Dining Plan and Tipping Question

[jonbatlanta]

My friend and I am leaving in three days (woo-hoo!!) and we are on the dining plan. We know the gratuities are included in the plan, but we both believe in tipping very well when we receive excellent service as we have many friends who work in the service industry.

We do fear slightly that since our server's tips are guaranteed (and likely pre-set), we will not receive the same level of service we might receive otherwise. We are using our table points for the signature restaurants, like Jiko, California Grill, and Olivia's.

So I have two questions. Are the servers allowed to accept "extra" tips when you're on the dining plan? And, is there a subtle way of letting them know that you're willing to do so?

I know the service at Disney is almost always top-notch, so this is probably not a huge possibility, but I'd be interested to hear others experiences with this. Thanks!!!

 

[dakyak]

My mom and i are going in 3 weeks, and we both said that we would leave a little extra tip if we liked the service

 

[princess jackson]

We did, once the final bill was given to us, we left an extra tip before we left, not sure what happened to it!

 

[pennyplanner]

If you really want to let your server know you plan on tipping more for good service, you might consider asking him or her exactly what the dining plan rate is.

(Does anyone know if the included tip is 15 or 18%?)

A comment from you about adding more for good service would let the server know that good service means more money!
That might provide a little incentive, if needed!

What do you think?

--penny

 

[jonbatlanta]

Excellent advice from everyone. Thanks!!

I knew we could say something at the beginning; I just wasn't sure if the waiter/waitress would find that condescending or not, so i wondered if anyone else had done the same.

Penny, that's great advice. Asking what the amount is at the beginning and a small comment saying we'll supplement that amount probably would be fine.

thanks again, and soooooo time for the 3 day happy dance!!!!!

 

[minmate]

I don't know if it's because we were on the dining plan but I did notice some sub-standard service on our last trip some of the times in which I had chosen to mention at the beginning of our meal that we were using the dining plan. I failed to suggest that we may tip more for excellent service though. To be honest with you, I didn't ever really see a need to inform the server ahead of time unless you are planning to split your meal, for example, all adults will be using dining plan points but you will be paying cash out of pocket for the kids (which is perfectly acceptable) -- in this case, it is helpful for the server to know ahead of time to print out two separate bills. If you do this, I might ask, "So what percentage gratuity is guaranteed on the dining plan?" They give you the answer, "15% or whatever it is," -- you can then reply, "Oh, that seems low, I always like to tip 20% for excellent service. Thanks for letting us know!" That's a great way to give your hint.

Otherwise, if you won't be splitting the bill, I'd say you don't need to let the server know until they come to you and ask if you're ready for your bill -- then you can let them know, you are using the dining plan. This way, they couldn't possibly treat you different because they didn't know until the end of your meal that you are using the dining plan.