VERY Upset!!!!!!!!!

[DebbieB]

Doe Grad night go into May. I am going to WDW on may 14th. Will that be a problem?

Grad Nights are April 22, 23, 29, 30. So it will be long over by time you are there.

They have rock bands and the event is tailored to 18 year olds. I don't think I would want 8th graders in a large crowd of 18 year olds. I'm sure there is some "mature behavior" (or maybe immature).

 

[Talking Hands]

It's done every year. We've had the dates since the beginning of the school year at our high school so we didn't schedule seniors for field trips or tests those 2 weekends. Not sure which day we are assigned to.

 

[MickeyFlirt]

I am from Florida and most schools here graduate the first or second week of May I know my DD gets out of school this year on May 20 due to making up hurricane days and graduation is a week earlier. Grad nite I believe has always been at the end of April or sometime in May. My grad nite was the first weekend in May. I guess if you are not from Florida this can be a shock but as someone said it is always a good idea to look at past schedules. I am sure you will still have fun. To answer someone elses question grad nite is done because it is tradition-my mom and dad had grad nite. It is something that is always looked forward to around here kinda like prom. Also it will not be dark that time of the year until 8:30 or later.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

"I never went to Grad Night even though I lived in St. Petersburg when I graduated from high school. There was no way I wanted to go to Disney in a DRESS. LOL Do they still have that horrid dress code?"


They still have a dress code, but girls don't have to wear dresses. They cannot be showing the middrifts, if the girls are in dresses or skirts they must be of a certain length and they cannot wear shorts. Guys must wear collared shirts, tucked in with a belt and no hats for either. They are inspected at the gate and if they aren't in the proper attire, Disney will let them borrow something for the evening. Also, if they are still not in the proper attire when the try to get on the rides, they are turned away until they are.

Wow, no ties!?! When I graduated in '86, Disney required all seniors to wear dressier attire. As a member of student council, I had such a ball coordinating our school's trip to Grad Nite. It was such an incredible feeling being in the Magic Kingdom with nothing but 16-17 year olds running rampant. So much fun! The parks entertainment was decent, but not great. I think it was Animotion, Nu Shooz, Expose, among others (yikes!!). Anyone know who's playing this years Grad Night?

 

[eeyore0062]

Why is Grad Nites only for 12th graders?

When I found the nights were during our Spring Break, I thought this would be the perfect class trip for my son's school. After doing research I found out they would not permit them to attend because they are graduating from the 8th grade, which is big deal here in NYC. Heck, graduating from kindergarten and 5th grade is a big deal here. We have a graduation ceremony, prom, class trip, yearbooks, the whole thing.

Since chaperones have to attend, there's a dress code, of course no alcohol in the MK, why isn't this event open to graduating 8th graders?

Grad night is a very special time for seniors.... something they look forward to their entire school career and has been a tradition since WDW opened its gates in 1971. Most of the schools that participate are from Florida, as the entire school must be in on it, not just a group. For most it is too far to travel for one night. You will find very few non Florida schools participating. Prior to that, it has been a time honored tradition at DL, also. It is always the last 2 weekends in April at the MK. I think it is wonderful that Disney honors seniors, especially Florida's seniors, who have worked so hard in school with an opportunity such as this! Go to different parks those evenings. MGM is usually open later to accomodate those who may have otherwise gone to MK those nights. The MK will be open to the public the Thursday and Sunday evenings surrounding both weekend events.

 

[TDC Nala]

Bet the high schoolers would love sharing the night with the 8th graders and vice versa.

And if they added more weekends for 8th graders, there'd be another uproar on these boards.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I called CRO and asked about Grad Nites. The CM I spoke to read the information to me and never mentioned that it's only opened to Florida
residents. If an out of state school group(of 12th graders) are willing to pay the price to atttend, why not let them?

The CM did say it isn't open to the public. You have to call Disney Youth Group Programs to get ticketing information.

 

[DebbieB]

Here's a website where schools can signup, it looks like a travel agent:

http://www.grad-nights.com/

Here's the official Disney site:

http://disneyyouthprograms.disney.g...gramsLandingPage?id=ProgramsGradNiteIndexPage

I didn't see anywhere where it said Florida Residents only. Looks like they have loosened up the dress requirements. I thought shorts were not allowed before.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I called CRO and asked about Grad Nites. The CM I spoke to read the information to me and never mentioned that it's only opened to Florida
residents. If an out of state school group(of 12th graders) are willing to pay the price to atttend, why not let them?

The CM did say it isn't open to the public. You have to call Disney Youth Group Programs to get ticketing information.

It is open to any HS that wants to go, however, the school must partcipate, not just a "group" of seniors from that school. The tickets are sold to the HS & then the HS sell them to the students. You cannot just purchase these tickets. They also have some strict guidlines for behavior that need to be followed as well as a dress code (no jeans, no shorts, no flip flops etc....) Universal hold them as well, they are called Grad Bash there. Universal isn't as strict as Disney with the dress code.

 

[MickeyFlirt]

unless the rules have changed and they could have it was for Florida only maybe WDW figured the more states the more school the more money but I guess I figured everyone that were avid Disney goers would know about this guess I was wrong

 

[2princessintraining]

I think some people are insulted by my original post. I was upset, being from long island, I didn't know about these weekends, which put a wrench in my plans....if you notice I said I thought it was great for schools to have this. It is just a shock to me, and it is something that should be told to people when they are booking a reservation..."to be prepared that the mk will be closed 3 nights during your stay with us". To me, that is a lot of NIGHTS for it to be off limits. As we all know, it isn't cheap to go to disney, and you want to make every minute magical, especially with young princesses like mine.

Anyway, I will live and get over this...my parents on the other hand...probably won't be to happy. On our first trip w/their grandkids and the MK being shut down early for the first night of our vacation...PS already booked, and days already planned out w/family that lives in Florida it is hard to change our itinerary, others who now know this, will be able to.

Don't mean to start an uproar

 

[DebbieB]

I understand your disappointment but it happens. I was there last year the first week of Grad Nights and in addition to Friday & Saturday nights closing at 7:00, they closed at 6:30 on Thursday night for the McDonald's convention party night. I don't think they consider 7:00 closing early. Many nights during the year they close at 7:00, including tonight.

 

[TDC Nala]

Many nights during the year they close at 7:00, including tonight.

Generally they don't close that early on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

[kilee]

I can see where this will throw a wrench into planning for many guests who don't know about these events or these boards. There are so many other things that you will now have an opportunity to do. I know around here the local Six Flags holds these types of events as well.

 

[Hippychickali]

I think some people are insulted by my original post. I was upset, being from long island, I didn't know about these weekends, which put a wrench in my plans....if you notice I said I thought it was great for schools to have this. It is just a shock to me, and it is something that should be told to people when they are booking a reservation..."to be prepared that the mk will be closed 3 nights during your stay with us". To me, that is a lot of NIGHTS for it to be off limits. As we all know, it isn't cheap to go to disney, and you want to make every minute magical, especially with young princesses like mine.

Anyway, I will live and get over this...my parents on the other hand...probably won't be to happy. On our first trip w/their grandkids and the MK being shut down early for the first night of our vacation...PS already booked, and days already planned out w/family that lives in Florida it is hard to change our itinerary, others who now know this, will be able to.

Don't mean to start an uproar

And I don't mean to continue an uproar but . . .

I really don't think that's Disney's responsibility. I mean, they give out this information in reasonable time. You may have to look for it but it's not like they hide it. Would it be more helpful if they said, "Your trip might be inconvenienced because . . ." Sure. Are they obligated to? No.

Ali

 

[Talking Hands]

Fl graduations are in June as well, this is a thing for the seniors as part of activities. And yes this is something that all the seniors look forward to. They bring in big groups and everything. This is still to this day one of my favorite times at the MK.

Actually most will be out by June 1 or 2 this year. And next year in May. No more going to school into June unless it is the shortened summer school

 

[amshowers]

We were there for fri. grad night 2003 and we went over to epcot and it was very crowded. We will be spending our last park day at MK April 29 so I made PS to Chef Mickey's after MK closes to get a last little disney fix rather than fight the crowds again in another park.

 

[WDSearcher]

I called CRO and asked about Grad Nites. The CM I spoke to read the information to me and never mentioned that it's only opened to Florida residents.

It's not ONLY open to Florida residents, but it's mostly Florida residents who attend, simply because of proximity. If there's a classfull of seniors from Wisconsin or Hawaii or Holland or Japan, they're just as welcome as the kids from Orlando and Miami.

 

[palmetto]

Schools here are getting out the third week in May. I know that when I was a senior, graduation was on May 21st. Personally, I didn't go to Grad Nite because it was the same weekend as the Commissioner's Academic Challenge and I decided that I'd rather stay at the CR with my nerdy friends than in the Best Western Maingate with people I never really cared for . I do know that it's one of those things that Florida teenagers look forward to from 9th grade on. My school made an entire 4 day blitz of it and had kids going to Universal, Busch Gardens, Medieval Times, and some other stuff. I think they ended up being able to sleep twice in the entire time.

 

[2princessintraining]

I am shocked this post is still going. I got so ripped apart for it originally that I found out I will never post "bad/judgemental" things about Disney again.

AND I LOVE DISNEY!!!! I was just expressing an opinion, that apparently a lot of others never shared.

Thank you Jovidan for your support, and the very few others who could feel my frustration. Every once and a while it still gets to me, but what can you do. I have my PS for the MK at 5:30 on both our first/last nights until we get kicked out....

I just cannot wait to go, about 4 weeks now.