The Scoop on Grad Nights at DLR in May and June

[disneymom0104]

We were there for the 2nd and 3rd grad nights this year and they were both bad, but especially the 3rd grad night (the 2nd night, which was a Friday- we just called it an early night and didn't attempt the crowds very late). We will never do grad night season again. Might have been a fluke thing for us, but it was beyond packed, to the point it wasn't fun. When the park is open until midnight and FP's for the big rides are gone by 6:30-ish (space, star tours, indy and splash) and those lines are 100+ minutes- it is nuts. The kids don't care about standing in line or waiting a long time to ride. I didn't have any problem with their behavior, other than them being loud on some of the rides- but the lines-omg- we were able to pull a Big Thunder FP at around 7pm- our return was 11:20-midnight, and that was one of only a handful of things we were able to ride that night (even Winnie the Pooh was a 25 minute wait). They did clear out some at 10pm, but so many of them were still in lines at that time. The other noticeable difference is you think- no more FP- don't want to stand in line for 2 hours- we'll use single rider. Well, either because the groups they were in filled all the cars OR they were also using the single rider- those were crazy long, too. My daughters waited 30+ minutes in the single rider for Splash- and ended up leaving. They said the line barely moved and since my daughters phone had died she was worried about us waiting (or worried that we were going to worry) with them being in that single rider line so long. Maybe they get better as the season goes on- but our experience was crowds and lines like we had never seen before in over 45 days spent in the Disney Parks over the past few years.

 

[Marssiful]

I was there on a Friday grad night 2 weeks ago... And the crowds were crazy! It wasn't too bad in the morning but by the afternoon the lines were long. We didn't have problems with any of the grads, and in fact found them to be fairly entertaining. They were all so happy and excited... It was kind of contagious. But whew... The lines for the thrill rides were nuts!

 

[2boysmom1998]

We were there for the 2nd and 3rd grad nights this year and they were both bad, but especially the 3rd grad night (the 2nd night, which was a Friday- we just called it an early night and didn't attempt the crowds very late). We will never do grad night season again. Might have been a fluke thing for us, but it was beyond packed, to the point it wasn't fun. When the park is open until midnight and FP's for the big rides are gone by 6:30-ish (space, star tours, indy and splash) and those lines are 100+ minutes- it is nuts. The kids don't care about standing in line or waiting a long time to ride. I didn't have any problem with their behavior, other than them being loud on some of the rides- but the lines-omg- we were able to pull a Big Thunder FP at around 7pm- our return was 11:20-midnight, and that was one of only a handful of things we were able to ride that night (even Winnie the Pooh was a 25 minute wait). They did clear out some at 10pm, but so many of them were still in lines at that time. The other noticeable difference is you think- no more FP- don't want to stand in line for 2 hours- we'll use single rider. Well, either because the groups they were in filled all the cars OR they were also using the single rider- those were crazy long, too. My daughters waited 30+ minutes in the single rider for Splash- and ended up leaving. They said the line barely moved and since my daughters phone had died she was worried about us waiting (or worried that we were going to worry) with them being in that single rider line so long. Maybe they get better as the season goes on- but our experience was crowds and lines like we had never seen before in over 45 days spent in the Disney Parks over the past few years.

I was there on a Friday grad night 2 weeks ago... And the crowds were crazy! It wasn't too bad in the morning but by the afternoon the lines were long. We didn't have problems with any of the grads, and in fact found them to be fairly entertaining. They were all so happy and excited... It was kind of contagious. But whew... The lines for the thrill rides were nuts!

Every comment I read makes Grad Nights sound worse and worse. I wish I could have planned my vacation another time but I could not. I will be there next week with 3 Grad Nights. I.m not even looking forward to going anymore. I am actually starting to dread it. I shouldn't even read this stuff. It's ruining everything. Thank you.

 

[molitva]

I'm sorry you're feeling overwhelmed, 2boysmom1998! I know it's easy to feel that way when reading so many reports of crowds and lines. But just go in with a plan and have a list of must do's. Knock those out early in the day and anything else will just be icing on the Disney cake. You're still going to have a wonderful time and your family will have a blast! I feel like with the 60th celebration, crowds will remain above average the rest of the year. I think summer crowds + 60th + grad nights = doing your best to manage expectations.

 

[calilou]

Just stay positive! It's Disneyland! You're going to have MAGIC no matter what - like someone's signature says, "A bad day at Disneyland is better than a good day at work." Do the thrill attractions in the morning and save the parades, shows, shopping and dining for the evening. If you can reserve the dining packages for WOC and Fantasmic! - those make a world of difference in watching those shows from a good spot and you get to enjoy a nice meal too.

 

[sgrap]

Is there a pattern to when grad nights run and what days? I wanted to do a milestone birthday trip in early June 2016, but I am rethinking it not only due to grad nights, but also general crowds and heat (I'm not a heat or crowd person. ). I'm thinking of early May instead, but I know we have the marathon weekend to work around. When do grad nights generally start? Thanks!

 

[HydroGuy]

It is always hard to know how to compare different reports of crowds. Because it tends to be relative. Regardless, I think my advice in the OP still is good advice.

o Since crowds will increase a bit later in the day as grads arrive, if you want to stay in the parks that is a good time to arrange for a longer table service dinner and to see shows. So plan for Fantasmic or World of Color on grad nights. This will keep you out of some of the lines that may get longer than normal because of the grads coming in. If you are on a multi-day trip then use your evenings that are not grad nights to go on more rides.

In summary, on days with grad nights...

1. If you do not already have enough reasons to arrive at the gates early, this is one more reason. Arrive early. Since crowds will increase as the day goes on then mornings are better than evenings. A grad night on a Friday night is a double whammy for evening crowds.

2. If you are an afternoon break kind of person, this day may be a better day to not take a break and just plan to stay all day and leave the parks early.

3. If you want to see evening shows (and now with four major evening shows going between DL and DCA the choices are many) see those on grad nights. Nights without grad nights are better to do rides in the evenings.

4. If you have evening FPs then those are of course fine to do on grad nights. Otherwise save night time rides for non-grad nights.

 

[2boysmom1998]

The only night I have that isn't a Grad Night is the last day for the SL pass holders before they are blocked. So there goes the only evening I had to ride the rides and have a decent time. I'm sure it's going to be super busy with the SL pass holders getting their last day of fun in before they are blocked. I have a 4 day park hopper pass and each one of my evenings are a mess! I won't be able to enjoy my evenings at all while I am there at all.

 

[disneymom0104]

It is always hard to know how to compare different reports of crowds. Because it tends to be relative. Regardless, I think my advice in the OP still is good advice.



In summary, on days with grad nights...

1. If you do not already have enough reasons to arrive at the gates early, this is one more reason. Arrive early. Since crowds will increase as the day goes on then mornings are better than evenings. A grad night on a Friday night is a double whammy for evening crowds.

2. If you are an afternoon break kind of person, this day may be a better day to not take a break and just plan to stay all day and leave the parks early.

3. If you want to see evening shows (and now with four major evening shows going between DL and DCA the choices are many) see those on grad nights. Nights without grad nights are better to do rides in the evenings.

4. If you have evening FPs then those are of course fine to do on grad nights. Otherwise save night time rides for non-grad nights.

Great advice, as always. Had it not been our last night, my kids would have been content to just try to see shows. They were hoping to ride more rides, but obviously that was against the good advice- especially when there no FP even available to get for the most part. And we are a rope drop family- wouldn't do it any other way- but juggling the grad nights with trying to avoid the MM/EMH mornings- well, it can get a bit crazy (and yes, we park hop- but our morning at CA likely had an effect on us not being able to get any evening FP at DL- we arrived there between 6-6:30 and the FP were gone- could have very well been our mistake- but we did have a fantastic morning at CA!)

I know Touring Plans the next day said that they predicted the day to be an 8 but it was actually a 9. If they are only taking their data from 10am-5pm and that was a 9- I really cannot put into words how crazy crowded that night was and I can't imagine anyone would think otherwise- for that night specifically. It is also hard when 3-4 of your 4-5 nights are grad nights. It is easy to make the exception to see the shows on one of those, and we did take an early night for the Friday grad night, and chose to take our mid week break on the Wednesday grad night. I realize it is what it is and you have go with it, and yes you are at Disneyland so it is great no matter what- but having to adjust our vacation 3 of our 5 nights to accommodate- we realized, for us, isn't how we like to experience the parks so we won't be back for grad nights. My brother has been twice during grad nights the last 2 years (in June) and said it was no problem. Our night might have just been exceptionally bad. Since crowd reports tend to be relative- I would love to hear from someone that thought the night of May 16 was manageable, or not too bad

 

[disneymom0104]

oops- double post

 

[2boysmom1998]

Great advice, as always. Had it not been our last night, my kids would have been content to just try to see shows. They were hoping to ride more rides, but obviously that was against the good advice- especially when there no FP even available to get for the most part. And we are a rope drop family- wouldn't do it any other way- but juggling the grad nights with trying to avoid the MM/EMH mornings- well, it can get a bit crazy (and yes, we park hop- but our morning at CA likely had an effect on us not being able to get any evening FP at DL- we arrived there between 6-6:30 and the FP were gone- could have very well been our mistake- but we did have a fantastic morning at CA!)

I know Touring Plans the next day said that they predicted the day to be an 8 but it was actually a 9. If they are only taking their data from 10am-5pm and that was a 9- I really cannot put into words how crazy crowded that night was and I can't imagine anyone would think otherwise- for that night specifically. It is also hard when 3-4 of your 4-5 nights are grad nights. It is easy to make the exception to see the shows on one of those, and we did take an early night for the Friday grad night, and chose to take our mid week break on the Wednesday grad night. I realize it is what it is and you have go with it, and yes you are at Disneyland so it is great no matter what- but having to adjust our vacation 3 of our 5 nights to accommodate- we realized, for us, isn't how we like to experience the parks so we won't be back for grad nights. My brother has been twice during grad nights the last 2 years (in June) and said it was no problem. Our night might have just been exceptionally bad. Since crowd reports tend to be relative- I would love to hear from someone that thought the night of May 16 was manageable, or not too bad

Yes it is very difficult when 3 of the 4 nights I'm there are Grad Nights. It sounds like the time from 3:00pm to 12:00am I'm going to have to find something else to do other than ride rides. That is a huge chunk of my Disney day and I hate it! I don't have little ones, my kids are older and want to be out at night enjoying Disneyland.

I think May was a Saturday, I guess Friday and Saturday Grad Nights are a lot worse than Grad Nights in the middle of the week. Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience.

I've been there on Grad Nights but it was before they received the Park Hopper tickets and were there during the day. That was fine, didn't notice a thing.

I don't have very good luck with my Disney trips. Before I knew when Cars Land opened I had scheduled my trip the week they opened. I can't even tell you what a mess that was! When I went to WDW a few years ago a tropical storm went through there and it down poured for days! The tornado sirens went off at Epcot when we were there and it was a miserable week! I can't go during the off season because my kids are in school. I give up. I love Disney but this will be the last trip I take. I have heard so many horror stories the last couple weeks about Grad Nights on this forum and others. I'm spend all this money trying to get a break and find some enjoyment and I just can't. I'm done!

 

[disneymom0104]

Yes it is very difficult when 3 of the 4 nights I'm there are Grad Nights. It sounds like the time from 3:00pm to 12:00am I'm going to have to find something else to do other than ride rides. That is a huge chunk of my Disney day and I hate it! I don't have little ones, my kids are older and want to be out at night enjoying Disneyland.

I think May was a Saturday, I guess Friday and Saturday Grad Nights are a lot worse than Grad Nights in the middle of the week. Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience.

I've been there on Grad Nights but it was before they received the Park Hopper tickets and were there during the day. That was fine, didn't notice a thing.

I don't have very good luck with my Disney trips. Before I knew when Cars Land opened I had scheduled my trip the week they opened. I can't even tell you what a mess that was! When I went to WDW a few years ago a tropical storm went through there and it down poured for days! The tornado sirens went off at Epcot when we were there and it was a miserable week! I can't go during the off season because my kids are in school. I give up. I love Disney but this will be the last trip I take. I have heard so many horror stories the last couple weeks about Grad Nights on this forum and others. I'm spend all this money trying to get a break and find some enjoyment and I just can't. I'm done!

I know where you are coming from. We take 2 days driving there and back- it is a big thing for us to get to DL and it sucks when things don't go like we are hoping, or don't go like they have in the past. I would just suggest trying to make the most of the FP situation and get to the park in enough time to get them. I really think if we were able to have 3 or 4 FP throughout the evening the crowds wouldn't have bothered me as much. I went in knowing it would be crowded and crazy- I just wasn't expecting no FP availability for our last night- that was a surprise. I realized then that THAT was my threshold in crowds. I get it, though. I hope it turns out better than you are expecting. For the 5 days we were there, more was good than bad.

 

[brandoncozart]

we just got back from our first trip to Disneyland, and unfortunately two of the days we were there (our only two full days) were grad nights. we had been warned about grad nights, and let's just say it was worse than we had been prepared for.

BUT, there are ways to make things a little better. getting to the park as soon as it opens made the second grad day a lot easier to handle and we did the big e-ticket rides in those early hours, and focused on the less popular dark rides and shows in the afternoon/evening. you could also use the peak time, early to late afternoon, to go back to the hotel/resort for some rest or pool time.

we had a great time despite the sometimes unruly teen hordes, but it's key to have a good game plan.

 

[scorpio69]

Need advice here, we might go on the 13 th of June, it is a grad nite but it is a blockout for the two tiers of annual pass holders. I went a couple days ago when it was open for both and it was not fun. So, do you guys think it will be better. ?

 

[TechGuy]

I have been there on Grad Nights. I have been there on non-GN. It has been empty and it has been crushed. It's not a given a Grad Night will be a crushing day. It's not a given than a non-GN will be lighter crowds.

We need to remember, this is the first month of the 60th celebration. Middle Schools and High Schools are taking day trips, Seniors are going to grad night, DISers are going on vacations, I am going on an anniversary trip, you are taking a trip. Everyone wants to go to the same place, often on the same day as me.

All of these groups are gong to the Happiest Place on Earth. There is nothing I can do to prevent it. My vacation days are defined by my kid's vacation and my work schedule. I can only control how I choose to react to it.

I plan on having a great day and avoiding the crowds as best I can... but I WILL have a good time, and a cold beverage at the end of the day.

 

[aaturner]

When the grad night party starts at 10 in DCA, do the crowds get a little better in DL? We will be there on Wed June 10th which is a grade night.

 

[mgd]

Yes it is very difficult when 3 of the 4 nights I'm there are Grad Nights. It sounds like the time from 3:00pm to 12:00am I'm going to have to find something else to do other than ride rides. That is a huge chunk of my Disney day and I hate it! I don't have little ones, my kids are older and want to be out at night enjoying Disneyland.

I don't have very good luck with my Disney trips. Before I knew when Cars Land opened I had scheduled my trip the week they opened. I can't even tell you what a mess that was! When I went to WDW a few years ago a tropical storm went through there and it down poured for days! The tornado sirens went off at Epcot when we were there and it was a miserable week! I can't go during the off season because my kids are in school. I give up. I love Disney but this will be the last trip I take. I have heard so many horror stories the last couple weeks about Grad Nights on this forum and others. I'm spend all this money trying to get a break and find some enjoyment and I just can't. I'm done!

I understand your concern, and usually worry the same when I plan, but I think you'll still have a great time with 4 day park hoppers. Plenty of time to do plenty, even with big lines. But if you look at the crowd trackers on grad nights like tonight, you will mainly see the only huge lines you need to get done early are space mountain and matterhorn. Get a FP for space mountain earlier in the day since they usually last a good while, and the rest of the rides shouldn't be more than 20-30 min waits, many even lower. For example tonight right now, I see

space mtn : 110 min
matterhorn: 60 min
splash mtn: 15 min
pirates: 15
haunted mansion: 25
indiana: 30
big thunder: 35

everything else about typical, so not bad especially for a friday night. You'll still have a great time over 4 days, and just avoid the crowded walkways like in adventureland/rivers of america or parade routes at peak times if you hate crowds.

 

[Nicolette11785]

Tonight was my 3rd grad nite for this trip. I had 3 of them last year too. I feel like it is worse this year. I never used to think to plan my trips around them. I am never going to plan my trips on grad notes again. It has been crazy with crowds and the teens behavior just gets worse and worse. Yesterday when there was no grad nite the park was so much better. Never again for grad nite for me.

 

[ButterflyKisses77]

Tonight was my 3rd grad nite for this trip. I had 3 of them last year too. I feel like it is worse this year. I never used to think to plan my trips around them. I am never going to plan my trips on grad notes again. It has been crazy with crowds and the teens behavior just gets worse and worse. Yesterday when there was no grad nite the park was so much better. Never again for grad nite for me.

Oh man, thats so upsetting. My friends are going next week for their first trip ever and its going to be during grad nights. I really, really wanted them to have a good time and get a good impression of the parks, and it sounds like it's going to be a nightmare......

 

[2boysmom1998]

Someone just posted this. I am dreading going more and more next week.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/grad-nightmare-2015.3414825/