Y.E.S stands for Youth Educational Series and they are different classes that students can take where they learn how Disney uses different technologies in their theme park attractions. Some of the classes are on animal/marine life and habitats. Some classes take an in depth look the physics that make their rides work. Still other classes focus on some of the historical backgrounds and contexts for the rides. Needless to say, there is a wide variety of subjects you can take.
The REALLY cool thing about participating in a YES class is that, in addition to the cool, educational experience, you also get a HEFTY discount on your park tickets. It really sounds too good to be true, but it's legit!
The class that we signed up for was called Synergy In Science.
We met outside of Epcot before the park opened. The leader took role and broke us up into several smaller groups of about 7-10 kids. The first activity that our leader, Peggy, did with our group was to pass out some tinker toys to each child. She asked them to build something.
After about a minute, she had all the kids show her what they built. Then she grouped the children into groups of 3 and asked them to build something by combining their tinker toys. Again she allowed them to show off how their new small group creations were better than the ones they made on their own.
Finally she asked all the children to combine their tinker toys and build something. At the end, she pointed out how the group creation was even more impressive than what they had built before since they were all collaborating together.
Then she talked about the definition of "synergy" and how Disney incorporates synergy into all their attractions and rides.
She then showed us a picture of Spaceship Earth's exterior as it was being built. Peggy discussed the different details that all had to come together to make the ride.
She passed around a piece of the material that makes up the outside panels on Spaceship Earth.
Then she passed around a "mystery" object and asked the kids how they thought it was used in the ride.
Then we got in line and rode Spaceship Earth. Riley got to ride with Ms. Peggy and so Adrianne and I got to ride together.
After the ride, Peggy followed up by asking if any of the kids figured out where the mystery object was used in the ride. She then revealed that it was the "skin" covering the animatronics. She then showed us as piece of the "skin" they use for outdoor rides, like the animals on the Jungle Cruise ride at Magic Kingdom.
Next she talked about how as time goes on, our technology improves. She gave the example of cellphones. She showed the kids a picture of the first cell phone models and let the kids explain to her how cell phones have changed/improved.
The next attraction we were headed to visit was Captian EO which is a 3D movie starring Michael Jackson. She gave the kids each an additional pair of glasses and asked them to experiment with them during the show by comparing what the image looked like with no 3D glasses on, with one pair, and with two pairs. She also asked the children to look around the theater and try to determine how many cameras were displaying the movie and where they were placed (center or off to the sides).
After watching Captian EO, we all met together again and Ms. Peggy talked about how our two eyes combine two different images together, to produce one.
She pulled out another set of the extra 3D glasses she had distributed to the children. These glasses had lines drawn on them so the children could see how the glasses are designed to combine the two projector images into what we see.
Then she pulled out some string and proceeded to show the kids why some of the images in the 3D movies popped out at them, while others remained on screen. The place where the two strings come together is where the image is projected. By manipulating the two projector images further apart, the image pops off the screen.
The next ride was Journey Into Imagination with Figment. This ride explores how our 5 senses all work together to help us experience our world.
After the ride, Peggy handed out three pieces of paper to each child. She noted that each page was made up of hundreds and hundreds of stills from the various animated Disney movies.
Then she explained that these were actually puzzle pieces, and if the children put them together in the correct order, they would get a surprise. The puzzle pieces were all labeled on the back with a column and row, so the children put the puzzle together face down.
Once all the pieces were in place, Peggy flipped the puzzle over and revaled the image.
Again, she reinforced how the whole point of synergy is to make something even greater from all the little pieces and details.
I felt that this was a really good class. I loved that in some ways it was kind of a "behind the scenes" kind of look at Disney parks. Peggy added many little "secrets" about the rides that was cool to be privy to. I would (and hopefully WILL) sign the kids up for these classes again in a heartbeat.
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