When I first got involved in Grad Nite last year, I was also kind of upset and was wondering why they could not go to Disneyland.  My daughter was saying the same thing as yours.   I think it was because Disneyland was promoted in the past and the kids got the idea that Disneyland was "special" and the school wasn't.   (And maybe it wasn't when it was under construction all those years!)  I wrote an email to the school and in it I said, "I'm still confused about why they're not going to Disneyland."  The first response I got back was:

"This is a grad night and going to Disneyland was never on the night of graduation, Disneyland is closed Monday & Tuesday.   Please keep in mind, when grad night is held at an outside facility, except like on a cruise, there is no control of students going to the place prior to their event and hiding alcohol and such.   The young people attending grad night are no longer the responsibility of the school since they graduated earlier in the afternoon and this is not a school sponsored event.   Outside friends and "riffraff" cannot be stopped from visiting the facility, unless it is a cruise where everyone is loaded on a ship and sail out to the harbor."

Even so, at first the committee (last year) was still of the mind that they wanted to go somewhere else for grad nite and not have it at the school.   We considered Disneyland and found out that there were a couple of nights available but they were a week after graduation, which does away with the whole idea of grad nite, which was to provide a safe alcohol free and drug free celebration on the night of graduation.   We talked to students who had been recently and other schools and found out that Disneyland is very crowded on grad nite.  They probably bring in too many schools.   It takes so long for the bus just to get into the parking lot, then once they get in the lines for each ride are really long.  Apparently it is not the experience that it was back when I was in high school.   We checked out other places like Castle Park, Boomers, and Dave & Busters and besides the transportation issue, there were so many issues like transportation, security, adequate activities, excessive expense, etc.   Castle Park was so far away (Riverside) and the school had security problems a few years ago when they went to Boomers.  We were beginning to consider Dave & Busters but they would have to pay for transportation, an entrance fee, and then they would have to buy enough game cards to keep themselves busy for 5 or 6 hours.   It was going to be way too expensive.  Besides, I've been to Dave & Busters and I can't imagine trying to keep them from getting bored after 2 or 3 hours!

Then we began to investigate having grad nite on campus, like many other schools are doing.   We read manuals like the one we link to on our website and began to investigate various vendors who provide activities for these kinds of events.  At our meeting on March 30, the senior students who were at the meeting all voiced their opinion that they would like to have something at the school.   So we began to think of things that could be done on campus:  Laser Tag, DJ & Dancing, Go-carts, Photographer, Hypnotist, Rock Climbing Wall, Jumpers, Sumo Wrestling, Knock Off Beam, Face Painting, Henna Tattoos, Bull Riding, Karaoke, Bingo, Slides, Carnival Games & Rides.   For food they thought of Taco Man, Knights of the Holy Grill, Snow Cones, Cotton Candy, Dippin' Dots.  It all comes down to planning and promotion.   We need to do a good job promoting this to the kids so they will be excited about it.  Last year we only had a little less than 3 months to do all the planning and preparation and from all reports we did a really good job.   From what I have heard there was not one complaint and so many people were pleasantly surprised and had a great time.  Like I said, not only do we need to plan and prepare for grad nite but we need to get the word out about how good it was last year and that this year it can be even better, especially since we are starting earlier in the school year.

If you want to talk about this further, we would be glad to talk.  Our minds are not made up and we are definitely open to new ideas, it's just that so far our research is pointing out that outside venues come with more problems than they are worth and that's why more and more schools are doing something on campus.   Talk to students from Cypress, Los Alamitos, Canyon, Woodbridge and other schools that are having grad nite on campus.  You can certainly contact any of the officers if you want to discuss this further.  For their contact information, go to http://www.kennedygradnite.org and click on "Click here for contacts" at the bottom of the page.  Hope all of this helps.  We're not really against Disneyland, it's just that after doing a lot of research, we feel we can offer a much better experience at the school.  Anyway, be sure to come to our next meeting, get involved, and help us if you can!

The next meeting date should be posted on http://www.kennedygradnite.org and there is a link for you to join our email list.  If you join the list we will keep you informed about upcoming meetings and other JFK Grad Nite events.  Also, while you are waiting for the next meeting, if you have Adobe Reader you can take a look through the 145 page manual that we have a link to on the website.   If you want to read that go to http://www.kennedygradnite.org and click on "Celebrate Life!: A Guide for Planning All Night Alcohol - Drug-Free Celebrations for Teens" down near the bottom of the page.   Hope to see you soon!  Thanks!