Disney Y.E.S. Program

[Marty1966]

We go that same time frame (Feb 1-8) and it looks like they offer classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are staying into the next week, you could sign up for one then. It looks like there are still openings for classes on the 11th, 12th and 13th.

Thank you. Unfortunately we are there from the 6th (afternoon) to to 10th

 

[3angelsmom]

I wanted to let people know what happened to me with our YES tickets. We are here now, and picked up our tickets on October 25. Yesterday we had a 8:25 breakfast at the castle, so we were rushing in to make our reservation. As we attempted to enter MK we were told our passes had expired the day before.

We went to the ticket booth and the CM there was adamant that there was no way that the expiry date was wrong and the only way we would get in is to buy another ticket. If we hadn't already paid $150 for breakfast we would have just gone back to the room to get our original confirmation. So we paid the additional money. It put a damper on the day to say the least we had no plans to pay more for tickets, we also have 2 more days left on our trip and other reservations I hadn't cancelled and would have to pay a no show fee for. We were looking at an extra $750 to finish the trip. I wasn't hopeful the YES tickets could be fixed based on what we were told at the gate.

When we got back to the room I found our original confirmation and that the expiry was suppose to be November 14 So at nearly 10pm with an exhausted 7 year old we had to go to guest services at downtown Disney. It took nearly 2 hours but they were able to refund our purchased ticket and give us comp tickets to replace the days lost from the YES tickets. Between the time spent that morning and then in the evening we spent nearly 3 hours trying to fix a mistake that was not ours

The moral of the story check the expiry date printed on your tickets when you pick them up. I didn't and it caused a real headache.

So sorry that happened to you!
Thanks for sharing this. I have our ADR confirmation #s on a spreadsheet but it didn't occur to me that I should keep the ticket info handy, too, as this is our first year in the YES program. Hopefully your story will help others avoid the problems you experienced.

 

[nan1217]

I'm sure the answer to this is somewhere but I don't know where to find it.

On the website I see they only have dates for January and February and I hear people talking about early Summer and Fall. Do they offer programs in the Spring typically? We are going in the first week of May and just wondering what the liklihood is that they will be offering something then. TIA

Historically, classes for the rest of the year have been posted in February. There are not classes every month though.

 

[twoplustwins]

Due to the rather large price increase for my family (over $500 more), we will not be doing a YES class in 2013.

 

[HoltDisney07]

I just checked the prices and this would also run our family $500 more over last year. I then checked the regular prices and it is hardly a difference! Guess we won't be doing the Y.E.S program again.

Due to the rather large price increase for my family (over $500 more), we will not be doing a YES class in 2013.

 

[hsmamato2]

This is absurd! When I called last week, I was told there would be a small price increase! Not almost 50%! I have called and have an email address to lodge a formal complaint. I think we might just buy regular tickets.

and get no discount?

 

[racefanof88]

I have a question that I am sure has been asked a million times, but here goes ...........We are going the last weekend in November and there isn't a class my son would enjoy (he isn't the performing type). There won't be 10 of us, just 3, so can I still get the tickets? I looked at the field trip option and I could not find if there were limits on that?!? We homeschool and it is only my son so we won't ever have a group of 10 or more. Also what is the meal ticket option all about? Thanks!!

 

[cel_disney]

I have a question that I am sure has been asked a million times, but here goes ...........We are going the last weekend in November and there isn't a class my son would enjoy (he isn't the performing type). There won't be 10 of us, just 3, so can I still get the tickets? I looked at the field trip option and I could not find if there were limits on that?!? We homeschool and it is only my son so we won't ever have a group of 10 or more. Also what is the meal ticket option all about? Thanks!!

I am confused - you want to know if you can get the discounted tickets without taking a class? The answer to that is no.

 

[racefanof88]

I am confused - you want to know if you can get the discounted tickets without taking a class? The answer to that is no.

I was wondering how the field trip worked? There aren't any individual classes being offered while we are there. The only classes are for 10 or more.

 

[cel_disney]

I was wondering how the field trip worked? There aren't any individual classes being offered while we are there. The only classes are for 10 or more.

I cant seem to copy paste the field trip wording - but it seems pretty clear that The field trip is a group of 10 or more youth from your qualifying youth organization....(school, church group, etc)

You cannot take advantage of this as an individual.

 

[lisalis]

I am sad about the change as well. We were going to do the YES program next August for about $1000 for the 5 of us, in addition to a few days at Universal. I cannot talk my older boys into just Disney, so it will be just Universal for us next year

It still has a discount, but not enough for us to justify doing both this time. I'm thinking an adults only trip is in order for DH and I next fall since we have a bit of Rewards points on our Disney card.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I am just now learning about the changes to the Y.E.S. program's park ticket pricing and under individual enrollment the park tickets for our family now wouldn't be much different than purchasing them through Undercover Tourist, probably more I think. When I first learned about the Y.E.S. program and how we could save over $600 on park tickets for our family, I thought it was too good to be true. I guess the word got out and this good thing (the steep park ticket discount) came to an end. I still think the classes sound pretty neat and interesting and are a great educational experience all around.

 

[torinsmom]

I guess Disney feels that people who really want to have the class experience will appreciate the chance. I think they opened it up to give the YES program more exposure, and now that they have that, they have lowered the discounts. Still a good deal if you want the classes, but not for others who don't want to miss rope drop for a small discount.

 

[Granny square]

Disney charged really high fees for the classes they had with the disney institute. It is a privilege to take these classes. Unfortunately some people saw them as a discount program rathe than an opportunity.

 

[jcemom]

Disney charged really high fees for the classes they had with the disney institute. It is a privilege to take these classes. Unfortunately some people saw them as a discount program rathe than an opportunity.

I'm not so sure I consider them a privilege. We've taken two classes. One was okay, the other was downright boring. Some parts of the classes were interesting, especially knowing we were getting a nice ticket discount in exchange for attending. Even with the better of the two, I know at times I couldn't wait for it to be over so we could get on with the 'fun part' of our vacation. I'm sure DD felt the same way. It just wasn't good enough for us to prefer that class over Soarin' or Everest or pretty much anything else there is to do at Disney World. The more boring of the two classes felt like ten hours rather than three. I'd have rather been sitting on a bench people watching lol.

To be honest, if the classes were absolutely free to attend, we'd try to fit one in. If we had to pay to attend, we wouldn't do it unless there were huge improvements to the program. Based on my experience with the two classes we've attended, I wouldn't even pay $10 per person for the "privilege" of attending another one. With a ticket discount, however, they're basically paying ME to attend, and that changes things.

With the smaller discount they're now offering, we won't likely be planning for any more YES classes anyway...unless they have an interesting homeschool days program. Then I'd consider it. I don't mean the classes, but the one or two hour presentation they give. Some of those have sounded pretty good, but so far they haven't worked with our schedule. I really would have liked to attend the Ridley Pearson one a while back.

 

[letsgoreds]

Disney charged really high fees for the classes they had with the disney institute. It is a privilege to take these classes. Unfortunately some people saw them as a discount program rathe than an opportunity.

I agree with you 100%. I am really looking forward to our first class in January : ) Given the discounts for the kids, it still remains a better deal than undercover tourist by several hundred $$$ for most. Perhaps they will reduce the 'non-refundability' of the package since the deals aren't insane.

 

[PammyPoppins]

Disney charged really high fees for the classes they had with the disney institute. It is a privilege to take these classes. Unfortunately some people saw them as a discount program rathe than an opportunity.

I also totally agree with you!
PammyPoppins

 

[Granny square]

I think you get out of something what you put in.

 

[jcemom]

I think you get out of something what you put in.

I agree with that, in general. However, it is difficult to get anything out of a class that is ridiculously easy and quite boring. (Well, we got a great ticket discount out of it, LOL.)

 

[jcemom]

Perhaps they will reduce the 'non-refundability' of the package since the deals aren't insane.

Perhaps. That would be nice.