YES-Program

[Oz!]

I did not know where to put this, but since I first heard about the YES program on the Budget forum, I thought this would be a great place to put it.

We went to WDW last July. I enrolled my oldest son, who was a 11 at the time in a class at Hollywood Studios. The class was great. I went with him, while my wife and other son had a morning together at the Magic Kingdom. The class was great. I wish I could remember the teachers name, but she did a great job including all the students and even the parents in the discussion. It was really cool, because we were able to see parts of Disney that only the CM get to see. She literally took us on the back lot. My son enjoyed the class and the experience. If it had not been for that class, my son would have never discovered his favorite ride at WDW, the Rock n Roll roller coaster. At the end of the class, we ended up at the RnR. The lesson was to see how many hidden mickeys we could find while walking through the ride que. Then the everybody was able to ride the ride. My son who hates roller coasters would not have any part of this. The other students younger and older all tried to talk him into riding it. But he still said No! The teacher had already said she was not going to ride it, but had encouraged the class to ride it. My son ducked out the exist at the loading station with the teacher. I rode it and loved it. The very next day, My son said he wanted to ride it. So he i and I rode it together and he absolutely loved it. I think in all he and I rode it about 12 times in a two day period.

I would like to thank Disney for the YES program and I have already written a formal letter to the YES office at Disney. We will defiantly try to use this again when we go to WDW.

 

[Local_Girl]

Thanks for posting Oz! I just wanted to add my .02 also...the YES program is great!

My 2 kids participated in a recent class at the MK at the end of Nov. that was organized by a fellow DISer (thanks again Jeanne!). They were the oldest in the class at ages 14 and 17, and were a bit apprehensive about going with younger kids (the class they attended was for kids through high school). But at the end of the 3 hour class, they both said it was awesome--their words, not mine. DH and I didn't attend (there were other chaperones and I thought the younger kids might want their folks along) so we don't know exactly what the Disney folks did that made it so interesting, but kudos to them for a great program! Not only did my kids learn something and have fun at the same time, but we got a great deal on our park tickets. I'd recommend it to anyone!