Grad Nights

[NJlauren]

I am going to be at DL for 2 grand nights I think.... I would like more information.

I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly, basically the ticket they have gets them into both parks all day, then at 10pm they can only be in DCA?

What time do you find they start arriving?
Do they spend time in both parks prior to 10?
Anything else I should know?

I can't change around my days to much but have a few options so just weighing if I should move a few days around.

 

[sherilaine]

Technically they are supposed to go over to DCA at 10PM - however we were in DL on a grad night and the place was full of grads past that time. I would suggest if you go on grad nights to go rope drop each day and get as much done before they begin to show up. One day we were there with grads and it was not bad - the other one was not very good so it all depends on the parties.

 

[NJlauren]

Technically they are supposed to go over to DCA at 10PM - however we were in DL on a grad night and the place was full of grads past that time. I would suggest if you go on grad nights to go rope drop each day and get as much done before they begin to show up. One day we were there with grads and it was not bad - the other one was not very good so it all depends on the parties.

We will be at rope drop no matter what (DD doesn't know what sleep in means). So I guess in this case that works out for us. I'm thinking of just skipping the park on the 2nd grad night doing a breakfast outside the park and DTD then heading to LA for the afternoon/night and final night of the trip.

Then it's only one grad night... My other option is redo the whole trip and do DL at the front end... Which looking back would be better but then we wouldn't see out Southern Cali friends and that would stink! And we already booked flights so we would need to drive more and redo hotels.... I think I'm thinking into this to much....

 

[sherilaine]

We will be at rope drop no matter what (DD doesn't know what sleep in means). So I guess in this case that works out for us. I'm thinking of just skipping the park on the 2nd grad night doing a breakfast outside the park and DTD then heading to LA for the afternoon/night and final night of the trip.

Then it's only one grad night... My other option is redo the whole trip and do DL at the front end... Which looking back would be better but then we wouldn't see out Southern Cali friends and that would stink! And we already booked flights so we would need to drive more and redo hotels.... I think I'm thinking into this to much....

Whatever you do - don't rearrange your entire trip because of some teenagers! You could end up with the evening we had where we barely noticed them - the night it was bad was a Friday night so the place is nuts then anyway!

 

[NJlauren]

Whatever you do - don't rearrange your entire trip because of some teenagers! You could end up with the evening we had where we barely noticed them - the night it was bad was a Friday night so the place is nuts then anyway!

Thank you! I need to be talked off the ledge some times

 

[ADLFAN]

Haha, yep, it's just teenagers!

Sometimes loud and exuberant, but the only thing that'll happen is that the atmosphere changes into that of any other theme park when the teen to younger kid balance gets closer to 50/50. The grads love Disney, too!

Have fun!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

You are not alone, many people come asking here for Grad Nite opinions! This thread may be of some help from last year: http://www.disboards.com/threads/what-to-expect-on-grad-nite.3403849/

I have traveled to DL multiple times over the last few years during Grad Nites. We hit 2 grad nites per trip every time. They were during the weekday as we left by Fri each time. My experiences as related to your questions:

-They are "hopper" tickets so they have access to both parks. With the party being in DCA most of the grads will spend the day in DL.
-We noticed them starting to arrive by lunch in DL
-DL was packed with grads by dinner
-I had heard the 10pm thing and was excited at the prospect of all the grads being cleared out of DL by late night, this did not happen.

Other tips
-Do NOT try seeing PTN's early show or the firework show on Grad Nite. (The late show of PTN was fine, we arrived after dinner via monorail for the early show and it was so crowded just getting to Main St and the kids were rude -pushing and shoving like- so we found a table at Plaza Inn and basically hunkered down for the next couple hours. They cleared out by the late show and that was a great time to watch PTN.)
-You could see WOC on a grad nite (the grads will see this during their party) but when we were there they only ran one WOC showing before closing DCA to the general public, normally during summer schedule they run 2. So no grads but still crowded as it was the only showing that night. If you want to see WOC that night make sure to acquire your FPs.
-Do NOT ride "big rides" at DL that night (Indy, Space)
-DO buy "hopper" tickets this way you can go to Disneyland as early as you can in the morning and then hop over to DCA for evening

It is entirely possible to enjoy your time at DL during Grad Nites. I've done it multiple times and we keep going back so it must be ok But we keep making mistakes, I hope you don't repeat them. So here are the dumbest things I've done on Grad Nites in recent years: a couple years ago we returned to ride Indy via Fastpass line about 10:30pm. Do not do this. Last year we returned to the parks around 10:00 pm to ride Haunted Mansion. If you don't mind LOTS of extra screaming this is ok. Last year we did the PTN debacle described above on the 2nd grad nite because we turned our brains off or something.

Reports vary widely on the behavior of kids. It's something to be aware of if it might disturb you or your traveling party. Personally the extent of what we usually run into is a lot of bad language when standing in lines at night in DL. The worst report I've seen here on the boards is ride photos not being for sale because kids flash the cameras or make rude gestures rendering Disney unable to sell the photos.

 

[NJlauren]

You are not alone, many people come asking here for Grad Nite opinions! This thread may be of some help from last year: http://www.disboards.com/threads/what-to-expect-on-grad-nite.3403849/

I have traveled to DL multiple times over the last few years during Grad Nites. We hit 2 grad nites per trip every time. They were during the weekday as we left by Fri each time. My experiences as related to your questions:

-They are "hopper" tickets so they have access to both parks. With the party being in DCA most of the grads will spend the day in DL.
-We noticed them starting to arrive by lunch in DL
-DL was packed with grads by dinner
-I had heard the 10pm thing and was excited at the prospect of all the grads being cleared out of DL by late night, this did not happen.

Other tips
-Do NOT try seeing PTN's early show or the firework show on Grad Nite. (The late show of PTN was fine, we arrived after dinner via monorail for the early show and it was so crowded just getting to Main St and the kids were rude -pushing and shoving like- so we found a table at Plaza Inn and basically hunkered down for the next couple hours. They cleared out by the late show and that was a great time to watch PTN.)
-You could see WOC on a grad nite (the grads will see this during their party) but when we were there they only ran one WOC showing before closing DCA to the general public, normally during summer schedule they run 2. So no grads but still crowded as it was the only showing that night. If you want to see WOC that night make sure to acquire your FPs.
-Do NOT ride "big rides" at DL that night (Indy, Space)
-DO buy "hopper" tickets this way you can go to Disneyland as early as you can in the morning and then hop over to DCA for evening

It is entirely possible to enjoy your time at DL during Grad Nites. I've done it multiple times and we keep going back so it must be ok But we keep making mistakes, I hope you don't repeat them. So here are the dumbest things I've done on Grad Nites in recent years: a couple years ago we returned to ride Indy via Fastpass line about 10:30pm. Do not do this. Last year we returned to the parks around 10:00 pm to ride Haunted Mansion. If you don't mind LOTS of extra screaming this is ok. Last year we did the PTN debacle described above on the 2nd grad nite because we turned our brains off or something.

Reports vary widely on the behavior of kids. It's something to be aware of if it might disturb you or your traveling party. Personally the extent of what we usually run into is a lot of bad language when standing in lines at night in DL. The worst report I've seen here on the boards is ride photos not being for sale because kids flash the cameras or make rude gestures rendering Disney unable to sell the photos.

This makes me feel better, to be honest we aren't planning on doing the big rides, unless the line is short or have a FP and DD is sleeping in the stroller. So I think I'm in the clear for that.

I am not overly worried about PtN or WoC if we see them great if we miss them there is always next time.

The language well I would probably just find it funny... The flashing well that bothers me but I guess I can deal. I have hoppers so that's good, and we will probably be back at the hotel by 8:30/9 the latest anyway....maybe one grad night we will do DL wary DCA after noon and dinner at DTD before heading to the hotel.

 

[DznyPrnces]

Is there a list of grad nites somewhere?

 

[NJlauren]

Is there a list of grad nites somewhere?

I have been using this thread http://www.disboards.com/threads/2016-calendar-of-events-school-breaks-and-dlr.3434866/

 

[DznyPrnces]

I have been using this thread http://www.disboards.com/threads/2016-calendar-of-events-school-breaks-and-dlr.3434866/

Thank you!

 

[AZMermaid]

We will also be there for two grad nights. For one, we will be doing an off/resort day, possibly going into the parks until lunch. The other one, we plan to do a DCA day. I'm figuring the impact will be less since that is where their party is at night. We will likely turn in around seven.