Help me understand the YES program

[devalsam]

I have been itching to get back to Disney for so long now and I think this may be the year we do it! As a family of 6, we're hoping to do as much of a budget trip as we can. I keep seeing mention of the YES program around here and finally decided to check it out today. Some questions...

Is this program available to anyone or are there limits? I thought before that this was a homeschool program??

In reading the ticket prices, it says that with the student ticket purcases, you get 2 complimentary matching chaperone tickets. Is this only if you have a full 10 student group? There is no way I'll be able to get a 5 day park hopper for myself, DH and 3 DDs for $500 right??? I have to be reading this wrong because it seems too good to be true.

And while I have your attention, any other thoughts/tips you want to throw my way to help us get to Disney this year. I haven't been since 2006 and my husband, SD and 20 month old have never been!

TIA

 

[Marionnette]

I have been itching to get back to Disney for so long now and I think this may be the year we do it! As a family of 6, we're hoping to do as much of a budget trip as we can. I keep seeing mention of the YES program around here and finally decided to check it out today. Some questions...

Is this program available to anyone or are there limits? I thought before that this was a homeschool program??

In reading the ticket prices, it says that with the student ticket purcases, you get 2 complimentary matching chaperone tickets. Is this only if you have a full 10 student group? There is no way I'll be able to get a 5 day park hopper for myself, DH and 3 DDs for $500 right??? I have to be reading this wrong because it seems too good to be true.

And while I have your attention, any other thoughts/tips you want to throw my way to help us get to Disney this year. I haven't been since 2006 and my husband, SD and 20 month old have never been!

TIA

You're looking at the rules for the group enrollment in the YES program. Check the individual enrollment periods for your family. You can find it here:
http://www.disneyyouth.com/individual-enrollment/

 

[devalsam]

Hmm...still seems almost too good to be true. An individual YES program 5 day park hopper is $181.53 and a regular 5 day park hopper is $325.89. I have to be missing something, why wouldn't everyone be doing this???

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

You have to use individual enrollment and you have to buy tickets for every member of your family. For every kid you enroll you can buy an additional yes ticket for someone else. So if you enroll three of your kids in the class you can buy up to six yes tickets. You can get three day base tickets for around 150 each or three day hoppers for around 170 each.
It will save you a few hundred dollars if you have the half a day to spare that it is going to take for your kids to take the yes class.

I thought about doing yea tickets next time but we just don't have an extra half a day in our schedule to spare to save a few hundred dollars.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You're looking at the rules for the group enrollment in the YES program. Check the individual enrollment periods for your family. You can find it here:
http://www.disneyyouth.com/individual-enrollment/

You posted that link a few days ago somewhere else on here - been meaning to thank you!! We signed up for Y.E.S. on Monday night

Unfortunately, we were only able to get one DD in a class. The young one didn't have anything that interested her available the week we're going to be there (older DD spotted 3 LOL!). But, it'll be okay. I have no idea why the savings are so huge, but it really made a difference in how much we could afford to do at Disney and we're staying longer as a result.

Back to the OP, follow the link above and it kind of walks you through everything. Sorting by date was a big help for us, BTW. If you decide to sign up, you pick the class and enter everyone in your family, and then on the next page you will check boxes next to ONLY the people who are attending that class. You can only send one adult per child within a specific class, but you can buy all your tickets at once.

I *assume* that if you were to want more than one class or kids in different classes that you'd check all the classes at once on the first page, then assign the people that go to each one. We only did the one class, so I could be off on that.

edit: There's a spot early in the process where you have to mark your arrival date. The tickets are not good until that day. Be sure not to mess that part up - I did and caught it JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUST before the payment part, and went back to start over. Our original plan was to get to Orlando on Sunday or Monday, but because the Y.E.S. tickets were so much cheaper (and the 4-day was only $2 more than the 3-day), we need to move up our arrival date to Friday or Saturday in order to best take advantage of our tickets. I orignally had Sunday's date in there as the arrival and we could have shown up on Friday or Saturday only to find we were locked out of the park

 

[dsnyrn]

I believe the YES tickets are good 7 days prior and 7 days after your scheduled trip.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I believe the YES tickets are good 7 days prior and 7 days after your scheduled trip.

My receipt shows they may be picked up on the arrival date that I entered, and good 7 days after the departure date I entered.

Just double-checked to be sure

 

[tzolkin]

Hmm...still seems almost too good to be true. An individual YES program 5 day park hopper is $181.53 and a regular 5 day park hopper is $325.89. I have to be missing something, why wouldn't everyone be doing this???

You really have to go looking for the information (unless you're on the Disboards ) so everyone doesn't know about it.

The tickets are non-refundable and you cannot do a package with dining so some may not feel those limitations are worth the savings.

Also...
-The classes are only for a limited number of students (some report 10-15 per class) and there are only a few offered each week.
-They have different age limits that your child may not meet (ex. There is only one class that a 5yo can take the entire month of August).
- When registration opened recently several classes sold out the first day.

So, the likelihood of there being an open class that your child meets the age requirement for during the dates you were planning to go is pretty slim unless you've been watching the YES website well in advance and planning your trip aroun it.

 

[dsnyrn]

"Tickets are valid for theme park admission beginning with your indicated Arrival Date and for 7 days after your indicated Departure Date."

I am so thankful to the DIS boards. I would not have known about this program without the great members here!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I am so thankful to the DIS boards. I would not have known about this program without the great members here!!

10-4 - not a huge savings for us as we extended our time (originally a 2-day ticket with WP add-on, now a 4-day park hopper + WP). Actually, will cost us MORE overall by the time we figure in the room & food, but the price per day is WAY down making it a much better bargain, even if it's not really a "cheaper" option than the original plan

 

[crusoe2]

First off, thank you so much to the folks sharing information on this program. Now for my question - We are a family of 4 but DS will be 20 on our next trip. Looks like only our 9yo DD will in the right age range to participate in any of the programs. We are thinking of moving our trip dates and going a couple of weeks later and there are several programs still open for that week. Sounds like we'd definitely be able to get the YES price on tickets for DD, DH, and me. But what about DS? Since he is a 3rd adult in our party, would we have to pay full price for his ticket or could we get his thru the YES program also? Thanks again for all the info.

 

[LisaNJ25]

"Tickets are valid for theme park admission beginning with your indicated Arrival Date and for 7 days after your indicated Departure Date."

I am so thankful to the DIS boards. I would not have known about this program without the great members here!![/QUOTE

yep this board is great. We saved over $600 on park tickets.

 

[tzolkin]

First off, thank you so much to the folks sharing information on this program. Now for my question - We are a family of 4 but DS will be 20 on our next trip. Looks like only our 9yo DD will in the right age range to participate in any of the programs. We are thinking of moving our trip dates and going a couple of weeks later and there are several programs still open for that week. Sounds like we'd definitely be able to get the YES price on tickets for DD, DH, and me. But what about DS? Since he is a 3rd adult in our party, would we have to pay full price for his ticket or could we get his thru the YES program also? Thanks again for all the info.

You would need to purchase a separate ticket for your DS.

You can only purchase tickets for two adults per family registration.


Depending on how many days you're going and what options (PH, WP), the savings on your YES tickets will likely pay for your DS's ticket.

 

[Colleen27]

Hmm...still seems almost too good to be true. An individual YES program 5 day park hopper is $181.53 and a regular 5 day park hopper is $325.89. I have to be missing something, why wouldn't everyone be doing this???

Because the classes are only offered at certain times of year and fill quickly, and because many people just don't know about it. We did our first YES trip last month and loved it, so much so that my DD10 has asked that we plan our future visits around when classes are available because there are two others she wants to take.

There are some downsides, though. The tickets are non-refundable so you need to be really sure of dates before booking. The summer classes seem to fill fairly quickly, so you need to be ready to book when they open for registration. You can't upgrade the tickets at all so you need to book the most inclusive tix that you expect to need. And because you're getting the tickets through the program you can't add dining or get the free dining offer.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You would need to purchase a separate ticket for your DS.

You can only purchase tickets for two adults per family registration.

Mostly true, and it is in their case.

However, for a family of 6 where 1 child was adult age, they should be able to have their adult child be a chaperone to one of the younger ones. If I'm reading the rules correctly, you can purchase 1 adult ticket for every child ticket. They allow 2 adult tickets if you only have 1 child enrolled.

Depending on how many days you're going and what options (PH, WP), the savings on your YES tickets will likely pay for your DS's ticket.

^^^This

 

[tzolkin]

Mostly true, and it is in their case.

However, for a family of 6 where 1 child was adult age, they should be able to have their adult child be a chaperone to one of the younger ones. If I'm reading the rules correctly, you can purchase 1 adult ticket for every child ticket. They allow 2 adult tickets if you only have 1 child enrolled.

That is what I meant when I said one "family transaction" but that may not have been the clearest choice of words. For example, I have three children but can only purchase two adult tickets when registering us together as a family. (Two kids taking class A and one taking class B, so only two chaperones are allowed.)

If I had registered each child separately I would have been able to purchase 3adult chaperone tickets. (However, it's possible the class may fill between transactions and one child winds up being left out)

 

[tlh0726]

That is what I meant when I said one "family transaction" but that may not have been the clearest choice of words. For example, I have three children but can only purchase two adult tickets when registering us together as a family. (Two kids taking class A and one taking class B, so only two chaperones are allowed.)

If I had registered each child separately I would have been able to purchase 3adult chaperone tickets. (However, it's possible the class may fill between transactions and one child winds up being left out)

3 children would allow you to purchase 3 adult tickets

2 children taking class A would allow 1 adult to chaperone
1 child taking class B would allow 1 adult to chaperone

The 3rd adult would not be able to attend a class as a chaperone.

If each child would be taking a different class (a,b,&c) all 3 adults could then chaperone a child

 

[kive1484]

Another YES question. If I have a child that can not take a course because he is too young will I have to buy him a full price ticket or can I get one of these reduced tickets for him. On the website it says you can buy tickets for immediate family members and adult chaperones. So can you get the discounted tickets for younger siblings then?

 

[LisaNJ25]

Another YES question. If I have a child that can not take a course because he is too young will I have to buy him a full price ticket or can I get one of these reduced tickets for him. On the website it says you can buy tickets for immediate family members and adult chaperones. So can you get the discounted tickets for younger siblings then?

yes.. I was able to get my 6yo a ticket. The didn't have any classes for his age that week but had one for 7yo 3 days before his birthday but I know they are strict with the age.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

yes.. I was able to get my 6yo a ticket. The didn't have any classes for his age that week but had one for 7yo 3 days before his birthday but I know they are strict with the age.

Same for us.