DDP extra tip--cash or room charge?

[lovetoscrap]

I feel really stupid asking this--but I don't generally carry much cash with me, especially at Disney! I always put everything on room charge, and pay that with Reward Dollars or CC at the end. I do keep few dollars, but just not much.

So, it has just struck me, that if I want to leave an "extra" tip while on DDP, can I do it with the room charge or do I need to be able to leave cash?

When they bring the bill and I hand them my room key for the DDP credits, is there a way to add an extra tip on at that time to make it more "discreet"? I am not a fan of announcing--"Here, I need to leave you a big tip so go and charge $10 extra on this!"

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Restaurants can not charge just a tip.

Unless you are paying for something OOP (like alcohol) you will need cash to leave an additional tip.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Good question. What about using your Disney Visa to charge some Disney Dollars (can you do that?) and leave those as an additional tip?

 

[lovetoscrap]

Good question. What about using your Disney Visa to charge some Disney Dollars (can you do that?) and leave those as an additional tip?

I doubt that the servers that work at WDW really find much value in Disney Dollars. They can't use them to pay rent or buy food for thier kids, or anything else in the "real" world!

While they are better than nothing, I am sure they really just want real money. Unfortunately I just don't carry much cash, so I will just have to see how things work when I get there. I don't order alcohol, and actually almost every meal we are doing is buffet type so I won't have "extras" to pay for. I guess I may have to run to the bank this afternoon.

 

[ReneeA]

We never carry much cash on us in WDW, either. However, one of us always makes sure we have about $20 in various bills just in case we need it and for tips.

We found that there were a few stands that sold snacks and the like that didn't take room card, snack credits, or charges...cash only. I like to have some $$$ on me just in case. Also, there has been times (just a few!) that the "system" has gone down and you can't use your room card and have needed an alterntive way to pay...then they reimburse you and adjust your account later if you wish to use your meal credits.

 

[ThinkTink75]

Servers get a pretty good percentage for gratuity off the Dining Plan. We spoke to a waiter while we were eating at Marakesh who told us that the reason he was "swamping" our desserts for alcoholic beverages is because it doesn't just make us happy but the "amount" that he gets his 18% tip off of was more when we ordered two 8 dollar drinks instead of nothing or 4 dollar desserts. Now, he said that since all the meals have a dollar value he gets 18% of what our full value would have been without the dining plan. I thought that was pretty good. Just an FYI.

 

[Karenj2]

When we were using the DDP, I often gave an extra tip to the waiter (my standard tip is 20%). We were able to charge the tip to the room by adding it to our alcohol tab. The one time we couldn't do that (in the MK), we used cash.

 

[melomouse]

Donning flame retardant suit....

I always leave any tip in cash, unless I'm padding an expense account!!

The servers are sooo appreciative. Just seems like the right thing to do - always, as another poster said, carry $20 in varying denominations. I've even done this at WDW on past trips.

Now, with FDP for our trip- and trying like heck to sort it out on the other thread re: tipping and DDP and Disney vs. non-Disney restaurents... I will likely still add some cash, but in smaller amounts.

 

[DiszyDeanette]

We always carry a little cash for extra tips, drinks, etc. I don't think you can charge just a tip, and even if you could, your server would be much happier with cash!

 

[BuffaloGal]

We always carry a little cash for extra tips, drinks, etc. I don't think you can charge just a tip, and even if you could, your server would be much happier with cash!

No, the restaurants can't charge just a tip. And there is no way to add an extra tip to the dining plan. However, most of the servers could actually manage to get rid of a few Disney Dollars if you are more comfortable carrying that than real cash. Especially with the food and wine festival approaching. Plus, anyone leaving more than the standard is going to be guest of the year in our opinions reguardless of how it is tendered.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Noting BuffaloGal's comments for when I dine at a specific restaurant... Okay, fine, at ANY onsite restaurant - but one in particular... (and remembering to BRING cash this time!)

 

[Tinkerbellmom33]

I did something like this one night I ate out. We had the dining plan and my glass of wine was not included. I paid for it on my debit card and added a tip on that too, no cash and it wasn't a problem. The bill for the wine came seperately, he took my card and came back with a receipt for me to sign. So I added the extra tip to that.
As far as adding the extra tip to just the DDP bill, we left cash. We always made sure we had smaller bills with us. The tip was already included, so no way to add extra to it.
If you order wine or whatever's not included, then you can leave extra on your room key etc.

 

[Heathr6913]

We wanted to give an extra tip at Coral Reef when we were there because our waiter was soooo good. We didn't have any cash and he said he could not charge it to our key so we told him just to charge us for a drink and add 15 dollars more to it for a tip. Well he came back and told us he was able to charge our room key for 1 penny and add the 15 dollars for tip so it came up to 15.01...just a FYI.