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The high school graduating class of 2011 sure is lucky; they are the last students able to celebrate their graduation at Disney World. The official Disney Parks blog just announced that after this year Disney World has no intention to continue the Grad Nite tradition.
For decades the resort has hosted Grad Nites in the spring, offering seniors an exclusive party in honor of their achievement. On several nights in late April, May, and early June, both Disney World and Disneyland open their gates for high school seniors to throw a massive party. It’s like an uber prom; celebrity DJ’s and musical guests provide dance-worthy tunes in spots all over the park, many of the restaurants are open, and most importantly, so are all of the rides.
Perplexingly, I couldn’t find any further information beyond a post on the parks blog announcing this year’s Grad Nite dates and one Facebook page for each Disney Resort with sparse details. The former post provided a less-than-helpful video that was comprised of several shots of teenagers dancing, whooping, and gushing about Disney.
How much does Grad Nite cost? I’m assuming there’s at least a reduced admission to the parks, but what about beyond that? Do the restaurants offer special discounted menus? Or do seniors just have to register in advance, and then they get into the parks for free?
If that’s the case, where’s the registration information? I couldn’t find anything. Or can someone just show up at the gate at the night of one of the celebrations and for entry flash a school ID as proof of their senior status?
Given that Disney World isn’t doing Grad Nite anymore, I’m inclined to believe that means seniors get into the park at a discount, if not entirely for free. Maybe that’s why it’s so hard for me to find information about Grad Nite; Disney execs don’t want many people to attend, so that’s why they make it so difficult to find details about the party.
The official reason given for Grad Nite’s future cancellation is that there has been a rise in “leisure guests” visiting Disney World in the spring, and that “it’s become challenging to schedule special events in April and May.” Translation: more people have been heading to Disney in the spring lately, and the park doesn’t want to foot the bill for a bunch of teenagers partying several weekends in April and May when it could be making more money off of the tourists.
Presumably the park shuts down for anyone but high school seniors on Grad Nite. If it doesn’t, I can’t imagine that visiting a park crawling with giddy partying teenagers holds much attraction for vacationing families.
That raises another question about Grad Nite: what kind of supervision is provided? I’m sure that hundreds of teenagers descending upon one space can find plenty of questionable things to get up to. Are there sharp-eyed Disney employees stationed everywhere monitoring the proceedings?
If I were a high school senior, I’d be dying to go to Grad Nite. If I had a high school senior, I’d be a bit suspicious about letting my teen attend. Still, those interested should be happy to know that Disneyland has no plans to cancel its own Grad Nite any time in the future.
The Disney World 2011 Grad Nite dates are as follows: 4/29, 4/30, 5/6, and 5/7; the Disneyland dates are 5/12, 5/19, 5/26, 6/2, 6/8, 6/9, and 6/16. For more details, you’ll have to head to either the Disneyland or Disney World Facebook Grad Nite pages, “like” those pages, and then a tab will open with additional information.
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*(This image by elvissa is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
