Disney Y.E.S. Program

[julirina]

My girls are taking two YES classes on 10/2. I got an email confirmation for one class on 9/11, but none for the other. I emailed and got no reply...do you think I should keep waiting for an email confirmation for the other class, or call today?

 

[Mic]

I know everyone is curious about the Individual Enrollment program for January and beyond, so I am posting what I was told when I spoke to my Youth Group coordinator that I book my daycare groups through. I usually take a daycare group to Disney twice a year, but have had trouble getting enough kids the same age for a YES program the last 2 years. In the past Disney has worked with me, such as letting a 7-year-old attend a class intended for 8-12 year-olds if I did not have the required 10 kids any other way. Money has been an issue the last 2 years as well: I always purchase the tickets for the daycare children, and I haven't had an extra $2000 in a long time! Anyway, I had been seriously considering a trip for Nov. 8-13 of this year, to coincide with 2 days out of school, but was still coming up 2 kids short of the minimum required for a class. At about the same time, Disney Youth groups sent out their yearly brochure for 2013 classes/ticket prices, and CALLED ME to make sure I received it and see if I had questions. Right off the bat, the ticket prices caught my eye...they have gone up $16-20 EACH. One or two new classes have been added, and several claases had new names. And the classes are listed with the "grades" of the target kids (like "grades 3-6"), as opposed to "ages 8-12". With a registered Youth group, I have been able to purchase one parent ticket at the youth group price per child, and that has not been changed for groups. However, when I inquired about doing the Individual Enrollment in January if I could not get the minimum number in November, I was told the ticketing rules had changed for Ind. Enrollment. Starting next year, only the children attending the classes will qualify for youth group tickets, parents/siblings/grandparents will not receive the same discount. Nothing is official until Disney opens up the registration, of course, but my coordinator seemed sure this would be the rule. And she did not have the Jan/Feb class schedule yet...I asked. Since I only purchase tickets for the daycare kids, the rule will not affect me as much if I end up having to take 8 kids for Individual Enrollment, but it might have an impact on families counting on cheaper tickets for everyone. Just thought I would give everyone the heads up.

 

[eyes4eeyore]

That's not good at all. It changes everything for us. Thanks for the information.

 

[Ckmommy72]

Yes would for us as well...sigh...I hope this is another case of a misinformed CM.

 

[Mirax]

We will probably not take advantage of "YES" tickets as well if the entire family can not get tickets. I could only get one student in a class during the week that we are going. Would have loved to put both of my boys in a class but my eight year old was not intrested in the only class offered when we are going. Hope the people at "YES" take another "look" at there policies.

 

[willowsnn3]

This does not surprise me in the least. Just from looking at the number of new threads where someone was posting about the good deal they got on tickets for their whole family thru the yes program, I thought yep, Disney is gonna nip that right in the bud, lol.
It is in itself a great program and am thinking about using it to take some of my grandkids next year. I have an AP so not getting a discounted ticket for myself doesn't matter.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

UGH!!! That would change everything for our family too. I hope the CM was just misinformed.

 

[DawnM]

So this would only change things for Individual Enrollment, not for groups? Typically we do the homeschool enrollment, but the dates didn't mesh this year for when we could go.

This could change things for us too. I DO make all my kids take classes because I think they will enjoy them even if they don't *think* they will be interested.

But if all 3 kids are signed up for classes and DH and I still have to pay rack rate, that would change things.

Dawn

 

[houseful of boys]

It seems to me if they are going to give reduced tickets to the students, and if they require a chaperone to go with the student, then at the very least, they will have to offer a reduced ticket for the actual chaperone for that student too. Just my thought

 

[am12pm]

It seems to me if they are going to give reduced tickets to the students, and if they require a chaperone to go with the student, then at the very least, they will have to offer a reduced ticket for the actual chaperone for that student too. Just my thought

I totally agree that *surely* at least the required chaperone will be extended the discount.

 

[Colleen27]

It seems to me if they are going to give reduced tickets to the students, and if they require a chaperone to go with the student, then at the very least, they will have to offer a reduced ticket for the actual chaperone for that student too. Just my thought

I agree. I think to do otherwise would absolutely kill the popularity of the program and likely lead to far fewer offerings, because if the YES ticket is only available to the student it no longer seems worth not being able to get package discounts, not being able to purchase the dining plan, foregoing the other package inclusions, etc. It won't bother me because our next YES trip will likely be during my AP year and I'd actually rather not have to buy myself a YES ticket that I don't need, but it would be a shame to see such a great way to make Disney a little more educational and a little more affordable go away.

Did anyone else see the recent (last month, I think?) Disney Insider newsletter that featured the YES program? When I saw that I figured it was a sure thing that the steep ticket discounts would be coming to an end... They wouldn't want to tell all their subscribers about it otherwise!

 

[Granny square]

It would still work for us but we would no longer get ph or plus, because to add it to our tickets would be ridiculous.

 

[DawnM]

Well, if they do that it would work perfectly for us because our younger takes a different class so we can each chaperone each event and both adults still get the discount.

But it wouldn't surprise me if they aren't included.

Dawn

I totally agree that *surely* at least the required chaperone will be extended the discount.

 

[Mom2Ben02]

Oh my - that would be awful. If the chaperones got discounts, it would be ok - he could go with DS and I could go with DD. HOWEVER, that would mean taking classes two separate days - since DS2 could not attend classes.

I actually called Y.E.S. today myself, but did not get to talk to anyone. I got a message back saying that classes would be available in early October. Guess I will need to call again tomorrow...

 

[Mom2Ben02]

I am forseeing the revival of the Disboard "Homeschool Group" for group enrollments....

But that never happens. Just like there are no photopass shares

 

[Granny square]

Photopass share?

 

[blessedby3]

We have been going to WDW yearly for years now...and this is the first time we have done the YES program. I dont know how I have missed it all these years! I hate to hear that they will be changing the ticket for YES. We were able to get DD13 in a class she will love, and we get great discounts on tickets too Guess this may be the one and only time we get to do it I just dont see how it will be beneficial to families to have part of the family get YES tickets and then the others will be on their own to get their tickets. Seems like the YES program would possibly go out of business

 

[tinkermommyof3]

I was going to give this program a try next Summer. I hope it stays in tact. If it does not I will still enroll my 3 children. They were looking forward to taking a class. It will still be a good value IMO. Getting 3 tickets at a discount (children are Disney adults) is better than nothing. My husband and I would buy our tickets at Guest Services. We still come out ahead. Still hoping for that everything stays the same. But if it does not, look on the bright side.

 

[Mirax]

I did not sign my 10 year old up for the only class available during our stay because it is a class that focussed on 3d and vision, he can not see with the 3d glasses, he has depth preception problems. I didn't think it would be fair to sign him up for a class in which he would gain nothing but missery, while another student who would have loved to take the class couldn't because the class was closed.

If they do change the policy we probably will just go back to no PH or WP's but will stay on property and get free dinning!

 

[Mic]

Just to clarify that the YES program itself has been around for more than 15 years, but "Individual Enrollment" has only been going on a few years. The YES program for organized groups will likely continue even if Individual Enrollment does not. In the 15 years that I have personally participated in the YES program, the only major changes have been to ticketing policies. Up until 6 years ago, we could only get ONE chaperone ticket at the student price for every 5 students we had in the group: a group of 10 students qualified for only 2 chaperone tickets at the YES price. That was changed to the current policy, allowing one parent/chaperone ticket per student ticket purchased: a ticket order of 10 students can now include up to 10 parent/chaperone tickets at the student price. Whatever changes made to the Individual Enrollment program for 2013 could always be changed again.