Grad nights--any suggestions

[sandyc62]

This is the first time I have ever posted on a forum--anywhere--so I apologize if this doesn't come out right! We are going to WDW mid-April and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the best park to go to on a grad night? Is Magic Kingdom crazy during the day as well? Thank you so much for your opinions!

 

[ConcKahuna]

Grad Night is mostly for schools from Florida, and many of them come in only for the party. The crowds shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Seahunt]

April MK Grad Nites are April 18, 19, 25 and 26th (and are only for HS kids/groups who bought separate Grad Nite tickets, with their chaperones, etc). ConcKahuna is correct about lots of the kids coming in from FL schools - you'll see lines (and lines!) of busses pulling in to the MK parking lots later in the day.

The MK will close at 7pm on those dates to get ready for the Grad Nite party that runs from 10pm to 4AM. (Poor CMs! ) There also will be an early "Blast Off" DJ party for them from 8pm to 10pm, so if I was at the MK during that day I'd probably try and leave well before 7pm to avoid any transportation crowds.


You mentioned your stay was "middle of April" so just looking at the park hours for evenings on the 4/18 and 4/19 MK Grad Nite dates, it shows on 4/18 Epcot has evening EMH and on 4/19 Hollywood Studios has evening EMH so you might consider doing those parks on those nights

I think I remember reading posts from last year that the kids really didn't affect MK crowd levels too much during the days - instead of hitting the parks most kids probably slept in most of the next day if they stayed overnight, and others just came in later the day of the party and left afterwards. But I might be wrong about that, and hopefully someone will post what they experienced! We were there a couple years ago during a Grad Nite weekend, but I don't remember anything but hearing fireworks going off at the MK for their party really, really late at night over at our resort

 

[Hopefully]

First of all, Welcome to the DIS!!!! You will find lots of great information here as you plan for your April trip.
We were there for Grad night in 2006, and there was really no impact on the Parks from the party goers. As a PP said, there are lines and lines of buses pulling into the staging area in the evening. We were coming back to the Poly from dinner on a bus and got stuck in the traffic jam.
The MK will close at 7 PM that night. I would just plan on being in Epcot or the Studios that night and you will be fine.
I was awakened (at the Poly) by the late night fireworks too, but they did not wake the kids up.

 

[sandyc62]

Thanks everyone for your knowledgeable advice. We made our plans before I ever even heard of "grad nights" and the idea was a little unnerving! I'm glad to hear it shouldn't really effect us and since we are staying at PORS, we shouldn't even hear those fireworks!