How much do grad nights affect park attendance?

[sgrap]

How much do the grad nights affect the parks? Should those days be avoided altogether if we prefer to try to choose days don't tend to be extremely crowded? Also, how busy does the end of May/beginning of June after Memorial Day tend to be? Thanks!

 

[T0rrent]

Grad night is a sore subject among a lot of people. Some here say they will never come during a grad night. I've been to two in the last three years (one at disneyland, the other at DCA) and honestly while they were crowded I never really saw the line cutters, teens running amok and constant swearing that some people have posted.

Honestly the grad nights never really bothered me and while the wife and I usually try to skip the busier days, it's not a break it deal for us if we wind up down there during one.

As for the dates you listed that's right around the end of school season for a lot of students and so hard to predict. I think most high schools are done the first or second week in june but don't quote me on it so it might not be as bad as say the beginning to middle of june. I'm sure some other people may have a bit more insight on that date range then me.

 

[sweethannah]

My vacation dates fall over two grad nights, a Friday and Saturday in mid may. We plan on hitting dca on Friday as I've read the grads tend to stay in the DL side until late. We are also skipping Saturday in the parks altogether by doing Universal instead.
I also figure they won't be arriving to the parks that early so you can plan around that too...I also guess that mid week grad nights would be less busy.

 

[purple figment]

Grad nights are at DCA, but the participants have tickets good for both parks so they tend to be in DL during the day. It wasn't busy in the morning, but as it got later in the afternoon and early evening it became more crowded. Tomorrowland was the busiest, but also the rides throughout the park that are most popular with high school kids (i.e. the mountains and Indy) so I would recommend going on those in the morning or early afternoon. We heard some inappropriate language, but overall it was fine.

 

[HydroGuy]

How bad is it during grad night season?

I just never feel like responding positively to any thread that says about a Disney trip "how bad is it...". One is taking a happy experience and asking how bad it will be.

How about some other questions about otherwise happy events???

How bad is it when you get married?

How bad is it to have a child?

How bad is it when you experience your first kiss?

How bad is it to spend Christmas Day with your family?

How bad is it to visit Hawaii?

How bad is it when you get your first job?


So my answer to all "how bad is it?" questions is...

It is as bad as you make it since you already have in mind that it will somehow be bad.

I know I can and should just ignore such threads. And I do that every week when a thread like that gets posted. Today I decided to respond for whatever reason.

For me personally I am more likely to respond and try to help when the question is posed more like "What can you tell me about XYZ in order to have the happiest experience possible?".

If my post happens to spark a debate on this in this thread, let me say that is not my intent and I do not plan to respond any further in this thread. I may if there is very good reason to. Otherwise I hope the OP figures out whatever they are trying to figure out and has the best trip possible.

 

[sgrap]

I just never feel like responding positively to any thread that says about a Disney trip "how bad is it...". One is taking a happy experience and asking how bad it will be.

How about some other questions about otherwise happy events???

How bad is it when you get married?

How bad is it to have a child?

How bad is it when you experience your first kiss?

How bad is it to spend Christmas Day with your family?

How bad is it to visit Hawaii?

How bad is it when you get your first job?


So my answer to all "how bad is it?" questions is...

It is as bad as you make it since you already have in mind that it will somehow be bad.

I know I can and should just ignore such threads. And I do that every week when a thread like that gets posted. Today I decided to respond for whatever reason.

For me personally I am more likely to respond and try to help when the question is posed more like "What can you tell me about XYZ in order to have the happiest experience possible?".

If my post happens to spark a debate on this in this thread, let me say that is not my intent and I do not plan to respond any further in this thread. I may if there is very good reason to. Otherwise I hope the OP figures out whatever they are trying to figure out and has the best trip possible.

I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way at all. Just trying to think about May and wondering whether to try to avoid grad nights. We homeschool, so we have the luxury of avoiding more crowded times by setting our own 'spring break.' I do remember being tired last night when I asked this question, so I probably should have waited until this morning so I could think through how to ask it. I am normally a very positive person, so I didn't intend my question to be negative. Thank you for the input and I will try to remember to word my titles more positively.

 

[sherilaine]

For us it was bad enough to avoid in future.

And I fully understand why you worded the question as you did - as I have never read anyone say how great grad nights are?

It is January - grad nights are long since forgotten but you go and read this board back towards end of May or early June 2013 and you will see plenty of threads where people complained about their grad night experience.

Asking any such question though, you are going to get opinions only, people's first hand take and that may or may not end up being your experience - but many people, who can only visit DLR once a year or even less, tend to get a little more concerned over issues that can affect crowds and park atmosphere more than those who are able to visit the park frequently.

 

[sgrap]

For us it was bad enough to avoid in future.

And I fully understand why you worded the question as you did - as I have never read anyone say how great grad nights are?

It is January - grad nights are long since forgotten but you go and read this board back towards end of May or early June 2013 and you will see plenty of threads where people complained about their grad night experience.

Asking any such question though, you are going to get opinions only, people's first hand take and that may or may not end up being your experience - but many people, who can only visit DLR once a year or even less, tend to get a little more concerned over issues that can affect crowds and park atmosphere more than those who are able to visit the park frequently.

Thanks . . . I will check those out. I think I had read some little comment about grad night and that was what started me thinking about whether to avoid them. Many years ago, I think we unknowingly overlapped a visit with grad nights or some sort of cheer competition. I don't recall the parks being overly unruly, but the nights at the hotel were extremely noisy. Kids running up and down the halls screaming into the wee hours. We had small kids at the time, so it was very disruptive. We do only visit every year or even every several years. Since we have more flexibility with homeschooling, I'd prefer to avoid times that we already know will have large crowds. Thanks again!

 

[sgrap]

I just never feel like responding positively to any thread that says about a Disney trip "how bad is it...". One is taking a happy experience and asking how bad it will be.

How about some other questions about otherwise happy events???

How bad is it when you get married?

How bad is it to have a child?

How bad is it when you experience your first kiss?

How bad is it to spend Christmas Day with your family?

How bad is it to visit Hawaii?

How bad is it when you get your first job?


So my answer to all "how bad is it?" questions is...

It is as bad as you make it since you already have in mind that it will somehow be bad.

I know I can and should just ignore such threads. And I do that every week when a thread like that gets posted. Today I decided to respond for whatever reason.

For me personally I am more likely to respond and try to help when the question is posed more like "What can you tell me about XYZ in order to have the happiest experience possible?".

If my post happens to spark a debate on this in this thread, let me say that is not my intent and I do not plan to respond any further in this thread. I may if there is very good reason to. Otherwise I hope the OP figures out whatever they are trying to figure out and has the best trip possible.

I figured out how to change the thread title.

 

[CandyMouse]

Hi........First of all I don't know how busy it will be for grad. night, but it looks like we might hit the last day from what I looked up, but I'm not too worried about it. The last two times we went to disneyland was during spring break and people are always saying how busy and crazy it is, we enjoyed it! Of course we only get to disney every 3-5 yrs and we usually do 3-5 day hoppers and we always start early so it's worked out well for us! So I think as long as you plan to go early and take advantage of fast passes you should be ok! Enjoy!!

 

[Cholula]

I was there last June and I didn't even realize I was going during a Grad Night weekend. It was busy, but it didn't feel any busier for them being there (if that made sense).

The only reason I even realized it was Grad Night were the groups of teens wearing matching t-shirts and mortarboard caps. I didn't see any bad behavior from them or witness anything negative. (But again, that's just me, someone else might have had a much more negative experience.)

 

[HydroGuy]

I figured out how to change the thread title.

I do hope you have a great trip.

This may be of some help:

"The Scoop on Grad Nights at DLR in May and June" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2298400

 

[sgrap]

I do hope you have a great trip.

This may be of some help:

"The Scoop on Grad Nights at DLR in May and June" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2298400

Perfect, thanks!

 

[aussie shaz]

We were there for a couple of Grad nights last year. Although I'm not sure how much difference it made to attendance, we did notice them. I think there were also quite a few junior high classes celebrating their end of year as well (we read their matching t shirts!)
Attendance wise, it wasnt really a problem. We had been in August previously, and weren't bothered by the numbers.
Our experience with Grad nights....There were generally large groups of teens walking around (often in matching t shirts). A couple of times my kids (10 and 12) were intimidated by them walking up in quite loud, large groups, and kind of barging through the middle of our family. We also witnessed a bit of yelling and yahooing by groups in line and on rides (particularly Matterhorn). The last thing was we had a couple of teens (I'd guess Grads) in our car on Space, who put up the rude finger, so we were unable to get/see our photo. The CM though, was wonderful and let us go straight back for another ride.
Saying all of this, it would never put me off going to Disneyland during Grad nights if this was when I could go, but I'd likely try for another time if I could.

 

[sgrap]

We were there for a couple of Grad nights last year. Although I'm not sure how much difference it made to attendance, we did notice them. I think there were also quite a few junior high classes celebrating their end of year as well (we read their matching t shirts!)
Attendance wise, it wasnt really a problem. We had been in August previously, and weren't bothered by the numbers.
Our experience with Grad nights....There were generally large groups of teens walking around (often in matching t shirts). A couple of times my kids (10 and 12) were intimidated by them walking up in quite loud, large groups, and kind of barging through the middle of our family. We also witnessed a bit of yelling and yahooing by groups in line and on rides (particularly Matterhorn). The last thing was we had a couple of teens (I'd guess Grads) in our car on Space, who put up the rude finger, so we were unable to get/see our photo. The CM though, was wonderful and let us go straight back for another ride.
Saying all of this, it would never put me off going to Disneyland during Grad nights if this was when I could go, but I'd likely try for another time if I could.

Thanks for the great advice!

 

[pharmama]

Saying all of this, it would never put me off going to Disneyland during Grad nights if this was when I could go, but I'd likely try for another time if I could.

This line perfectly summarizes my feelings about grad nights after my experience last year on my DD's birthday trip.

I was a teen who thought DL was my personal playground at one time in my life so I tend to cut them some slack but as an adult (and a parent) it wasn't my favorite DL crowd....

 

[Priory]

Through unfortunate necessity, I have been present for about 10 grad nights over the last 3 years. Honestly, they have ranged from 'oh, I didn't realize it was grad night' to 'that was the single worst experience I've ever had in a Disney park'.

It's a bit of a crapshoot.

If you must be there, do your big rides early in the day. Avoid tomorrowland altogether.

Save the evenings for a nice sitdown dinner, watch Lincoln, Tiki Room, maybe get a reserved WOC spot.

Just think of all of the things you liked as a teen and go do the opposite.

 

[allsaintsatx]

I just never feel like responding positively to any thread that says about a Disney trip "how bad is it...". One is taking a happy experience and asking how bad it will be.

How about some other questions about otherwise happy events???

How bad is it when you get married?

How bad is it to have a child?

How bad is it when you experience your first kiss?

How bad is it to spend Christmas Day with your family?

How bad is it to visit Hawaii?

How bad is it when you get your first job?


So my answer to all "how bad is it?" questions is...

It is as bad as you make it since you already have in mind that it will somehow be bad.

I know I can and should just ignore such threads. And I do that every week when a thread like that gets posted. Today I decided to respond for whatever reason.

For me personally I am more likely to respond and try to help when the question is posed more like "What can you tell me about XYZ in order to have the happiest experience possible?".

If my post happens to spark a debate on this in this thread, let me say that is not my intent and I do not plan to respond any further in this thread. I may if there is very good reason to. Otherwise I hope the OP figures out whatever they are trying to figure out and has the best trip possible.

Sorry OP, not meaning to hijack just wanted to let HydroGuy know I understood completely!!!

And we went for 2 grad nights 2011 and 2013. It's just crowded in general that time of year, it's the early summer, but we had no issues. Everyone was well behaved and we didn't even hear any cussing from the teenagers! I don't know what high school these kids are coming from but I wish my kid could go there!

 

[Priory]

I wish I could say the same. The vulgarities I've heard on grad nights make a Quentin Tarantino movie look like a Disney movie. Lol.

 

[HydroGuy]

I wish I could say the same. The vulgarities I've heard on grad nights make a Quentin Tarantino movie look like a Disney movie. Lol.

I have not been to DL on a grad night since 1981 - my own LOL. Between DLR and WDW, I think we all know any time you get a group of teens together you will see this kind of thing. Whether it is the Brazilians on school break or cheerleader crowds you tend to see high energy teens not appearing to care about how their behavior and language and noise (screamy teen girls) affects others.

I have seen all of this on normal Disney days that are not grad nights. I also have heard profanity from adults as well. And other types of rude behavior from adults.

If I were going on a grad night I would follow the advice of the PP who mentioned trying to focus on dining or shows in the evening. Maybe that is the day you skip a typical afternoon break and power through and then leave the parks early.

Good luck to the OP!