Oh NO! Grad Nights?

[mdrankos]

I'm headed to Florida at the end of April for a non-Dis. cruise. My other have and I thought we'd hit Orlando for a couple days and do the Disney World gig. I've been many times, he has never experienced it.

I just found out that the parks will have shortened hours and restrictions for grad nights! Given that we only have 2 days we were hoping to be able to cover a decent amount of ground in the parks given schools were still in session, but I'm very concerned now that the parks are going to be over run by teens and that the lines will be long and our experience will be very limited.

Has anyone experienced these "Grad Night's" before and what are the parks like during the days? It seems a shame that we will have to pay full price for the tickets to be ushered out of the parks early before it even gets dark. They take on a whole new personality at night.

Any information is appreciated.

 

[mlittig]

Not only will you have to leave early but there will be no Wishes or SpectroMagic for all four grad nights which are the two weekends we will be there

 

[mlittig]

mdrankos, I forgot to say to the DIS boards

 

[kaytieeldr]

ONLY Magic Kingdom will be affected. Either skip it completely, or add the Park Hopper option to your tickets and visit two (or more) parks each day.

 

[weswife]

When is it?

 

[Pakey]

When is it?

Apr 23 and 24
Apr 30 and May 1

 

[kaytieeldr]

Magic Kingdom will close at 6 those nights. REALLY close. Everybody will be out of the park before 7. Grad nights will start at 7.

 

[bitohoney]

Don't worry about grad nights unless you really wanted to stay late at MK on those Friday or Saturday nights. We are going to other parks those days. Last year we went during grad nights and it was also the cheerleading competition weekend. I didn't notice it at all. Teens were not bombarding the parks. It was a pleasant stay and such beautiful weather! Hope for the same this trip!

 

[mdrankos]

Appreciate the great responses and thanks for the welcome, although I've been a member for years, I don't think I've had the need to post in recent times. Sadly I haven't been able to make it back to DW in 4 or 5 years thanks to economic pressures.

We're actually flying in on the Thursday before early in the morning so Thursday and Thursday night should be, according to the posts and the CS Rep at DW, business at usual. I'm really hoping to share the fireworks at MK with the better half. Friday we have a lot of flexibility and will probably just hit the highlights of several of the other parks. Saturday will be Universal (and hopefully a soft opening experience at Potter World!).

I guess no matter what, it will be a fun few days before boarding the ship.

Thanks again for the info!

 

[wdw71]

Don't worry about grad nights unless you really wanted to stay late at MK on those Friday or Saturday nights. We are going to other parks those days. Last year we went during grad nights and it was also the cheerleading competition weekend. I didn't notice it at all. Teens were not bombarding the parks. It was a pleasant stay and such beautiful weather! Hope for the same this trip!

I agree- we were there during grad nights last year and just went to another park that evening. I didn't even notice a huge number of teens.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I've only been on the teen side of grad night. WHAT A NIGHT!! That was my first Disney trip - it's what hooked me!

As for other parks during the day, we didn't feel like there were a lot more people our age around.

 

[Mamalisa58]

What are "grad nights"?

 

[MareSINY]

I had been thinking about going that first weekend of May, but once I saw it was Grad Night weekend I said no way and switched to the middle of April. I'm just going for a short weekend trip with my niece and didn't want to get kicked out of her favorite park because the high schoolers were coming in.

 

[jngwright]

Don't worry about grad nights unless you really wanted to stay late at MK on those Friday or Saturday nights. We are going to other parks those days. Last year we went during grad nights and it was also the cheerleading competition weekend. I didn't notice it at all. Teens were not bombarding the parks. It was a pleasant stay and such beautiful weather! Hope for the same this trip!

We were there at the same time and Grad Nights don't seem to affect the park duing the day. It is something that the students come in for in the evening...

 

[CanadianGuy]

1. Grad nights are NOT open to the public. The park is closed and cleared.
2. Grads are bussed in for the event. They cannot drive themselves.
3. As a result of 1 and 2 .. you won't find them everywhere in the parks.. because they can't be in the parks with you and you can't be in the parks with them. Logistically impossible.

With many gracious tips of the hat to theRustyScupper for the posting format.

 

[OtherFigment]

The Disney website is showing regular hours for April 24th and 25th. In fact, they show that the MK has evening EMH hours on the 25th. Is that wrong? We're going to be there for our first anniversary and had planned dinner at Narcoossee's and Wishes on 4/25! Can someone confirm those dates for me before I have a minor panic attack?????

 

[jeepgirl30]

The Disney website is showing regular hours for April 24th and 25th. In fact, they show that the MK has evening EMH hours on the 25th. Is that wrong? We're going to be there for our first anniversary and had planned dinner at Narcoossee's and Wishes on 4/25! Can someone confirm those dates for me before I have a minor panic attack?????

I'm seeing April 30 and May 1 as 9am - 7pm, someone mentioned the park would close at 6pm for grad night but the site does not reflect that.

 

[ToriPeanut]

Not only will you have to leave early but there will be no Wishes or SpectroMagic for all four grad nights which are the two weekends we will be there

WAIT...There are NO FIREWORKS?! WHY NOT? we are staying at the comtemp on april 25th and wanted to watch them from our room!!!!

no!!!!

 

[gilsan]

The Disney website is showing regular hours for April 24th and 25th. In fact, they show that the MK has evening EMH hours on the 25th. Is that wrong? We're going to be there for our first anniversary and had planned dinner at Narcoossee's and Wishes on 4/25! Can someone confirm those dates for me before I have a minor panic attack?????

April 24 is a Saturday and a grad night, but April 25 is Sunday, not a grad night and MK does have EMH. Wishes are at 10pm!

 

[OtherFigment]

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Gilsan! You just saved my husband from dealing with a minor meltdown and I'm sure he is very grateful.