Grad Nights - How is MK during the day?

[lorilori]

Hi all. We thought we narrowed down our long weekend dates for a quick-fix Spring trip, but now see that Grad Nights are scheduled for the Friday and Saturday. Can someone please tell me about MK during the DAY of Grad Night? It it overly crowded or on the quiet side because it closes early that day? Thanks!

 

[LindaD]

Grad Nites are not like other hard ticket events (MNSSHP or MVMCP) where guests with tickets for the evening can come to the park and get in early. The kids and chaperones are bused in right before the party starts in the evening, so the crowds are not really affected by the partys. If anything, I think it would have a negative affect, because the park closes early.

 

[lorilori]

Thanks Linda; I didn't realize they didn't come in until actual party time. Any other experiences on crowd levels on a Grad Night day? Thank you!

 

[DebbieB]

MK closes at 7:00pm, I believe the grad night people don't get in until 10:00pm. The fact that there is no Wishes or Spectromagic I think would keep the daytime crowds down. My guess is Friday would be less crowded than Saturday (Saturday is always crowded).

 

[Liz]

Do Grad Nights go into June or is it mostly May?

Thanks!

 

[MrsJ Henry]

Someone will come and give you the dates I'm sure but I know they are just at the end of April.

 

[disneyjunkie]

April 22,23,29 and 30

 

[Teris]

EEK,, we will be there the 29th and 30th ,, we are going to see a band my daughter loves on the 29th, but the 30th was to be the day we would go to the MK. Oh well,, still, the trip was planned around this concert,, so that's just the way the cookie crumbles

 

[bajanswife]

So I'm thinking that MK in the morning of a grad night (but not Saturday) should be a good time to go, assuming we only want to stay in the park until lunch time/early p.m. and then go back to our hotel for a rest? We'd do MK once at night for the fireworks, probably on a non-grad weeknight as far from Easter as possible (going in latish April 2006 when Easter is mid-month). We'll have litle ones who are used to going to bed early, so nighttime activities will be limited for us anyway.

Edited to add: I didn't realize at first that Grad nights seem to be on the weekends only, so weekdays will still be safe! We'll avoid the parks on the weekends.

 

[cindyfan]

I don't want to put a damper on anyone's plans....
But my experiences with Grad Night Weekends.....
AVOID THE PARKS at ALL COSTS!!!

We ended up there twice on Grad Night weekends and it was just horrible.
With all the teenagers starting Friday morning into Sunday!!!
some of the schools make a weekend of it. Arriving Friday morning and leaving Sunday night.

Since the actual party is at MK....most of the teenagers hit the other parks that Friday, especially MGM.

I just thought it was horrible!! thousands of unsupervised teenagers!!!!

We swore...NEVER again we would go to the parks on those days!

 

[cindyfan]

April 22,23,29 and 30

they've been doing 3 weekends....are these all the dates? Or is the first weekend of May also included (it has been in previous years)?

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

We'll be there from May 18-22, are they usually over by then?

 

[DebbieB]

they've been doing 3 weekends....are these all the dates? Or is the first weekend of May also included (it has been in previous years)?

Last year they only had 2 weekends. It used to be 2 weekends + 1 Friday.

http://www.grad-nights.com/

 

[cindyfan]

Debbie....now that I think of it...you are right. I always just looked at that last Friday as a Grad Night weekend since most of the teenagers ended up staying till Sunday.

for this year....I assume they did not add the last Friday because of the 50th Celebration starting on the 5th. There is no way they could think about closing MK early on the 6th....it is going to be a very busy weekend.