Youth Group ticket price increase went up 40%

[walt-sent-me]

Some of you might know about this already, but for those of you who don't Disney has a program called Youth Education Series, or Y.E.S. Program. You have to have at least 10 students to qualify (I think it's 10 - we always take more). Through this program you get a session (2-3 hours roughly) where a Disney instructor takes the kids through one of their offered educational options. This session is determined before you arrive and when you order your tickets. Many of these sessions go behind the scenes. While the time spent in this educational experience is very perky and Disney-fied, most of the series are pretty interesting. The great thing about this program is that the tickets are extremely low. We get a 4 day park hopper for cheap, cheap, cheap. Because the group we typically take is interested in performance (we never perform there by the way), we always choose the Behind the Scenes at La Nouba. Of course, you have to attend a Cirque performance prior to attending the session; that's an extra charge. But, like I said, our group is into the performance thing so we'd be going to La Nouba anyway. We are about to go this trip next week. It's a 7 day trip with 2 of those days travel days...we stay on property, 4 day hopper pass, La Nouba performance, The YES program session, and a resort mug...4 kids to a room and the cost per person was $600. Also, two of the park hoppers are complimentary for the chaperones. I'm tellin' ya, the YES program offering is a super deal. We let each person pay for their own meals.

 

[xstech25]

Disney is so successful now they don't need to try and fill the parks with these groups during "low periods" anymore (which is why they were getting these discounted tickets in the first place).

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Disney is so successful now they don't need to try and fill the parks with these groups during "low periods" anymore (which is why they were getting these discounted tickets in the first place).

Oh lord. I've never taken my kids during a low period in the 5 trips we've gone on. Spring Break baby. Lol we are only allowed to take 2days off school so I plan it to back up with break.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Oh lord. I've never taken my kids during a low period in the 5 trips we've gone on. Spring Break baby. Lol we are only allowed to take 2days off school so I plan it to back up with break.

Well, Spring Break is peak season. Tho the rest of the year is busy. There arent low periods anymore. A few days here and there and thats it.

 

[bethymouse]

Price increases all around.

 

[Mouse_Trap]

It does. The next recession ( which is sooner rather than later).

They didn't stop increasing prices during the last recession.

 

[punkabella]

Sorry for the groups of students that this may affect, but I won't miss a decline in students based on the way they act if this this last trip of mine in May is any indication. Chaperones in only two groups were "active" while the others just let the kids be brats. I had to actually get in front of a chaperone to ask a kid to stop hitting the "straw" container so he wouldn't touch every straw that was in the container. Did the chaperone say anything or have the child pick up the straws on the ground or the ones he touched? Nope. I did it because it was so annoying.

 

[worldfanatic]

I:m not the least bit bothered by this news.

 

[AEfx]

Now, are these the tickets that the cheerleading groups get? Given how they seem to be second only to Brazilian tour groups in the amount of enmity garnered by posters here, it's possible that Disney raised prices in a way to cut down on some of the complaints without actually having to address the issue.

LOL as a crochety mid-30's male with no kids I'd like to think so, .

From what I understand, for obvious reasons (large numbers of youths per chaperone, away from home, no parents), the youth groups that go are very taxing on resources. They require the most calls to Disney security, steal the most (I was told a few years back that by far the biggest "shrink" at WDW happens during the Night of Joy events which are largely attended by said youth groups), and generally are the cause of most guest complaints that involve disruptive behavior of other guests.

And, of course, they spend far less per person on food, lodging, and legitimately purchased souvenirs as well than your average guest.

That said, @PhotoDave219 is probably correct, doubtful it was thought through this much - was likely just a "let's see how far we can push this" thing than actually to do with the groups themselves.

 

[PhotoDave219]

LOL as a crochety mid-30's male with no kids I'd like to think so, .

From what I understand, for obvious reasons (large numbers of youths per chaperone, away from home, no parents), the youth groups that go are very taxing on resources. They require the most calls to Disney security, steal the most (I was told a few years back that by far the biggest "shrink" at WDW happens during the Night of Joy events which are largely attended by said youth groups), and generally are the cause of most guest complaints that involve disruptive behavior of other guests.

And, of course, they spend far less per person on food, lodging, and legitimately purchased souvenirs as well than your average guest.

That said, @PhotoDave219 is probably correct, doubtful it was thought through this much - was likely just a "let's see how far we can push this" thing than actually to do with the groups themselves.

I'm fine with the Brazillians, @Matt_Black. Far better behaved than large groups of American teenagers.

 

[Dwarful]

We went with our high school marching band. Our district required 4 students to 1 adult supervision. Our trip was 5 days/4 nights 4 day park hopper passes. We added two days on to our trip and it was $11 per person per day to add additional days on our passes, but I was only able to do this in the activity building at Sports. Our whole trip was 997 per person - kids were 4 to a room, adults were 2 to a room. We had a sit down meal everyday and then meal gift cards to be used however we wanted. If I remember correctly the cost of the park tickets was in the neighborhood of $179 pp.

 

[AEfx]

We went with our high school marching band. Our district required 4 students to 1 adult supervision.

Props to your district. That's exceedingly rare, usually the ratio is much higher - and a lot of the "adults" aren't that much older than the kids (college-age, etc.). If everyone did that, youth groups wouldn't have the rep they have.

 

[mcatch729]

Disney is so successful now they don't need to try and fill the parks with these groups during "low periods" anymore (which is why they were getting these discounted tickets in the first place).

pretty accurate- the attendance during low periods TODAY were what the attendance was during the summer months 2-3 years ago. Just compare the park hours throughout the years. You'll notice more longer days across the year than you did a few years ago. When was the last Saturday the park closed any earlier than 1am? I really can't recall.

 

[betty rose]

I know it doesn't affect many people on here but I just spoke with my travel agent for my youth groups. She said that WDW just increased the youth group ticket prices by 40%!!

That seems like a large increase!

 

[disneyyes]

We went with our high school marching band. Our district required 4 students to 1 adult supervision. Our trip was 5 days/4 nights 4 day park hopper passes. We added two days on to our trip and it was $11 per person per day to add additional days on our passes, but I was only able to do this in the activity building at Sports. Our whole trip was 997 per person - kids were 4 to a room, adults were 2 to a room. We had a sit down meal everyday and then meal gift cards to be used however we wanted. If I remember correctly the cost of the park tickets was in the neighborhood of $179 pp.

This sounds pretty close to our school's guidelines. Our teacher/student ratio is one teacher for every 6 students. I have been the group leader/planner for our middle school's Disney YES Programs, and our district has supported the program for 17 years. (not financially, though, our students have to pay their own way) We take between 20 and 30 students and we require them to complete pre-trip and post-trip projects along with the educational experience (as well as have a good behavior record). Since our students are a little younger than most band/cheering groups, our kids NEVER go anywhere alone; we are with them every minute and go on all the attractions together. We do absolutely everything we can to make sure that our group does not impact any other guests' vacation in a negative way. All dining is done as a group. Even bathroom breaks are scheduled as a group!!! lol We stay in a block of 10-15 rooms at the All-Star Movies, and every student room is next door to a chaperone room. It's a lot of work but the educational programs are very beneficial, and the entire experience is great fun and wonderful memories for our participants. We always include one 'special' meal per day - such as a character meal, Rainforest, ESPN, a private patio dinner for Fantasmic or Illuminations, etc. This year our 4-night/5-day trip including airfare from Pennsylvania, All-Star Movies Resort, 4-day Disney base ticket, ticket/bus to Seaworld, YES trip, and 3 meals a day is $985. per student.

 

[COrunner]

I'll also be the cantankerous mid-30's person telling the youths to 'Get off my lawn'.

The hike to me means that Disney is stepping back from catering to large groups of young people. Whether this is a making money measure or a response to the negative feelings that guests express toward cheerleaders and BTG's (been in the parks during both and each group is annoying) I'm not sure. I like to think the impact is less youth groups attend the park or if groups do attend that they are much smaller in number. What I don't like to think about is the price hike affecting those who need to raise the money to go. It is easy to roll your eyes at cheerleaders and BTG's because we assume their parents just scratch a check for whatever they want.

From the professional side I still get a great deal of emails on conferences happening all over WDW whether it is insurance, finance or e-commerce. Usually their ticket prices and room rates are discounted but my assumption is Disney caters to these large groups knowing that they won't burden parks as greatly as well as renting/using conference hall space during most daylight hours.