Grad Night

[lklasing]

Help! We are going to the World May 2-6 , and I have figured out that the Friday and Saturday we are there are both Grad Nights. What does this mean? I know it has something to do with local high school grads getting to go to WDW, but I can't figure out how it will impact our trip. Will it only be at night that the crowd from that is there? When will the crowd start? There is a big difference to me between 4:00, when we'll still be going strong in the parks, and 8:00, when we'll likely be gone from the parks to a fun dinner. I can only imagine what the parks would be like if they filled up only with high schoolers. Also, which parks will these grads invade? Will it only be the Magic Kingdom or will it be all of them? Finally, do you think they will start coming on Thursday night, or will it only be Friday and Saturday?

If anyone has any experience or knowledge about this deal, I sure would love to hear about it. Thanks so much!!

Leslie

 

[firemanx]

Grad usually starts around 11 or 12 @ nigt and is for HS grads all over the country. The only park they occupy is MK. Sometimes they do something over @ PI before, but the kids are usually out of there before the normal crowd arrives. The MK will prob close around 9 or 10 on those nights, but dont fret this will be a memorary that last these kids forever. I still remember gradnight 2002 like it was yesterday.

 

[DOOM1001]

The MK will probably close earlier than 9 or 10.There's no way they can set up this event closing that late, more like a 6pm to 7pm closing time.Grad nite brings in high schools from a lot of states, not just florida.When I went I remember schools from North Carolina, Pennsylvania , etc...
Since I'm from Miami, we basically left at 1pm got to Medieval Times at 6pm for dinner and the show and made it over to MK around 10-11pm until 5am, where we boarded the bus for the trip back.I'm sure these schools that come from further away are probably staying for at least 2 days, so they may have an impact on the parks and hotels!!!

 

[LoveMickey]

You should not be affected by grad night except in the planning stages.

Grad night is only at MK, so MK closes early on the nights of the grad night parties. You may see grads on the busses at the resorts, but most are with chaperones (sp) and are well behaved.

They also have something at Downtown Disney.

MK closes early - I think around 4. We just plan to go to a different park on those days/nights.

 

[lklasing]

Thanks everyone! It looks like it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but since I posted last night, I think I have figured out that I was wrong about the dates and that it will be the two weekends before we go so I guess I'm okay either way.

Thanks again!

Leslie

 

[baileybelle]

According to the WDW site, Grad night dates for 2007 are Friday April 20; Saturday April 21; Friday April 27; and Saturday April 28. MK closes at 7pm to the public on those nights.

There is a blast-off party(early entry) for grads beginning at 8pm-10pm at MK. There is also another early entry party at AK that goes from 6:30pm to 9pm.

 

[ms.ojo]

it CAN impact you in a few ways.

1- as others have said, MK will close early on that Fri & Sat. This means no Wishes or Spectro. It also means crowds will be LARGER at MK on Thurs & Sun w/ people wanting to see Spectro & Wishes. If you're there for a week, try to go to MK on a TU or WED to see Spectro & Wishes. Going back on that Fri or Sat is also good as many people avoid the park since it will be closing early. You won't care since you've seen the night time entertainment a diff't day. You can just enjoy the rides and lower crowd levels and go back to your hotel for a swim or park hop in the evening.

2 - As for the grads themselves....if you are staying at a value resort they start pouring in on Thursday. They left the pool at ASMo OPEN, but the life guard gave up. There were TONS of kids in the pool...and many being chanted at to jump in w/ clothes on as they walked by to go to their rooms. It was a ZOO!!!!! If you don't come back mid-day for a swim however, you probably won't even notice them!

3- I had heard rumors before we went that they were very noisy at night/early morning returning. I didn't find this to be the case at all. Other than the pool mid-day...they were well behaved, quiet returning to their rooms in the wee hours of the morning, and fine in the food court. I have also heard that they meet at PI often before the MK event and even the Marketplace at DTD can be crowded w/ them so you might want to avoid those areas on Fri and Sat.

have a good trip!

 

[WDWNicole]

We've gone twice during the Grad Night period and it didn't effect us at all except for the early MK closing. We just worked around it.

 

[Mickey1122]

They also go into the parks during the day. We asked a handler about there schedule and altered our plans to completely avoid them.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

We were there this year for the May grad nights. We only altered our schedule to see Spectro on a different night. We even went to MK on Friday morning, had my DD's hair cut at the Barber Shop and then went to do some rides. It was great. Fantasyland was EMPTY, we went on Pooh, Dumbo, the tea cups, small world, and Philharmagic, and were second in line to meet Ariel without lining up far in advance. We walked right in about 10 minutes after the Grotto opened. Then we headed over and rode Buzz, Space Mtn, went on Splash and BTMRR without long waits. We did all this in time to be at the podium for our 11:50 am ADR at CP.

We did see a few groups of the high schoolers around (there was also a high school music competition at SSR, where we stayed). We barely noticed them, and probably would not have, but some had matching shirts, so 10 teens walking by in bright orange shirts were noticeable. No problems and I would not hesitate to go again during that time.

Beginning of May is actually our favorite time to go. We went 2005 and 2006 and both times, not one drop of rain the entire trip, except this year it rained for an hour the morning we left.

 

[daisyduck123]

We've been there during Grad Nights for the past 3 years & I can honestly say that they did not affect us at all. We wouldn't have even known about it if MK had not been scheduled to close early.