How busy have grad nights been so far? Any updates?

[kkmcan]

Just wondering if the grad nights have affected daytime crowds so far. Looks like there have been 3 of them. We are going to be there next week (23rd and 24th) during one of the grad nights and I'm trying to get a feel for how this works and what we can expect for crowds in the park. I've never been there on a grad night since they changed it.

Thanks!

 

[goiu]

I'm wondering the same thing! It says on the website that it's from 9a-9p!!

 

[Chezabelleuk06]

Wednesday was a grad night and crowds were ok. Very manageable. Wait times were around 15 minutes for most things we went on. The only bit that was crowded was main street after the parade and fireworks because most grads went straight to california adventure.
Yesterday wasn't an official grad night but it was packed!Grads came after their ceremonies and it was so busy by the end of day we went in california adventure for a break as it wasn't that crowded.

 

[SMD]

Grad nights don't really create crowds, they make the existing crowds younger. The So Cal ticket offer expires on May 26th. Historically the last 2-3 days have high crowds as people use the last day on their tickets. That has usually brought worse crowds then the grad nights since they switched to park hoppers.

 

[goofy4tink]

We arrived on Mon, left yesterday. Tuesday had a lot of groups of grads....more than I expected. Wednesday was worse. Wed night was a grad night, and I made the assumption that CA would be ok as far as crowds went. But, there were a ton of grads in that park all day!!! Thursday was awful! It was so bad I left DL and spent time at the hotel. Went over to CA for a bit, but that was fairly crowded as well. When I went back into DL, to meet up with DD and her boyfriend, it was wall to wall people! Tons of groups of kids!!

 

[DollBabyKG]

Ugh, goofy4tink, your experience is exactly what I'm afraid of. We are taking an impromptu trip 6/8-6/14 and 3 of our 4 Disney days are grad nights. I wish they'd reduce the number or spread them out further so as not to alienate their guests who are traveling much further and likely spending more

 

[goofy4tink]

I've only been to DL three times now. Last Dec was terrific. The first time was a very short stay..36 hrs...and it rained for about 30 of those hrs! That wasn't a great trip.
This past one was a college graduation trip for my dd. It should have been a lot more fun. But...the huge numbers of people made it less than wonderful. Oh well. Lesson learned.

 

[Jeniie]

I was there all this week and found both parks were busy with grads and younger school groups every day, not just on grad nights.

 

[goofy4tink]

Yes! I forgot to mention the 'regular' school groups!

 

[disneymomoffour]

Ugh, goofy4tink, your experience is exactly what I'm afraid of. We are taking an impromptu trip 6/8-6/14 and 3 of our 4 Disney days are grad nights. I wish they'd reduce the number or spread them out further so as not to alienate their guests who are traveling much further and likely spending more

We are also going very soon, and 4 out of our 5 days are grad nights. It should have only been 3, but they added a day. Uhggg!!! I had no idea when we booked it that they had changed grad nights to "days." (We haven't been to DLR for a several years-we are closer to WDW.) I was so bummed to find that out, but it's too late to change our plans at this point. When I saw this thread, I was REALLY hoping to read that it wouldn't be too bad!

 

[Nohal]

We arrived on Mon, left yesterday. Tuesday had a lot of groups of grads....more than I expected. Wednesday was worse. Wed night was a grad night, and I made the assumption that CA would be ok as far as crowds went. But, there were a ton of grads in that park all day!!! Thursday was awful! It was so bad I left DL and spent time at the hotel. Went over to CA for a bit, but that was fairly crowded as well. When I went back into DL, to meet up with DD and her boyfriend, it was wall to wall people! Tons of groups of kids!!

I was there same time as you and I agree yesterday was beyond crowded. There were so many grads and school groups there it was hard to get around and if you didn't have fast passes you waited a long time in line. Yesterday was our last night and I wanted to see World of Color but the crowds were unbearable so I'll watch it on youtube. We hadn't been ther in 20 years and I didn't expect it to be this crowded at the time of year. I didn't know about grad nights when I booked the trip.

 

[kkmcan]

I'm now worried about our trip on Monday/Tuesday. Well Monday there is no grad night so that shouldn't be too bad but Tuesday has me worried. That is our DCA day as we didn't get hoppers. We'll manage I suppose but my mom chose this time because she thought it wouldn't be too crazy crowded since a lot of schools aren't out of school yet. We have been going the last 5 years or so the first weekend of Oct which is Gaydays. I wonder if it will be more busy than that weekend? Thanks for the responses everyone.

 

[sherilaine]

We visited during two grad nights back when the off season was an actual thing and that was bad enough - I can't imagine visiting during a grad night with how busier the parks have become. I'd be prepared for crowds if I were you!

 

[SMD]

Ugh, goofy4tink, your experience is exactly what I'm afraid of. We are taking an impromptu trip 6/8-6/14 and 3 of our 4 Disney days are grad nights. I wish they'd reduce the number or spread them out further so as not to alienate their guests who are traveling much further and likely spending more

The grad nite event is clearly something that Disney wants to continue with as they advertise it year round and have been expanding the offering. What people find alienating is being told that someone else's experience matters more because they traveled farther or view their money as more valuable than someone else's. Those grads are paying to be there too, as are locals.

 

[disneychrista]

A lot of schools seem to be either forgoing Grad Night and doing a day at Disneyland or are doing multiple days including Grad Night. I saw a lot of groups with matching "Our School" Disney Trip during my trip this past Monday & Tuesday (non grad days).

 

[goofy4tink]

The grad nite event is clearly something that Disney wants to continue with as they advertise it year round and have been expanding the offering. What people find alienating is being told that someone else's experience matters more because they traveled farther or view their money as more valuable than someone else's. Those grads are paying to be there too, as are locals.

I don't think my experience is more important than anyone else's. My issue? Disney packs their parks with school groups. But...DL isn't equipped to handle those crowds! It's way too compact. When you put the normal crowds in there, then add multiple school groups, as well as kids participating in grad nights? It's a nightmare. On Thursday, I gave up and returned to my room, across the street. That's kind of sad when I think about the money we spent on this special trip. I doubt I'll spend the money to go west again. It's a 6 hr flight, it's not cheap, and once there, resorts are costly. Especially if you want to be close to the parks. I'm not complaining, really I'm not. I just prefer WDW. Even when there are a lot of people, I can find someplace quiet to go. It's my personal preference, and I realize others will disagree. And that's ok.

 

[brianerickson]

I was thinking of switching my June dates to dates in May, until I remembered about Grad Nights, and I tell you what, I'm so glad I stuck to my guns.

To think, my dilemma once was "maybe a few extra people thanks to Vidcon" or Grand Nights...what was I thinking?

 

[SMD]

I don't think my experience is more important than anyone else's. My issue? Disney packs their parks with school groups. But...DL isn't equipped to handle those crowds! It's way too compact. When you put the normal crowds in there, then add multiple school groups, as well as kids participating in grad nights? It's a nightmare. On Thursday, I gave up and returned to my room, across the street. That's kind of sad when I think about the money we spent on this special trip. I doubt I'll spend the money to go west again. It's a 6 hr flight, it's not cheap, and once there, resorts are costly. Especially if you want to be close to the parks. I'm not complaining, really I'm not. I just prefer WDW. Even when there are a lot of people, I can find someplace quiet to go. It's my personal preference, and I realize others will disagree. And that's ok.

Disney obviously think that they can handle the crowds, they keep the gates open. Your trip may be special to you but grad night is also special to the kids who participated and I don't hear them telling you that you should leave because they spent their money on something special. Like you said, it's your preference, but the rest of what you're saying is that you're in a separate category than other guests in the park. They're not school groups, they're park guests, and in the exact same category as you are.

 

[Minniekins]

I was there on the first day/night of grad nights this year, our first visit. It was crowded but not terrible or anything, so I didn't notice it effecting much that day, but I do believe they some days are worse than others. I think what makes the grad nights and the groups of kids a bit different, is that when you have larger groups of kids all touring together without as much supervision and so many kids all moving about the park together, they can often get unruly, very rowdy or obnoxious. And large groups of teens all hyped up and excited don't tend to be on their best behavior as they would probably be more likely to be when traveling in a smaller group with siblings and their parents. And that can impact other guests vacations negatively and give grad nights a bad name.

 

[Skiton]

We were there all last week and I didn't think it was awful at all. Maybe I have different expectations? I mean, yes, it was busy, but we started with the EMH every day and knocked out a ton of rides that way, then hit our other favorites early as we knew the lines would be longer later, and relied on fast pass for the rest. The only day that was truly horrible was Saturday, and it was really bad. All the weekdays? Totally manageable. However, we were never there in the evening if that makes a difference.