Grad night schedule?

[JenniferFolsomCa]

I was considering going to Disneyland and buy a hopper Friday June 7th but it looks like a grad night. How much will that affect crowds? Will they not rope drop and most kids go for the evening only?

Jenn

 

[Jaina]

I was considering going to Disneyland and buy a hopper Friday June 7th but it looks like a grad night. How much will that affect crowds? Will they not rope drop and most kids go for the evening only?

Jenn

The only experience I have is I went a week ago on the first grad night and the crowds were beautiful for a Friday, and didn't start getting kinda iffy until early evening. That one experience showed me that you have just as good a chance of a light day on a grad night as any other, as long as you can deal with a lot of teen influx towards the end of the day. I will probably be there the 7th too!

 

[LKing]

Tonight is a grad night. We were at the park and it was the lightest crowd we've seen on a Sunday in a long time. The kids seemed like they wanted to hang out together rather than run from ride to ride. It was definitely a calmer, less manic, vibe.

 

[itr452]

We were there last tuesday/wednesday. I found it was pretty busy compares to the monday and thursday was full of students as well..
i totally forgot about grad nights when we booked the trip

 

[twodogs]

We will be there for a grad night in a few weeks (a Friday). It is a short 2.5 day trip, so only RD each park once (we will have hoppers). I am debating which park to start in for the day of the Grad night. I can’t decide if it matters or not, since I assume most of the grads definitely won’t be there at RD, and most probably won’t be there by park hopping time! But please let me know if you have any guidance!

I am also a little worried because the So Cal ticket has its last day on the Sunday of our trip. We won’t be in the park that day since it is departure day, but I assume Saturday will also be very busy with folks using the last days of those tickets. I remember pre-COVID, we were there on the last day of the So Cal ticket (we are not from So Cal, so we had regular tickets), and crowds were very, very heavy. I am hoping Saturday will be less crazy than Sunday (the last valid day for the tickets).

 

[Karin1984]

I was there on Friday the 10th (after 5pm) and Tuesday the 14th. The morning of the 14th was quiet till about 11am. After that I felt it became unpleasantly busy.

It's not just more people, but groups of students are loud and are very focussed on themselves and their group. Think: blocking streets, walking all next to each other so you cannot pass. I am sure they do not mean it, it happens at that age. However, it is a bit of a nuisance.

I would love to go back in coming years, but I will avoid Grad Nights, unless it cannot be avoided. A busy at Disney is better than no day at Disney.

 

[twodogs]

I was there on Friday the 10th (after 5pm) and Tuesday the 14th. The morning of the 14th was quiet till about 11am. After that I felt it became unpleasantly busy.

It's not just more people, but groups of students are loud and are very focussed on themselves and their group. Think: blocking streets, walking all next to each other so you cannot pass. I am sure they do not mean it, it happens at that age. However, it is a bit of a nuisance.

I would love to go back in coming years, but I will avoid Grad Nights, unless it cannot be avoided. A busy at Disney is better than no day at Disney.

Looking at the calendar, both of those were grad nights? But they were very different as far as how busy they felt? Just making sure I understand your post. Also which park were you in each of those visits?

I have late teens, so I understand that they sometimes have a “head in the clouds” mentality and aren’t always paying attention when they are in a big group!

 

[twodogs]

Also from my reading of the grad night website, they do not get G+ with their tickets? Can they purchase it in the park? I seem to remember somewhere here that in the past, if the child is not over 18, they can’t add G+ to their ticket, or something of that sort?

 

[Karin1984]

Looking at the calendar, both of those were grad nights? But they were very different as far as how busy they felt? Just making sure I understand your post. Also which park were you in each of those visits?

I have late teens, so I understand that they sometimes have a “head in the clouds” mentality and aren’t always paying attention when they are in a big group!

Yes, both were grad nights. I was also there the days in between, which were much more pleasant.

On both days I was in Disneyland Park. It is hard to compare as the 10th was my arrival day and the 14th was my departure day.

The 10th I was there from about 5-8pm, I was very tired after my long flight, it felt too busy and I had 3.5 more days to go. So just did some rides, got familiar with the park, and left before the fireworks.

The 14th, I was there from 8am-3pm. On this day I was able to do 4 rides in Tomorrowland within 50 minutes after opening. So that was a great start, but after 11 Fantasyland was incredibly busy and I also parts of Adventureland and ToonTown.

 

[LKing]

The 14th, I was there from 8am-3pm. On this day I was able to do 4 rides in Tomorrowland within 50 minutes after opening. So that was a great start, but after 11 Fantasyland was incredibly busy and I also parts of Adventureland and ToonTown.

That's pretty normal, even for non grad-night days.

 

[MonocularVision]

TBH: I have visited the parks several times on Grad Night days and… I have barely even noticed? I mean the only real interactions I have had with the students there have been really positive, including this last trip, especially after wishing them a Happy Graduation. It just has never been a big deal. Maybe I am just lucky.

 

[cmph]

Also from my reading of the grad night website, they do not get G+ with their tickets? Can they purchase it in the park? I seem to remember somewhere here that in the past, if the child is not over 18, they can’t add G+ to their ticket, or something of that sort?

That's true, and it might have been me who wrote about that (last year). DD and her friend group were a mix of 17 and 18. Someone here said something about how they could have tried logging in with an alternative Disney account (parent or the like), but they were not interested in involved workarounds to get their whole group linked up to use G+ together.

 

[LKing]

TBH: I have visited the parks several times on Grad Night days and… I have barely even noticed? I mean the only real interactions I have had with the students there have been really positive, including this last trip, especially after wishing them a Happy Graduation. It just has never been a big deal. Maybe I am just lucky.

I agree. Other than DCA closing early, in my experience, crowds and behavior of guests has been better on grad nite days than during NAM or OBB.

 

[twodogs]

Thank you all for your helpful responses! I think I should just do the parks as they work best with my ADRs, ,and not try to figure out which park will **maybe** have less crowds on the Grad Night day!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I was just at both parks on Friday, May 17, which was a grad night. I was there from 9am to 8pm and crowds were shockingly light. Morning was especially pleasant. Even at 7:45pm in DCA, it was not crowded. Teens were well behaved, I had no issues whatsoever. I guess it might vary from night to night. But compared to my experiences in past years it was much more pleasant than other grad nights. Maybe Disney raised prices too high this year. We did see a large group of grads waiting to enter DCA for the party as we left, so not everyone is buying tickets that include early park access.