We got a Free Disney day for our bad experience

[dtnrhi]

I got my family into the Magical Meet-up for Mickey and the Magical Map! It coincided with our dates for a Knott's VIP prize I won so we extended the hotels one night and went with it!

We got in around 4:50 and were walked back to the Fantasyland Theatre. The show started at 5:40 and we were given a kettle corn bucket, a bottle of coke, and a mickey rice crispy treat and luggage tag when exiting the event.

The show was fantastic, and the accommodations were unexpected and fantastic!

However, that's where the greatness ended.

When we got into the park, it was already extremely crowded. We were at M&F and were waiting for the handicap shuttle to come get us when we saw literally 1,500+ seniors arrive on multiple buses around 3:30pm for grad night. I had been in the park earlier in the day with my AP and it was already plenty crowded.

The grad night was sold out, and it was apparent. Disneyland was full of seniors in addition to what I thought was above-average local AP attendance. (The wait for Matterhorn was over two hours.) The crowds were everywhere, and for the first time since I've been to Disney, they did not appear to have called in enough CM's to handle the crowds. It was chaos.

We ended up walking back into Disneyland and straight to City Hall, complaining of the issue. They weren't going to do anything (and I personally did not expect them to- we got in with complimentary tickets, except for my sister, who I purchased a one-day ticket for). After explaining that we came in from Phoenix, extended our hotels just for this event, the guy told us to hold on. He came back out, and told us to get the rest of our party up to City Hall within 20 minutes, and he could give us another day. We called our family and they came to us from their spot in the Matterhorn line, and met up with us. We were given one day comp tickets to use the next day (Sat, June 1) and were going to extend the hotels to come back, when I looked on the tickets and saw they were good until MAY 31, 2015. We got nine of these tickets. (my family, plus aunt and two cousins that were with us)

We were extremely surprised to see that, and nobody understood why I was overly excited. (TWO YEARS?!) We went to use my mom's Patina voucher at Naples, and talked it over at dinner that we would come back around CHRISTMAS! (Always been a dream, and nothing more.) We went to bed, ended up extending our hotel anyway due to more free Knott's tickets that had to be used by the end of June (entirely unexpected email!). After Knott's we went to Target, got Disney Gift Cards with our Redcard and Pharmacy rewards discount, and used the giftcards to buy one-day DCA tickets minutes before the price increase.

The point of this was that Disney was not obligated to do anything, and they went ahead and gave us a free day to experience their parks, anyways. Now, we all get to experience something we have always wanted, and it goes to show, there is always a little pixie dust somewhere in the worst of it all.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I got my family into the Magical Meet-up for Mickey and the Magical Map! It coincided with our dates for a Knott's VIP prize I won so we extended the hotels one night and went with it!

We got in around 4:50 and were walked back to the Fantasyland Theatre. The show started at 5:40 and we were given a kettle corn bucket, a bottle of coke, and a mickey rice crispy treat and luggage tag when exiting the event.

The show was fantastic, and the accommodations were unexpected and fantastic!

However, that's where the greatness ended.

When we got into the park, it was already extremely crowded. We were at M&F and were waiting for the handicap shuttle to come get us when we saw literally 1,500+ seniors arrive on multiple buses around 3:30pm for grad night. I had been in the park earlier in the day with my AP and it was already plenty crowded.

The grad night was sold out, and it was apparent. Disneyland was full of seniors in addition to what I thought was above-average local AP attendance. (The wait for Matterhorn was over two hours.) The crowds were everywhere, and for the first time since I've been to Disney, they did not appear to have called in enough CM's to handle the crowds. It was chaos.

We had people (grads, mainly. could tell by their wrist bands) running in front of us and into my brother's wheelchair and cursing at us as if we cut them off (when they did it to us). We got fastpasses when we arrived for Space Mountain (time 10:20-11:00) for star tours (7:25-8:25) after the show. Then, we walked across the park and rode splash mountain and some of us went on Jungle Cruise.

My mom waited with my handicapped brother in Tomorrowland by Redd Rocket's while the rest of us rode Star Tours (too much for their backs). We got off to her asking us to leave, as there had been seniors all around shouting to the point she was afraid they were going to get into a brawl. She said she felt unsafe.

I had to take time to get her and my brother out of the park. We sat down, and I convinced her to walk back in as the grads were making an exodus from DL to DCA. However, before we could got back in, she said my brother needed a diaper change, and took him to the restroom by guest services and there was a line to get in. After a few minutes of waiting, she realized there actually was no line, and that it was just a bunch of teenagers charging their phones at every available outlet. She finally got into the bathroom with his wheelchair, and there was a girl washing her feet in the sink. In addition, there were girls sitting on the changing tables that refused to move because they were charging their phones by a socket beneath them. My mom walked back out of the restroom, PO'ed more than before, and discovered that because the girls would not move (it had been 15 minutes since she had gotten in "line"), my brother had wet through his diaper and onto his clothes.

Before this had happened, it was so bad it made me wish I had never purchased my AP this February.

We ended up walking back into Disneyland and straight to City Hall, complaining of the issue. They weren't going to do anything (and I personally did not expect them to- we got in with complimentary tickets, except for my sister, who I purchased a one-day ticket for). After explaining that we came in from Phoenix, extended our hotels just for this event, and that my brother had peed himself due to the bathroom issues, the guy told us to hold on. He came back out, and told us to get the rest of our party up to City Hall within 20 minutes, and he could give us another day. We called our family and they came to us from their spot in the MAtterhorn line, and met up with us. We were given one day comp tickets to use the next day (Sat, June 1) and were going to extend the hotels to come back, when I looked on the tickets and saw they were good until MAY 31, 2015. We got nine of these tickets. (my family, plus aunt and two cousins that were with us)

We were extremely surprised to see that, and nobody understood why I was overly excited. (TWO YEARS?!) We went to use my mom's Patina voucher at Naples, and talked it over at dinner that we would come back around CHRISTMAS! (Always been a dream, and nothing more.) We went to bed, ended up extending our hotel anyway due to more free Knott's tickets that had to be used by the end of June (entirely unexpected email!). After Knott's we went to Target, got Disney Gift Cards with our Redcard and Pharmacy rewards discount, and used the giftcards to buy one-day DCA tickets minutes before the price increase.

The point of this was that Disney was not obligated to do anything, and they went ahead and gave us a free day to experience their parks, anyways. Now, we all get to experience something we have always wanted, and it goes to show, there is always a little pixie dust somewhere in the worst of it all.

Sorry about your bad experiences, hopefully your next visit will be a smoother one.

 

[OregonMinnie]

I am glad that you will have the chance to turn a negative experience into a positive one.

I have never been to DL on a grad. night thankfully, but it seems to me that it would be obvious you would need more CM And because of the age group, why not place a CM at the restrooms to keep things "moving" (oops, no pun intended)

What happened to your Mom could've happened to any of us, and I think going to City Hall to inform them was appropriate. Hopefully they went and checked things out after you spoke with them.

I'm sure your next trip will be much happier

 

[Disney Dory]

Wow, I am glad Disney made good for you and your family for all that you had to go through. I hope Disney gets more CM's to handle all the grad night crowds! They should go back to only having them at night after the park closes when they can have the park to themselves. It sounds like (from what I've read on the DIS so far) it has been a mess with allowing them park entry during the day. So many people have had to endure rude, pushy, line cutting grads during the day!

 

[sherilaine]

Disney should get rid of grad nights and when the grads complain about it - they should tell them they only have their fellow grads to blame.

We will never go during grad nights again.

 

[starshine514]

We had a complain-worthy experience with grads in 2012. I wrote them after the fact and had to mail them our ticket and they sent us back a letter good for 4 one-day tickets. It seems this may be their solution for making up for unsupervised grads. I wish they'd switch back to the old format as well. We were there for a grad night this year, but we planned activities outside of the park for the evening.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience but glad Disney made it right. We were there last Wed. (another grad night) and based on what you related I'm glad we left around 2. Looks like it was a good decision.

DLR is magical at Christmas. Have a wonderful trip!

What did you think of Knott's? We went there for AP preview day early Thursday a.m. and then finished our day at Soak City.

 

[Spwhoney]

How long have done these grad nights? This sounds like the worst idea ever. A bunch of rude, hyper 18 year olds running crazy all day? That will keep me away. I wonder how many complaints from families that have spent $$$$ on their trips it will take before DL rethinks this idea.

 

[starshine514]

How long have done these grad nights? This sounds like the worst idea ever. A bunch of rude, hyper 18 year olds running crazy all day? That will keep me away. I wonder how many complaints from families that have spent $$$$ on their trips it will take before DL rethinks this idea.

They've only done the grad nights that include a full-day hopper ticket for 2012 and 2013. Prior to that, they were only in the parks for the all-night party (which ran until 6:00 am). Now, the party only runs until 3:00 am and they get the full-day ticket...

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

How long have done these grad nights? This sounds like the worst idea ever. A bunch of rude, hyper 18 year olds running crazy all day? That will keep me away. I wonder how many complaints from families that have spent $$$$ on their trips it will take before DL rethinks this idea.

They've had grad nights for quite awhile, but only in the last year or so changed the format so the grads are in the parks during the day.

 

[profa]

That is awful. It's terrible that anyone would act like that. It sounds like they need to have some supervision in the restrooms and definitely more CMs on hand. I'm glad they made it right; you are right they didn't have to do anything and it's not necessarily DL's fault that a bunch of parents have raised terribly rude and selfish kids. Maybe they need to send out better communication to the schools about what is expected from the seniors.
enjoy your next trip.

 

[Airb330]

Disney should get rid of grad nights and when the grads complain about it - they should tell them they only have their fellow grads to blame.

We will never go during grad nights again.

Nor will we. We actually didn't encounter any rude teens (just one group of teens SCREAMING in line at Space Mountain), it doesn't matter because it was so crowded it was just miserable.

OP--Glad Disney tried to make it right, but I am sorry the park was so crowded and miserable.

 

[ArchOwl]

I just got back from DL and Friday night was miserable at both parks. I will never go on a Friday Grad Night again. The grads were out of control, taking over bathrooms, linking arms and swarming the walkways. They were loud and obnoxious in the queues and rides, to the point we left the Tower of Terror when we were stuck in the boiler room area with them. They were screaming and running up and down the queues, line jumping and cursing. It was so crowded anyway, all the rides were mobbed in the evening. We just ended up leaving. The CMs were totally overwhelmed and couldn't stop them from misbehaving (not that it is necessarily their job, but I never saw a single chaperone).

Thursday night wasn't as bad, just slightly annoying. Saturday was like heaven! TSMM was 15 minutes in the middle of the day, RSR standby was 45 minutes, and Mater's was a walk on. It was awesome!

 

[sherilaine]

It sounds like everyone who had a lousy experience because of these obnoxious grads should complain. Perhaps they won't get rid of them altogether but revert to them only being able to come for their party and not ruining everyone else's time in the park for the entire day.

It is saying something about our society though, when I was in grade 12, never in a million years would my class behave as we have seen others during grad night - it was honestly as though they were making a collective and intended effort to be complete idiots and annoy as many people as they could. They were not just being young people or being loud or having fun - they were being intentionally rude and obnoxious - to the point where some of them should have been escourted out, no questions asked!

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I just got back from DL and Friday night was miserable at both parks. I will never go on a Friday Grad Night again. The grads were out of control, taking over bathrooms, linking arms and swarming the walkways. They were loud and obnoxious in the queues and rides, to the point we left the Tower of Terror when we were stuck in the boiler room area with them. They were screaming and running up and down the queues, line jumping and cursing. It was so crowded anyway, all the rides were mobbed in the evening. We just ended up leaving. The CMs were totally overwhelmed and couldn't stop them from misbehaving (not that it is necessarily their job, but I never saw a single chaperone).

How awful! I have gone on other grad nights where the grads only came in at night, and that has been okay. Something needs to change with how they are doing it now.

 

[BadRomance]

We were there last week too and noticed the grads- in a bad way. Lots of cursing and line jumping. I was there with my husband and 1 year old so we mostly did the kiddie rides. The grads would swear and scream throughout the kiddie rides. i wanted to smack them. They were even making fun of guests and their appearances. Nothing horrible happened to us to make us need a vacation redo but I would like to inform Disney of the bad taste those grads left in my mouth. Who do I write to?

 

[Disney Dudette]

We were there last week too and noticed the grads- in a bad way. Lots of cursing and line jumping. I was there with my husband and 1 year old so we mostly did the kiddie rides. The grads would swear and scream throughout the kiddie rides.

That definetly is not okay. And, you should write them!
I think if enough people write to them about these experiences, maybe they will do something to change the grad nite situation.

 

[OregonMinnie]

Disney should get rid of grad nights and when the grads complain about it - they should tell them they only have their fellow grads to blame.

We will never go during grad nights again.

I like it Or, as a PP suggested, only have them after the park closes to the public. With the number of young children in the parks, this kind of behavior should not be tolerated.

 

[OregonMinnie]

How do these grad nights work? Does each school sign-up their seniors for a specific night to come? Or, if you say you are a grad., then that's enough to get in?

If it is done through the schools, then a code of conduct should be given in advance (not that they shouldn't know how to act in public), and if there are problems then they risk not being allowed to sign-up next year.

They def. need more CM though. As Sherilaine said, when I was a senior, I would've never behaved the way I see young people behaving today, and it is a sad commentary on our society, as well as a poor outlook on the future knowing these same kids will some day be "leading" this country.

I would be pretty irritated if our seven day, every other year trip was impacted by grad. night behavior. I do think more people need to inform Disney about these incidents, otherwise how will they know? And, not with the expectation of being compensated, but just to inform.

Glad there aren't grad nights in late Oct.

 

[Spwhoney]

Just my opinion but with DL giving tickets for their trouble, maybe they realize that there is a problem. I would be irate if I was there and had problems. Have the party for after hours only. VERY bad idea on DL part. More people need to complain and get it changed. Gives DL a bad image for this time of year, allowing that kind of behavior! LOVE, LOVE, DL, but shame on them for this.