Disney Y.E.S. Program

[Burnedout]

Yes, that is EXACTYL what I need !

Thank you so much.

I have 1 parent that is really just difficult to work with and I want it to be plain and clear in writting before we purchase the tickets what the policy is.

You might want to make a firm for parents to sign since you have one who is trouble. or have them sign a copy of that page.

 

[hoffmann2828]

You might want to make a firm for parents to sign since you have one who is trouble. or have them sign a copy of that page.

I agree with this. We are going to Disney in June 2015 with my GS troop and we are making a contract. It will list dates deposits have to be in by, how much is refundable/not, etc. I am over cautious when it comes to stuff like this, but it does help. No one can claim something different, it's in black and white.

 

[ICan'tWait]

For those we have gone in the last couple months, what was the expiration like on your tickets? For instance last year the tickets were good for a week before and a week after our visit. This year I received a confirmation that stated our tickets expired 14 days after I wanted to pick them up. However, we were planning on picking up a day before use and wanted them to be good a full 14 days after that. How did the expiration dates work on your tickets? Also, any advice for picking up Downtown Disney the evening before, ie, how late and where to go exactly?

 

[khaoskat]

I have set our pick up day a day early, in case our arrival plans change, and they expire (per the e-mail confirmation I got) 14 days after what our scheduled pick up date is.

I think they have made changes from last year from everything I have read..price increases and different time frame for tickets....

I will say I have tried putting them into MDE, and it will not take the numbers I have been given....so I think it will put you out of the running for FP+ and Magic Bands.

 

[Burnedout]

The homeschool ticket have different criteria than the yes tickets if it is like January was. There was no room for squishy in them.

 

[poohgirl6]

I keep reading threads/posts about how all tickets are being converted to RFID and within a few weeks, paper tickets (or non-RFID) tickets will not work.

Has anyone lately picked up their YES tickets and had to convert them to RFID? Just wondering if this was a problem. I know (or I think I know) that they cannot be added onto the Magic Bands, so will they just be converted to a regular KTTW RFID card?

All of this new technology makes me slightly nervous

 

[DVCBELLE]

We were there last week and got an RFID card...they don't have paper tickets anymore. You will not have to do any converting but the ticket won't be attached to your room key.

Are you part of magic band testing? I am not sure how that works if you have a band.
If you aren't part of the testing - you will get the tickets and then have a separate room key - its pretty easy. And the best thing is that your room keys AND park tickets can get FP right now.

 

[Granny square]

We were there last week and got an RFID card...they don't have paper tickets anymore. You will not have to do any converting but the ticket won't be attached to your room key.

Are you part of magic band testing? I am not sure how that works if you have a band.
If you aren't part of the testing - you will get the tickets and then have a separate room key - its pretty easy. And the best thing is that your room keys AND park tickets can get FP right now.

So you can get fp+ fp's? Or only use them like the original tickets?

 

[DVCBELLE]

So you can get fp+ fp's? Or only use them like the original tickets?

You can only get FP+ if you are part of the magic band testing.

Right now - Disney is allowing ALL room keys to get regular Fastpasses. This is so those with Magicbands can also use the regular fastpass system. But they had to enable all Disney room keys to get Fastpasses to do this.

So if your ticket is NOT associated to your KTTW card - then you can use your tickets and your KTTW card to get fastpasses.

 

[doconeill]

So you can get fp+ fp's?

Only if you are part of the MagicBand testing. and I don't recall hearing from anyone who used YES tickets with the testing yet.

Otherwise they work just like the old tickets for getting Fastpasses.

 

[CluelessDisFan]

OK, I just got off the phone with Disney YES Individual and they were very helpful with info.

He too was able to point me to the policy, but he also gave some info about when to expect the schedule for summer 2014.

He said this year they weren't able to release the spring/summer schedule until Feb, but that this year they are hoping to have it in Oct for 2014 spring/summer.

Thank you for this information. i was counting on February, but now will be on the look out come October.

 

[Granny square]

Thanks for the fp answers. Staying offsite so won't have room keys.

 

[DVCBELLE]

We did the Disney Animation History ages 8 to 11yrs last week and really enjoyed it.

First a few things I didn't love:
1. It started at 7:45 and that was not a good thing. My 10 year old was not okay getting up that early...I wish they had started the program a little later.

2. It was our day at HS and we could not get FPs for Toy Story Mania...by the time we finished the tickets were for late at night - when we were going to Fantasmic. I had my DH come get the FPs...some families had people waiting to get the tickets once the group entered the park...

3. Part of the class is seeing the Animation presentation and the movie about Walt...my kids had never seen either so it was fine but I would think if your kids had seen this it would have been boring.

We started the morning out walking backstage from the entrance over to the bathrooms on Sunset...my kids LOVED this!! I think it was their favorite part. It was fun for them to see it ...
Then we sat down at the counter service across from Beauty and the Beast and learned about early animation. She had some old toys that used to be used in animation and the kids got to make their own early one that was a disk that you drew on both sides and flipped around. They enjoyed that.

Then we went over to the animation building and saw the Mushu presentation...since my kids had never seen it, they did think it was funny. After that we did an animation class...my kids were so happy because I don't usually like to wait for one.

After that we sat down in the room with the Oscars and she talked to them about storyboards and the process of making an animated movie. My kids were never bored and even the 10 year old who was grumpy and mad that he had to get up so early was engaged and having fun.

Then we went over to One Man's Dream...they were each given a question to find the answer to in the exhibit. They were given the date so it was easy to find and then we all met back up and talked about what they had found. Then we got to explore on our own for about 5-10 minutes and then went into the movie. That was the end of the class.

We really enjoyed it, loved our guide and it was very interesting. My son said he only wants to do one again if it is later...my 11 year old daughter can't wait to try another one now.

 

[jpuglvr]

Thank you do much for posting your review of the animation class we r taking it in sept with my 8 yo and its good to see it wasn't boring. I had read some less than favorable reviews of it after I had booked her for it

 

[Disneyforus]

We did the Disney Animation History ages 8 to 11yrs last week and really enjoyed it.

First a few things I didn't love:
1. It started at 7:45 and that was not a good thing. My 10 year old was not okay getting up that early...I wish they had started the program a little later.

2. It was our day at HS and we could not get FPs for Toy Story Mania...by the time we finished the tickets were for late at night - when we were going to Fantasmic. I had my DH come get the FPs...some families had people waiting to get the tickets once the group entered the park...

3. Part of the class is seeing the Animation presentation and the movie about Walt...my kids had never seen either so it was fine but I would think if your kids had seen this it would have been boring.

We started the morning out walking backstage from the entrance over to the bathrooms on Sunset...my kids LOVED this!! I think it was their favorite part. It was fun for them to see it ...
Then we sat down at the counter service across from Beauty and the Beast and learned about early animation. She had some old toys that used to be used in animation and the kids got to make their own early one that was a disk that you drew on both sides and flipped around. They enjoyed that.

Then we went over to the animation building and saw the Mushu presentation...since my kids had never seen it, they did think it was funny. After that we did an animation class...my kids were so happy because I don't usually like to wait for one.

After that we sat down in the room with the Oscars and she talked to them about storyboards and the process of making an animated movie. My kids were never bored and even the 10 year old who was grumpy and mad that he had to get up so early was engaged and having fun.

Then we went over to One Man's Dream...they were each given a question to find the answer to in the exhibit. They were given the date so it was easy to find and then we all met back up and talked about what they had found. Then we got to explore on our own for about 5-10 minutes and then went into the movie. That was the end of the class.

We really enjoyed it, loved our guide and it was very interesting. My son said he only wants to do one again if it is later...my 11 year old daughter can't wait to try another one now.

Another review of the History of Animation from this week, the older kids group.
I went with my 12 and 14 yr old and another friend and daughter who was 12 as well.

Much the same experience as the above poster mentioned, but no "backstage" walk. But, we did not "love" it. We had done every single thing already on previous trips...we were really hoping for more personal behind the scenes animation experience. We didn't learn much of anything new...but that's just us...my 12 yr old is aspiring to be an animator so she is well versed in animation things. We all, kids and adults included felt a little let down. I was actually wathing my watch, waiting to be done. :-(
Luckily we had given our park passes to my friend husband so he got us some FP right when the park opened.
So, bottom line...it you have never toured yourself through animation hall you will probably get something out of this class...but if you have already done that and are looking for more...this isn't the class.

 

[tink&stitchmom]

Only if you are part of the MagicBand testing. and I don't recall hearing from anyone who used YES tickets with the testing yet.

Otherwise they work just like the old tickets for getting Fastpasses.

We were part of the testing group last month. We were able to link our YES tickets to the band after we picked up our tickets. I was not able to use the confirmation code to link the tickets prior to our trip.

 

[staciepm]

We had the same experience with magicbands. We could not make fp+s in advance which had me nervous. In the end it worked out really well. Once we arrived and picked up our hard tickets, I was able to link them to the bands and make fp+s. This actually worked extremely well for us. We had separate room tickets, park tickets and fp+, which allowed us to triple dip on fps. We rarely used all three methods (we did not need to).

My son and I went to the Animal Behaviors class with Maria. She was great. We enjoyed the class and learning about the animals. The main problem was that it was HOT! The YES Program can not make August cool.LOL. This class is entirely outside around the animal exhibits and on the Safari. My DS 11 and I did enjoy the class. We rarely take the time to view the animals in our need to get to Everest and other rides.

My DD 14 seemed to enjoy her photography class in Epcot. They spent time in Future World and ended in the World Showcase. They did ride Spaceship Earth, but that was the only ride.

I do have to give praise to Dave in the Yes Program Office. We had several hurdles in getting to Disney this summer and he worked hard to help us work with our challenges. Not only was he able to fix our problems, but he always seemed happy to help. (and even remembered us on the third call. LOL)

We enjoyed the experience and if we take another long trip, we will take other classes.

 

[gilsan]

We had the same experience with magicbands. We could not make fp+s in advance which had me nervous. In the end it worked out really well. Once we arrived and picked up our hard tickets, I was able to link them to the bands and make fp+s. This actually worked extremely well for us. We had separate room tickets, park tickets and fp+, which allowed us to triple dip on fps. We rarely used all three methods (we did not need to).

This is interesting to learn, I have a few questions. Did you link the tickets to the bands yourself using MDE?, or did you do it when you checked in? Were you able to choose your band colour or did you have the grey ones?

We are doing the Animal Behaviours class in September I am glad to hear you enjoyed it.

 

[JayhawkFans]

Still running numbers to see what makes the most financial sense for our trip coming up in just a few weeks. Provided that the YES Class is still available when we finally decide to book it ... here are my questions.

1) Will it be a huge hassle to add the YES tickets to our Magic Bands? We have Magic Bands but they will not be activated until we check into POP on Sunday, 9/29 and the YES class would be on Tuesday 9/24. (We are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for a few nights before our Dream cruise.)

2) Provided they can add the YES tickets to our Magic Bands when we pick up the tickets on 9/23 .. would we be able to go ahead and make our FP+ selections for the 29th and 30th.

I really want to try out the Magic Bands and FP+ but didn't know how early you have to make your FP+ selections ..

 

[piglet33]

My daughter took the Disney Animation History for ages 8 to 11 on 8/27 and loved it. We did the backstage tour and drew Pluto, which is her favorite character. Our guide was really informative and gave great insight to the world of animation. My daughter was not bored at all. In fact, she loved it so much and wants to do another YES class in the future. The class was a little earlier than we wanted, but it worked out great, because otherwise it would have taken a lot more parktime and pooltime than we would have wanted.

As soon as we were done, we headed to the get our Fast Passes for TSM. The return time was around 7pm so we headed to lunch and then back to our resort for swimming since it was so hot. Then we went back to HS and walked right on TSM when there was a 95 minute wait. Star Tours was also a walk on and so was RNR. So glad we went back when it was cooler and a lot less people. We got so much done during that time.