Lots of questions Grad Night - Trains

[Dionnemay]

I'm going in June - yes probably the worst time to go - but I have already changed my rez dates once (from June 12-16) because we are taking my sons old best friend who moved away last year, and he gets out of school later than they do here. That actually might have worked out well because I've been hearing horror stories about grad nights

So part of me thought about moving it all the way to the end of September but I doubt my son will want to wait that much longer so I changed it to June 19-24.

What can I expect as far as crowds during that time? I know it will be crowded -90% of the time when I go to DL/WDW its during Spring break/Summer so I know what to expect there but I'm talking about crowds of teenagers. I've never been during "Grad days". The difference between a regular crowd and a crowd of teenagers is - well they're teenagers. My son is a teenager (17)and even he and his friend(17) were getting super aggravated last year in WDW by the crowds of screaming teenage girls that seemed to be in every line with us, chattering, laughing screaming in that loud unintelligible way that only a crowd of teenage girls can produce. And I'm bringing my 3 year old for the first time and don't really want to spend the whole trip covering her eyes and ears... The calendar on the website says Grad days end June 17th so I'm hoping my new rez dates avoided it?



Also, how are the crowds at DCA? We're psyched about the Avengers being there - has that made much of an impact on DCA attendance? I saw on GOTG opening day the line was like 3 hours, lol. Is it still like that? How quick do fast passes run out? I have the Disneyland app but I heard that its not very reliable with wait times - like it will say "45 min wait" but you get to the ride and its actually 2 hours... Is there a more reliable app I can download?

Alllllssooooo... I reserved the Blue Bayou DLEP package - mainly for 2 reasons : 1. I've always wanted to eat at BB 2. Its my 3 year old and my sons friend's first time to Disney so I really want them to see the classic Electric Parade before its gone. With Summer crowds I know getting a decent viewing spot is gong to be near impossible without staking out a spot 4 hours prior and its just too hot to do that.
So I saw on the website BB and Aladdin's Oasis has these packages with reserved viewing.
Has anyone used these and are they worth it? Which one has the better viewing spot?
I thought about getting the AO package because I read somewhere it has the better viewing spot, and just making a normal rez at BB. But the BB package gives you more food (Appetizer, entree, dessert and regular dinning there only has entrees) and I'd be spending more $ doing them separately.


Final question.... I heard that the monorails and trains are down. Is this true because that means I'm going to have to bring some serious walking shoes. Also does this mean that its even more difficult getting from one land to the next because now everyone has to walk everywhere which has got to be really hard on small children/older people. I know the train and monorail are life saves when, by late afternoon/early evening your feet are killing you and your child wants to go on soothing all the way at the other end of the park - the train/monorail was a nice way to get there and give your feet a break.
I only got us 3-day tickets but I'm wondering if I should add an extra day because with the crowds, heat, and transportation being down, the days will be long and slow and 3 days might not be enough to get to everything...

 

[VandVsmama]

Grad Nights are not nearly as horrible as people make it out to be. Yes, there will be groups of teenagers walking around. We were at DL all last week for 5 days and there were Grad Nights on 3 out of those 5 days. The grads started to show up around noon. the only time I really noticed it a lot was when we stupidly went on Grizzly River Run 30 min before DCA closed to regular park guests. By that time, it was pretty much all grads in DCA and we were run into a lot by packs of 17-18 yr olds. None of that happened at DL in the evenings for Grad Nights and we never saw any of that at DCA earlier in the day.

We were able to get good MSEP viewing spots near IASW at 7:45-8pm. We did this twice....on Wed and on Fri of last week.

I don't think you should reschedule your trip to September. Just go in June like you'd planned.

Rent a stroller for your 3 yr old.

 

[Dionnemay]

Grad Nights are not nearly as horrible as people make it out to be. Yes, there will be groups of teenagers walking around. We were at DL all last week for 5 days and there were Grad Nights on 3 out of those 5 days. The grads started to show up around noon. the only time I really noticed it a lot was when we stupidly went on Grizzly River Run 30 min before DCA closed to regular park guests. By that time, it was pretty much all grads in DCA and we were run into a lot by packs of 17-18 yr olds. None of that happened at DL in the evenings for Grad Nights and we never saw any of that at DCA earlier in the day.

We were able to get good MSEP viewing spots near IASW at 7:45-8pm. We did this twice....on Wed and on Fri of last week.

I don't think you should reschedule your trip to September. Just go in June like you'd planned.

Rent a stroller for your 3 yr old.

Oh thanks for reminding me about the stroller! Totally didn't think about that! I think I have her old one in the garage still - I'll probably just bring that.

 

[figment_jii]

The train is down as part of the Star Wars Land construction, but it is slated to re-open this summer (no official date has been announced).

The monorail is also currently down. Disneyland.com says "Through mid-June 2017, the Disneyland Monorail will be closed due to Resort refurbishments." There are no times listed for the monorail until Saturday, June 17. So at this point it looks like that is the target re-opening date.

 

[VandVsmama]

Or you could rent a stroller from Anaheim City Strollers. They'll deliver to your hotel and will pick it up from there at the end of your stay. We used them once and were really happy with them.

http://www.citystrollerrentals.com/Disneyland-Stroller-Rentals.html

For us last week, we didn't notice that much of a difference in crowds compared to prior trips in which the train was running.

Definitely bring good walking shoes regardless of whether or not the train and/or monorail are operational!

GOTG FP ran out by ~ 10:30 am every day we were there. Right now (Tues 6/6), it's 11:07 am and GOTG is distributing FP for 9:30-10 pm. The current wait time is 190 minutes, so a bit over 3 hours for the stand by line. I think that the Disneyland app's wait times are pretty accurate in general.

 

[Dionnemay]

Yikes! Soubds like Rope drop @ DCA definitely has to be on the menu in order to get a FP. Where are the FP's for GOTG? Are they right near the ride or on the other end of the park like they are for RSR?

 

[Winnowill]

Yikes! Soubds like Rope drop @ DCA definitely has to be on the menu in order to get a FP. Where are the FP's for GOTG? Are they right near the ride or on the other end of the park like they are for RSR?

They're across the walkway from the ride's entrance. FPs don't run out immediately at rope drop, but they do go pretty quickly. Today, they ran out at 11:12 am.

 

[ADLFAN]

Th

Yikes! Soubds like Rope drop @ DCA definitely has to be on the menu in order to get a FP. Where are the FP's for GOTG? Are they right near the ride or on the other end of the park like they are for RSR?

They are the same as they were for TOT, theming and all... located right across the street from the ride.

That ride looks like it'll be super fun!