There are only three direct buses to Yuanyang every day. Except for the 10:40 bus, the other two are all night bus arriving in early morning next day. The night bus take much time on the way. If you do not want to take anyone of them, you can take buses to Gejiu. There is one bus to Gejiu from Kunming Nanyao Bus Station every 30 minutes and reach there about 4 hours later. Or get to Jianshui (about 3 hours) from Kunming first then change to buses to Xinjie, the old town of Yuanyang.

Hell Kathy, there are three methods for your traveling from Kunming to Yuanyuan.
1. take the direct bus at Kunming Nanyao Bus Station you metioned, but only the one 10:40 leaving at daytime.
2. Taking bus from Kunming to Jianshui: 23 buses from 07:30~20:30 at an interval of about 20~30 minutes. The journey is around 3.5 hours and 70RMB>
Jianshui to Nansha, Yuanyang: minibus from 07:15~18:40 every 15~20 minutes. The journey is 3 hours and 31RMB. Nansha is the new part of Yuanyang, so if you would like to visit the terrace, please take a bus from the bus station to the Xinjie Town which is the old part of Yuanyang. The journey is about one hours and 10RMB.
3. Kunming to Gejiu: buses leave from 07:25~21:00 everyday. It takes about 4 hours on the way.
Gejiu to Nansha or Xinjie Town, Yuanyang: frequent minubus. The journey is jsut one hour.