YES program with package discount...

[loganjared]

Okay I know this has been discussed before but this is what I was told yesterday. I called the YES program and after I didn't believe them I called Disney reservations and they told me the same thing. If you have a package with a discount (the examples I gave were percent off room or free dining) you can still get the discounted tickets with YES. Disney reservations told me to qualify for the discounts with a package you only have to have one day of park tickets. I clarified and said, so I free dining for example came out before my trip in June I could have 8 days at my resort, free dining for my entire stay and one day of park tickets and then get my remaining 7 days of tickets at the discounted price through the YES program. She even double checked with someone else and they said yes because it is totally separate.
Even after that I am still leery. Thoughts? Has anyone ever really done this?
It also makes me nervous b/c the YES tickets are non-refundable. Will they let you change dates if you had to change your vaca dates?
Thanks to anyone that can help me with this

 

[Music City Mama]

I'm kind of interested in this, as well, but even if you could get the discounted package (% off room or FD) with YES tickets, as they said, you'd still have to buy one day tickets as part of the package. So, that's the most expensive part --Day 1 of tickets. For your family of 4, that would be an extra $350. So, it really wouldn't be a savings -- the only benefit would be that you could participate in the actual program (which I'm sure is way cool/fun) for about the same total price as if you weren't doing the program. Since I'm staying at the S/D next time, this might make sense for us because we'd get those discounted tickets. I just don't like the idea of the non-refundable part and spending 3 hours somewhere when we all couldn't participate (my younger one is too young). I think this whole YES thing is so mysterious (lots of unanswered questions) that maybe my analysis of it is wrong, but this is how I'm thinking it would go down.

 

[loganjared]

Thanks for pointing that out! I was so focused on the discount I didn't even look at how high 1 day of tickets would cost. I would actually pay a little more to do it that way. I think I will stick to getting my entire package together like I always have, then I won't have to worry about no refunds as well.

 

[TDC Nala]

For free dining you have to buy 2 day tickets. So the cost is higher.

 

[mydisneyobsession]

We are participating in the YES program and November. We saved a lot of money on tickets, but it did limit our options. I worked the numbers many, many different ways, and the only way we would actually save money was by booking a room only discount. I bought a season pass for myself, YES tickets for the rest of the family, and we'll be using Tables in Wonderland for discounts on food, rather than free dining. The end result is a big savings, but I had to pass up many offers that came along later because they required a ticket purchase.

We're very excited to see how the YES program will work, and we've already signed up for YES open enrollment at Disneyland in February. It's a unique experience for our kids that doesn't require additional cost, and instead saves us some money! I think it's a great program, and I hope to take advantage whenever I can... for our family a room discount seems to work out better, anyway.

 

[mydisneyobsession]

Also, I believe you can get a refund on YES tickets up to five days before your trip. Hopefully, someone will be along that can confirm or deny that.