2023 Grad Nites at Disneyland: Dates, Prices & Crowds
Grad Nites are an annual event at Disneyland Resort for graduating high school seniors featuring an after-hours party at night in Disney California Adventure and daytime admission to both parks. This covers 2023 Grad Nite dates, info you need to know, avoiding these teenage crowds, and our random thoughts about the event.
Most of you probably graduated from high school a couple years ago (what? longer ago? well you don’t look like it!), and are wondering how this information is relevant to you. Well, these graduation parties occur every Friday and Saturday in May, along with Tuesdays and Wednesdays the second half of the month, and through the first week in June.
This is significant not because hordes of high school students roaming Disneyland and Disney California Adventure is scarier than the Walking Dead (although…maybe), but because the crowd levels at Disneyland Resort on the weekends during Grad Nites can be like a roller coaster, with spikes at each park.
Disneyland offers three ticket packages, including one that returns Grad Nite to the traditional graduation party, instead of the all-day celebration Disney has pushed for the last 5 years. This is noteworthy because we anticipate many students choosing this ticket option instead of the more expensive all-day options. (For most people reading this, those pricing tiers are not pertinent, but you can read about them here on the official Grad Nite site if you’re curious.)
Before we get to some thoughts on Grad Nite crowds and strategy for visiting during Grad Nites, here are the 2023 Grad Nite Dates…
New this year, Disneyland Resort Grad Nite will take place on select weekdays (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays) and weekends (Fridays and Sundays) in May and June.
2023 Grad Nite Dates:
- May 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 25, 30, or 31
- June 2, 4, 7, 9, 14, or 16
Disney has raised 2023 Grad Nite ticket prices between 8% and 22%. This year, Grad Nite tickets were $89 for just the party, $119 for a full day at Disney California Adventure, or $179 for a Park Hopper ticket.
Grad Nite 2023 tickets are $99 on weekdays and $104 on weekends for the event only. With this ticket, Grad Nite attendees will be able to enter Disney California Adventure at 9:00 pm. For a full day at DCA plus Grad Nite, tickets will be $129 on weekdays and $134 on weekends. The Park Hopper option will be $199 on weekdays and $219 on weekends.
In terms of avoiding Grad Nite crowds, your best option is simply not going on one of those days. This is especially true with the Friday and Saturday dates, as those days would be busy even without Grad Nites. Add this event into the mix, and crowds can be really bad. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are less likely to feel incredibly busy, but they will likely feel busier than the adjacent Monday and Thursday.
For the last several years, the prevailing wisdom for avoiding Grad Nite crowds was to start at Disney California Adventure and do that in the morning before park hopping over to Disneyland in the late afternoon. This avoided the vast majority of Grad Nite crowds, and made crowds more manageable. The rationale behind this was that Grad Nite students had park hopper tickets and would do Disneyland during the day because their private party occurs at Disney California Adventure in the evening.
While 2023 Grad Nites have yet to begin, we believe that approach will be a poor strategy this year. With the new tiered ticket options, only the most expensive option grants students access to Disneyland–and that’s $200! This is a steep price for many students and their families (a lot of Southern California schools had already ‘opted out’ of Grad Nites due to rising costs), and we suspect it’s the option very few school groups will choose.
As such, we anticipate the bulk of the student crowds–throughout the entire day–being confined to Disney California Adventure. If you have a park hopper ticket and DCA is a must-do for you on a Grad Nite, we’d recommend doing that park at rope drop, and being prepared to bounce to Disneyland as soon as crowds start to arrive. Otherwise, we’d just recommend avoiding DCA all day on Grad Nites.
Even though it’s a hassle for locals and tourists, we are big proponents of Grad Nite. One thing we’ve learned since moving to Southern California is that Grad Nite carries significant meaning for a lot of people. We expected local high schoolers to be “tool cool” for a Disney event, but that’s definitely not the case.
Rather, Grad Nite is a rite of passage and tradition that, for many families, dates back a couple of generations. The event has been occurring annually since 1961, and people we know generally love it. Many have fond memories…or hazy ones…of an evening they’ll never forget. (Related: if you want a look at the acid dream that was Grad Nite in the 1970s, check out the Movin’ On film Disney made to promote the event in Florida. It is the epitome of “Weird Disney.”)
My high school’s graduation event was held at some shady “Fun Center” and the coolest thing there was go-carts, which had a huge line and we were repeatedly warned not to bump. The only reason my friends and I didn’t leave to go play Dreamcast in someone’s basement was because we couldn’t. I wish I could go back in time and have a do-over at Disneyland!
Grad Nites definitely have critics who have very valid concerns about the atmosphere it creates. The way Disney expanded the event to make it an all-day affair five years ago was questionable, as it puts the student groups into more direct contact with regular day guests.
There have been countless horror stories on social media about recent Grad Nites as a result. Despite being in the parks on several days when Grad Nites have occurred, we’ve never experienced any of this first-hand. This is not to say these anecdotes are overblown…just that we’ve had no personal issues with Grad Nites.
Nevertheless, I’m not going to suggest high school students are perfectly well-behaved angels. There have been enough reality tv shows about entitled kids in Southern California acting like demons for you to see through that. Attendees who are drunk or high is a known issue with the event, and teenagers with minimal adult supervision are always going to be rowdy and obnoxious.
I think reactions ultimately come down to how sensitive and cognizant you are of other guests in the park. I don’t mean ‘sensitive’ in a pejorative way. Some people just have a more keen alertness of this type of thing than others. For example, I can sleep on a flight like a champ even with a crying baby next to me; the same thing might drive others crazy. If tuning people out were a super power, I could sign up to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
At the other end of the spectrum, I think some guests are very acutely aware of other guests, with an almost extra-sensory perception of obnoxious behavior. If drunks at Food & Wine, tour groups, etc. really bother you, we would strongly recommend avoiding Grad Nites. You’re likely going to have a bad time.
Ultimately, we do recommend avoiding Grad Nites to the greatest extent possible, but that’s almost exclusively due to the crowds. If your trip falls over a stretch when there are four Grad Nites in five nights, that’s not really possible. In that case, park hopper tickets are definitely an essential, and doing DCA early in the day before crossing the Esplanade to Disneyland will help you avoid crowds and eliminate whatever headaches might come with being in a theme park with large groups of teenagers with minimal adult supervision.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
Your Thoughts
Have you attended a Grad Nite at Disneyland, either as a graduating student or as a regular day guest? What did you think of the experience? Have any horror stories or other anecdotes about Grad Nites? Any questions? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
Hi! We planned our Disney trip for May 16th-18th California on 16th, Disneyland on 17th &18th) without realizing it was Grad night on the 17th. We have always had the best luck with lower crowds mid week. Do you suggest going to Disneyland on Monday, May 15th in place of Wednesday, May 17th to avoid a higher crowd? Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!
Hey Tom,
We are planning a trip late-May or early-June 2023.
We’re pretty flexible as long as it’s May 20 or later. We bought 5 day park Hopper tickets. What week do you think would be the best between the last couple weeks in May and first couple in June?
You missed out Tom! The old Grad Nites were awesome! I went back when it was the all nighter in Disneyland-arrive around 10pm and stay til dawn! AMAZING! Can’t speak for the new version but my kid is scheduled to go this year (and is extremely jealous it isn’t like it was in my day!). Do you, or anyone who’s gone lately, happen to know where I can find a list of what rides they have open for the kids in DCA for Grad Nite? On my Grad Nite, and the ones I worked in Disneyland as a cast member, pretty much everything in Disneyland was open (unless it was closed for refurbishment). It sounds like that isn’t true in the DCA version. I’ve heard rumors it’s only Cars Land. Can anyone confirm? Is Guardians open? Incredicoaster, Toy Story, or Soarin? Thanks!
Hi Tom, thanks as usual for the informative article! We just did Disneyland/DCA on the June 7th grad nite. We’d never been to Disneyland/DCA before so we can’t comment on what the crowd sizes were like that day, but compared to my last several trips to Walt Disney World… lines sure were long no matter what the attraction that day! Also, I don’t know if this is typical or not, but standby at Radiator Springs Racers wasn’t going to happen, mainly we think because large parties of high school grads would keep one or two party members in line as a placeholder, go on other attractions, and then march on through the queue to resume their place.
I went to grad night twice in the 70’s. It was expensive even then but experience of the park with only a few thousand of your peers is magical. No lines. None, anywhere. Back to back to back rides on all the best attractions. Everyone’s dressed up and and the park was decorated too. Kids were dying in drunken car crashes after graduation in other places. We were seeing how many times in a row we could ride space mountain.
Anyone know if Tuesday/Wednesday grad nite will be better or worse than Monday Memorial Day?
I’m interested in whether or not your prediction that the high cost for the park hopper this year will detour groups from choosing that option, therefore making DCA the most busy on those days. Will you be visiting any of the earlier Friday/Saturday grad nites to test that theory? Curious as our trip is 5/28 – 6/1 so we will be there for two of the grad nites.
By the way long time Disney fan but still find there are things I can learn from others and I love your blog! It always has everything I am looking for!!!!!
I’m in early stages of planning for our trip the last week of May and first week of June 2021. It looks like most of that period is heavy with Grad Nights so it’ll be really hard to avoid weekends or Grad Night to do 4 day’s in the parks. We are stuck with British school holidays and want to come to California for a fortnight – would you suggest late October / early November or later August is better? I’ve read through all of your amazing posts but it’s really hard to decide what to do! Travelling with a 5 and 8 year old.
Not exactly DFB-level expertise, but I’m a Canadian who has tends to go Disneyland at one of those two times and they’re both great. For crowds end of August is great because most US schools are back in. End of October is really fun if you’re interested in going to one of the Halloween parties. We’ve done it a few times and they are amazing.
I did Grad Night in 1982. At that time, Disneyland was the only park there was and it was an all-night affair. We traveled up from Mount Carmel High School in San Diego and arrived about 9 p.m. and stayed until the morning. As I remember, men were required to wear at least sport coats and women were expected to wear dresses. Most of us went with a date. There was a fair amount of drinking, but I don’t remember any negative incidents.
How do Grad Nights compare to the holidays? We have been during Christmas and new years and are now looking at going the first part of June. Can we expect holiday type crowds on a Friday Grad Night?
I graduated in 1993 and back then, it was an all-night event. Maybe it started at 11pm? And we had to wear our dressy outfits. The whole park was open to high schoolers and it was quite civilized, esp bc of the dress code – and the late night. We got tired!! This current imagining sounds awful.
Tom: Interesting comment about people who are “sensitive” to other park attendees. (I am one of those people!) I recently read a great book titled “The Highly Sensitive Person” by Elaine Aron. It describes people with a particularly high sensitivity to their surroundings and other people. About 15-20% of the population at large are highly sensitive and it does seem like we have an extra-sensory perception – because we do! So great that you’re aware of this especially because so many HSP’s (yep, there’s an acronym for us too!), LOVE Disney. Too much obnoxiousness will kill our spirits so I love that you included this info here.
Thanks for an awesome blog, in general! I love reading your reviews of WDW Resorts – our favorite is Wilderness Lodge as well.
Happened to go to Disneyland last May on a grad night Saturday. It was terrible. I have been an AP for 23 years and have never actually felt slightly unsafe until that day, even NYE in front of the castle was better! Haunted Mansion had a 90 minute wait around 2 pm. It was a mess getting anywhere. Friends went the next weekend and experienced the same thing. I am hoping it is better this year.
The old way they did it was so much better. I graduated in 1996 and we took a bus and were in the park after it closed with only other seniors. There was dancing, bands and most of the rides had short lines. It was so much fun!
I live about 20 miles from Disneyland and our local high schools (well 3 of them that I know for sure based on friends that work there) actually decided to stop attending grad nights not just because of the cost but because so many kids had APs that felt it wasn’t that special to go to DL anymore.
Same grad year, same grad experience. Although I came from about 6 hours north. It was a great time and what I have always envisioned Grad Night as. We had a few idiots that put vodka in oranges and stashed drugs at a rest stop to pick on the way down, but even they didn’t cause any problems.
We are there on one Saturday when there is a grad night, but my thought is to stay in DL the whole time. We won’t even arrive till early afternoon and have 5 day hoppers. So, my plan is to have zero expectations for rides and hit some shops, maybe catch a nighttime show, and just head where the crowds seem lighter.
We were just at DL on Friday, and it was pretty crowded! There were plenty of grads (and more than a few younger, school field trip groups), but they were far out numbered by families. But even with the crowds, I don’t think we waited any longer than about a half hour in any line and only used a few fastpasses.
We were in the parks for a Grad Night in May of 2013, and I recall crowds being heavier than we’d ever experienced before (we usually go in off season), but the bigger issue was the groups of kids singing/chanting in queues & on rides. It was loud & annoying in the queue for Space Mountain, but it really destroyed the atmosphere riding through Pirates of the Caribbean! My son was 8 at the time & found all the noise a bit distressing. I like the history of the grad nights & understand it is a very cool right of passage for many SoCal kids, but I would never go to the parks on a Grad Night day after that experience. I’ve heard stories about large South American groups chanting through the parks in Florida, and our experience with Grad Night at DL reminds me of those stories (though I’ve never experienced that at WDW). Anyway, I don’t object to the Grad Nights, but I’d avoid them at all costs. Just my experience/opinion though.
I was always jealous of my friends that got to do Grad Night at Disneyland. So lucky.
As for personal experience, I remember going to Disneyland on a Grad Night 30+ years ago when I was about 6. It was packed, but that was also due to the 20th Anniversary Star Trek Convention happening the same time. I can honestly say that in my memory the teenagers behaved perfectly. It was random adults in town for the convention that were FURIOUS about Grad Night being a thing (and not knowing beforehand) who were making life hell for everyone with non-stop complaining about “go***mn kids” and pitching fits at Cast Members for asking them to leave at 10 rather than midnight.
Unfortunately, my Godmother was pretty much the worst offender. She never stopped complaining all day. We couldn’t enjoy ourselves at all and I feel terrible about the Cast Members she abused.
So please everyone, if you go during Grad Night, try not to take your anger at the crowds out on the celebrating Seniors or Cast Members. Everyone else there that day will appreciate it.
I went there last year when they had Grad Night events in the evening at DCA. I was at DCA for the day and it actually wasn’t bad. It’s too bad that a part of Pacific Wharf was closed off for the bands that will play in the evening for the event. Perhaps other areas were closed off too. There were more teenagers, of course, but they didn’t ruin the trip. I highly advise using Fastpass to bypass the lines where kids could congregate and ruin your time by their behavior.
When I went, kids were dressed up. They no longer have that requirement, which is too bad. Making kids wear dress shoes with heels affects their ability to run around.
I attended Grad Night at Disneyland over 20 years ago. I went on a bus with the rest of my classmates and had so much fun riding rides with hardly an lines in a fairly empty park. And just us kids with no adults was also exciting. My friends and I never had any interest in causing mischief, just running around the park getting in as many rides as we could. I also didn’t notice anyone causing trouble or under the influence of any substances. It was a very memorable experience and I have lots of fond memories of that night with my friends. I also got a kick out of seeing the sun coming up as we walked to the bus to go home. Since then, I always avoid the parks on grad nights since the park closes early on those days. Thanks for writing this article, good to know that grad night has an all day option now.
Last year I was at disneyland for the first Friday grad night (May 5th). I was worried because I had read many horror stories but we were planning this trip with my husbands work schedule, so it couldn’t be avoided. I have two small children (2 & 4) and we had a fantastic time. We did DCA in the morning and by late afternoon, hopped over to Disneyland. This was a two day trip for us and our last day. It was also not my kids’ first trip, so all of that probably comes into play because we weren’t rushing around needing every moment to be magical. But if I had not known it was a grad night before entering, I never would have guessed. It probably worked out for us that we weren’t interested in the rides most teenagers are (mission breakout, screamin, space mountain, etc). But I would tell people that grad nights are not a big deal. Especially during the week in May because those were some of the lowest crowds I’ve seen at disneyland. And we definitely didn’t notice “hoards” of teenagers. It might have been because it was the first one, but I would definitely recommend not shying away from grad nights if your family is able to vacation during the week in early May.
We have been during Gradnight the last couple of years and it was horrible. Most of the kids were just so rude, horrible, and disrespectful. Line jumping, inappropriate language, the yelling and chanting on rides etc. At our gradnight in the 90’s it was a special night with friends, you took the bus didn’t get there until night and stayed until wee hours of the morning.