesday, the final day (and also a Grad Nite)

 

[Aspencreek]

Yes, exactly. I'm a big planner, and we knew Christmas week was going to be nuts, so we used Genie+ strategically, booked WOC dessert party, made ADRs or ate at weird times, ordered QS on the app, had hoppers - basically did everything I could to maximize the trip. Still, we encountered things you can't plan for (like the LL lane for Incredicoaster backing up all the way to Lamplight one day) and LLs ran out (except for GRR b/c of the weather).

I was shocked to hear that there was a marked difference, b/c it didn't seem like you could pack that many more people into the park, but DD is not prone to exaggeration. And, like I mentioned, it was this past Christmas break that she was comparing to, not years ago, so her memory is pretty fresh.

What a shame. Sounds a lot like our last visit to the parks in October of last year. Crazy high crowds is bad enough, but then with breakdowns all the time it just wreaks havoc. And I'd guess a lot of the kids going to grad nights assume that the park will be mostly just for the graduates and wouldn't expect it to be ridiculously crowded. So the expectation vs. reality is way off which would make it all the more disappointing.

 

[pindecisive]

I didn't grow up in the southwest, so no personal experience with grad night for comparison.

My oldest attended grad night on the 24th as part of a three-day grad trip to SoCal that our district offers every year. She referred to grad night as "a bust" and said their day at Magic Mountain was MUCH better. In fact, she says she wants to go back to MM as a family but has no interest in going back to Disneyland again. Being teenagers, they were (of course) most interested in rides - and therein lies the problem. It wasn't a great day at DL for the pre-grad night portion. They were in line for Splash for over a 90min and then it went down, the Space line was 2h, etc. By the time they had to move over to DCA, they had managed to go on Pirates and Space, and they had pizza; that was it after like 6h in the park. I am sure many of you are thinking "what do you expect, the afternoon/early evening should be avoided," but the arrival time was not their choice, and apparently anyone under 18 could not buy Genie+ for themselves (if it would have even helped to buy that late in the day).

What clinched the "bust" aspect for her was the actual grad night portion in DCA, though. She said it was too crowded to have a good time. Rides were not running all tracks, which didn't help; lines were very long. Our most recent trip was the week between Christmas and New Year's (park days 12/27-12/30/22), so I will admit I was surprised that she thought grad night was so crowded with that as a baseline. I specifically asked her if she meant that it was more crowded than that week - and she said yes, by a lot. Hard to imagine!

So - is it the norm for grad night to be even more crowded than high season days (like late-Dec)? Do other kids seem to enjoy it anyway? I'll admit I'm pretty sad that grad night ruined Disneyland for her.

I wouldn't visit DL without Genie+ these days. That $25 is the difference between having an amazing trip or spending hours and hours in line. I know some people do it, but as a person who visits to ride rides, I wouldn't.

And from everything I've heard, grad nights are crowded, rowdy, and most people wish they didn't exist.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

A site I follow for Disney news said that there is a rumor that DL oversold grad nights this year. They said there would usually be about 5000 grads in DCA but that one night there were almost 14,000!! I have no idea if this is true but if it is, it would seem to explain the overcrowding.

 

[joseph821]

I wouldn't visit DL without Genie+ these days. That $25 is the difference between having an amazing trip or spending hours and hours in line. I know some people do it, but as a person who visits to ride rides, I wouldn't.

And from everything I've heard, grad nights are crowded, rowdy, and most people wish they didn't exist.

Eventually Disney will stop doing them when they can find another way to make the same money/revenue.

This nighttime events "after dark" nights seems to be taking off. I would not be surprised if the Grad Nights are eliminated in favor of these special night event/parties.

Listen I know Grad Nites have a long history with Disneyland and Southern California but nothing lasts forever. Change marches on and waits for no one!

 

[cmph]

I wouldn't visit DL without Genie+ these days. That $25 is the difference between having an amazing trip or spending hours and hours in line. I know some people do it, but as a person who visits to ride rides, I wouldn't.

Same, but LLs aren't even running on grad nights (the portion of the night not mixed with gen pop), plus like I mentioned above, they aren't allowing under 18s to buy Genie+.

 

[disneychrista]

Same, but LLs aren't even running on grad nights (the portion of the night not mixed with gen pop), plus like I mentioned above, they aren't allowing under 18s to buy Genie+.

Is it not anyone under 18 or is it not anyone with the Grad night ticket? How do they even know how old the ticket holder is?

 

[cmph]

Eventually Disney will stop doing them when they can find another way to make the same money/revenue.

This nighttime events "after dark" nights seems to be taking off. I would not be surprised if the Grad Nights are eliminated in favor of these special night event/parties.

Listen I know Grad Nites have a long history with Disneyland and Southern California but nothing lasts forever. Change marches on and waits for no one!

One of the reasons I asked is b/c I don't want DLR similarly ruined for my younger child, via a future grad night! I didn't know if this year's grad night experience was normal/to be expected, or bad compared to other years. We had zero family history until this past week, but it seems to be such a fond memory for so many.

I joke with DH that it's just going to be the 2 of us going on Disney vacations, but things really are heading in that direction.

 

[joseph821]

One of the reasons I asked is b/c I don't want DLR similarly ruined for my younger child, via a future grad night! I didn't know if this year's grad night experience was normal/to be expected, or bad compared to other years. We had zero family history until this past week, but it seems to be such a fond memory for so many.

I joke with DH that it's just going to be the 2 of us going on Disney vacations, but things really are heading in that direction.

It is a fond memory for many but that is the past. Disneyland has a long history of providing school trip discounted tickets to local schools as well.

My advice is avoid the park where Grad night is. It has gotten so bad that the Grad Night people have their own separate entrance, are not allowed to bring in food - only a water bottle and get security swept upon entrance on top of the security points.

Grad nights have a long history of runining vacation plans for many travelers especially out of town people. People avoid them like the plague.

 

[cmph]

Is it not anyone under 18 or is it not anyone with the Grad night ticket? How do they even know how old the ticket holder is?

It was somehow blacked out in the app for the ones who weren't 18 yet. I guess if you lied about your age when you created your account, you could bypass that, but I'm not sure if that's possible when it's part of an organized trip that has all your correct personal info when they buy the tix.

Per this, it's a Genie+ rule, not specific to grad night. https://plandisney.disney.go.com/qu...ys-linked-account-able-purchase-genie-524106/

 

[cmph]

It is a fond memory for many but that is the past. Disneyland has a long history of providing school trip discounted tickets to local schools as well.

My advice is avoid the park where Grad night is. It has gotten so bad that the Grad Night people have their own separate entrance, are not allowed to bring in food - only a water bottle and get security swept upon entrance on top of the security points.

Grad nights have a long history of runining vacation plans for many travelers especially out of town people. People avoid them like the plague.

We are from an adjacent state, not local, and some of these kids have never been to DLR and will potentially never return. Our school is Title 1, and our family is very privileged compared to the majority. DD was (impromptu) guiding her friends and the rest of the kids she knew from her school throughout the night, b/c she was the only one who knew her way around DCA.

DD also mentioned that separate entrance line, which was apparently enormous. I was getting a lot of texts from her at that point, b/c she already sensed things going further south.

For sure, I would never plan a family trip to coincide with grad night. However, this was a school trip that specifically includes grad night every year - so there is no way to avoid it if you sign up for the trip.

 

[joseph821]

We are from an adjacent state, not local, and some of these kids have never been to DLR and will potentially never return. Our school is Title 1, and our family is very privileged compared to the majority. DD was (impromptu) guiding her friends and the rest of the kids she knew from her school throughout the night, b/c she was the only one who knew her way around DCA.

DD also mentioned that separate entrance line, which was apparently enormous. I was getting a lot of texts from her at that point, b/c she already sensed things going further south.

For sure, I would never plan a family trip to coincide with grad night. However, this was a school trip that specifically includes grad night every year - so there is no way to avoid it if you sign up for the trip.

Is it possible to still go on the trip and then go to Disneyland instead of the DCA grad night?