Disney Developing A Disneyland Grad Nite Movie

By Hoai-Tran Bui/March 26, 2018 2:00 pm EST

Disney is reportedly developing a Disneyland Grad Nite movie, based on the long-running tradition wherein high school students get the entire theme park to themselves on the night after graduation.

On celebrity magician Penn Jillette’s podcast, “Penn’s Sunday School,” actor and comedian David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) revealed that Disney is developing a movie based on the yearly Disneyland staple, Grad Nite.

Wain told Jillette:

For those who attend the wild Grad Nite, it’s an event on par with prom. Teenagers take over the entire Disneyland park for a night of “safe” and “clean” partying to send off their four years at high school. The tradition has been around since 1961, when it was first introduced as a formal suit-and-tie event until it became the rambunctious all-night partying event it’s known as today. Bands and DJs play, while a magician occasionally shows up to entertain the high school students on their last night of teen-dom.

“Somebody sent me a thing — Disney wants to do a thing where kids are stuck in Disney World on grad school night, and it’s like a teen [movie].”

It sounds like an exclusive private party, but it’s apparently a pretty common tradition for high school kids that grow up near Disneyland. Plenty of high schools will rent out the parks for this event — supposedly to discourage the high school students from partying too wildly on their own. My own Virginia high school had a similar event, but all we had was an all-night grad party at our high school, where the biggest draw was a hypnotist.

Not much else is known about this potential Disney Grad Nite movie, but we’ll keep you informed on any new updates.