Disney Youth Education Series

[mjaclyn]

Hi all,
I'm posting this question here because I remember hearing on the podcast that Theresa enrolled her daughter in the Disney Youth Education Series and I had a couple of questions.

First, do you know if the programs are based on grade or age? I saw a program that is for kids in grades 1-6 but it also said ages 6-11. My DD will be in 1st Grade in September but doesn't turn 6 until October. Does this mean she would not be able to participate in the September 21st program even though she is in 1st Grade because she has not turned 6 yet?

Second, I saw another program that my DD would be interested in and the age is 5-8 years. However, there are no dates scheduled during our upcoming trip to WDW. Does anyone know if they would schedule one for us if we had a group of children that met their minimum number of students required to have it?

Thanks so much for any information you can share! I'm going to try and call them tomorrow and see if I can talk to someone about it as well.

[DavidandLeahZ]

Originally Posted by mjaclyn

Hi all,
I'm posting this question here because I remember hearing on the podcast that Theresa enrolled her daughter in the Disney Youth Education Series and I had a couple of questions.

First, do you know if the programs are based on grade or age? I saw a program that is for kids in grades 1-6 but it also said ages 6-11. My DD will be in 1st Grade in September but doesn't turn 6 until October. Does this mean she would not be able to participate in the September 21st program even though she is in 1st Grade because she has not turned 6 yet?

Second, I saw another program that my DD would be interested in and the age is 5-8 years. However, there are no dates scheduled during our upcoming trip to WDW. Does anyone know if they would schedule one for us if we had a group of children that met their minimum number of students required to have it?

Thanks so much for any information you can share! I'm going to try and call them tomorrow and see if I can talk to someone about it as well.

My experience with YES Programs has been that they allow people to enroll based on age...but I could be wrong.

In terms of them adding a session...it couldn't hurt to ask!

- D

[doconeill]

I was looking into YES this weekend (just enrolled our DD for a course, and saved about $510 in tickets vs. going through UT!), and I looked a bit at the group stuff...I didn't see anything that required any group be affiliated with any school, etc. - only there was a minimum 10 students for a class.

They have lots of stuff available for said groups already, so it would seem if you've got that many you have a lot more choices.

[mjaclyn]

I am SO disappointed. :-( I called the Disney YES number and asked a few questions and it looks like we won't be able to participate at all on our trip. There is one class for kids ages 6-11 in Grades 1-6 that will be going on, but they will not let my DD take it because even though she will be in 1st grade she doesn't turn 6 until October and we're going in September. I also asked if they would schedule one of the classes for children ages 5-8 if we could get a group of 10 children and she said that only school groups can schedule private classes. It really stinks because it would have saved us a bundle on park tickets and I know DD would have really liked the program.

[jjsdad]

Does anyone know if you purchase this program with tickets and you decide you don't want to go can you cancel?

We are thinking of taking a trip end of Aug but would hate to purchase everything through the YES program and not have the ability to cancel our trip if something changes between now and then. Thanks,

[mjaclyn]

I read on the website that you have to cancel at least a week in advance.

[doconeill]

Flip of the question - if they cancel the class outside of a week or two, do we lose the tickets?

[mjaclyn]

I read on the website that Disney reserves the right to cancel a class if there aren't enough children scheduled for it. However, it doesn't say whether or not you'd lose your tickets. I imagine that would refund your money but I would call and talk to a CM to clarify.

Would any locals like to go to a Disney YES program for free in September? :-) I'd be more than happy to pay for your child to attend a session of your choice in order to get the discount on park tickets.

Before anyone flames me.. I am MORE than willing to attend one of these with my DD myself, but it just doesn't work out for our dates. It's unfortunate that they only have one program for kids that are 5 and that it's the one that's run most infrequently.

[jjsdad]

I just spoke to someone at the company that administers this program and he offered the following:

Tickets are non refundable, once you purchase them they are yours whether or not you can make it to the parks. The only situation they woudl refund is over a hardship with documentation to back it up.

If the class was cancelled by them, he stated they would call you up and try to see if another class works for your and get you into that one. If there is no other class that works, they will still honor your discounted tickets to the parks. He also mentioned he can't remember ever having to cancel a class.

[doconeill]

Originally Posted by jjsdad

I just spoke to someone at the company that administers this program and he offered the following:

Tickets are non refundable, once you purchase them they are yours whether or not you can make it to the parks. The only situation they woudl refund is over a hardship with documentation to back it up.

If the class was cancelled by them, he stated they would call you up and try to see if another class works for your and get you into that one. If there is no other class that works, they will still honor your discounted tickets to the parks. He also mentioned he can't remember ever having to cancel a class.

Cool...thanks for checking on that! We only had the choice of one class, so our options were limited

(and did the color scheme for this forum change today?)

[mclyd]

Originally Posted by mjaclyn

Hi all,
I'm posting this question here because I remember hearing on the podcast that Theresa enrolled her daughter in the Disney Youth Education Series and I had a couple of questions.

First, do you know if the programs are based on grade or age? I saw a program that is for kids in grades 1-6 but it also said ages 6-11. My DD will be in 1st Grade in September but doesn't turn 6 until October. Does this mean she would not be able to participate in the September 21st program even though she is in 1st Grade because she has not turned 6 yet?

Second, I saw another program that my DD would be interested in and the age is 5-8 years. However, there are no dates scheduled during our upcoming trip to WDW. Does anyone know if they would schedule one for us if we had a group of children that met their minimum number of students required to have it?

Thanks so much for any information you can share! I'm going to try and call them tomorrow and see if I can talk to someone about it as well.

We used these tickets to get discounted prices to Disney in Sept 2012. We did it with our individual kids--not a group, and my daughter that turned 6 last week went to the 6 year old program. They never asked, and we never told. Just sayin...

[doconeill]

Originally Posted by mclyd

We used these tickets to get discounted prices to Disney in Sept 2012. We did it with our individual kids--not a group, and my daughter that turned 6 last week went to the 6 year old program. They never asked, and we never told. Just sayin...

But if they found out, they might not admit her to the class, and potentially invalidate your tickets or require you to pay the difference.

They are VERY strict on it. There is a really big thread on the YES program.

FYI, they completely changed the pricing model of the tickets now, such that it's not as good a deal as before - still a discount, but not as much, at least not for the adults.