Do you tip your tour guide????????????

[MarylandPizzaman]

We just got back from WDW and did the KTTK tour and it was great. I recommend everyone over 16 to do one. But after the tour was over we all looked at each other wondering if we should tip the tour guide. Now being back home I am feeling that I did him wrong by not tipping him. Did anyone here take a tour and did you tip??
Please answer as I was passing out tips at WDW like no other except for our tour guide and now I am second guessing myself.
Thanks in advance for your opinion.

 

[magiroux]

Don't you hate that...those "gray" area tipping situations. I tip as discreetly as possible and feel foolish when someone hands it back and says, "Sorry, we can't accept tips".

When we went on the Illuminations Cruise we tipped our guide who made our cruise even more enjoyable. I am taking a Segway Tour and will tip our guide since he's the one who'll be catching me before I hit the ground .

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Oh, my! It never entered my mind to tip the tour guide! We did tip the boat captain, but those were two different sorts of things. So are the rest of you tipping your MK tour guides?

 

[LvsTnk]

Jeez we did both the KTTKT and Segway this summer and never even tought about a tip. We do tip for the speciality cruises and when my kids do the Breathless during the day. That driver of the Breathless is NUTS well worth the tip!!

 

[lpizzuro123]

This is a great question. We are planning on doing this February 2006 and would love to know what everyone else does.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[Mister Incredible]

KTTK-Didn't tip
Segway-Didn't tip
Breathless Cruise-Tipped $50, was going to tip $30 but thought he went above and beyond.

 

[kellyanne731]

I've had two experiences where we tried to tip and the person wasn't allowed to accept. The first was at DTD. My DFi and I asked an employee at one of the pin stations to take our picture for us. The employee proceeded to take 3-4, which we really appreciated. We tried to tip and since she couldn't accept it, we bought a pin from her instead. That situation I kind of understood.

The second time was at CBR when we were getting ready to leave. We stowed our bags with bell service earlier that day, and tipped the guy who took them from us. We tried to tip the person who brought our bags out to us when we were getting ready to leave and were told that they couldn't accept tips.

Does anyone actually know who can and can't be tipped? Or should we just try to tip the people we feel deserve it and see what happens?

 

[experiment626mom]

Never thought of this!! I would think that if they went above an beyond that you would offer a tip. Otherwise, I would think it's part of what you pay initially.

 

[Thumper's Tara]

My family and I took the Animal Kingdom Backstage Safari (which I highly recommend). We did not tip the tour guide. I got the impression that tipping wasn't expected from my tour. This is just my opinion.

On another note, in NYC all the tour guides do the whole "Tipping is customary and greatly appreciated." Easy to know what to do

 

[Leota]

Never thought to tip our Tour guides on either the KTTK or Segway Tours.
We do tip our Breathless Captains also, for both Illuminations Cruises & Bursts.

 

[diswedwish]

From my understanding, most of the CMs are not allowed to accept tips. When we went on the Plat. Plan we had a pre-trip planner arrange our tours and I asked her who we were supposed to tip (since other than servers/bell services we were pretty clueless ). She said aside from servers (whose tips were included in the plan) and bell services the rest were not tipped positions. So apprently you're not supposed to tip tour guides, so don't worry Whenever we've felt that someone's gone above and beyond (and we know they can't accept tips) we send a letter and/or thank them numerous times to let them know how much we appreciated what they've done.

HTH

 

[Wendy1953]

If you really want to give them a tip, offer it to them 3x, after that I believe the 4th time they can take it. I'll check it out with someone who works there, but I'm pretty sure that that's the policy.

 

[wvjovifan]

We didn't tip our KTTK guide in Oct, but he was so great, I did give him
a CM appreciation card, which he really liked!

 

[byoung]

We did't think to tip our KTTK tour guide Nick, even though he did an outstanding job.

 

[dmslush]

It never dawned on me to tip out Family Magic Tour guide. She was fabulous, but I just never imagined that I was supposed to tip her, and never saw any of the other families tip her.

 

[DisneyMim]

I tipped both on the Keys to the Kingdom and Backstage Magic. It nevered occured to me to not tip. Both the tour guides were fantastic. I was with my brother on both these tours and we both tipped. I guess it's how we were raised. We travled a lot and our Dad was/is a huge tipper so I guess we just assumed that's how it's done. Also I saw some other people tip on the Backstage Magic tour. I never understood when people say that Disney CMS can't accept tips. I tip everyone even the concierge people and not once in all my years has anyone said they could not take money. Now, don't get me wrong, if some people don't want to tip that's their business. I would never try and tell other people what to do, BUT you did ask for opinions and this is mine.

 

[goofyernmost]

OK! I know this is going to sound a little mean spirited but I always thought of tipping as something you do because of extraodinary service above and beyond what was required. The exception, of course, being food service places where the base pay is below minimum wage.

At a place like Disney you already pay a premium price for the service. First you pay to get into the park and you can basically double that when you include the cost for the tours. The CM's used are supposed to be good otherwise word of mouth would eventually render the tour non-existant. I go to work everyday and no one "tips" me for doing my job. My reward is my pay and my continued employment.

Honestly, I am not cheap but these things can put such a strain on one's budget that it can break.

I did a KTTK tour and thought is was done well. The young lady that conducted the tour was doing it solo for the first time. We could tell when we occasionally caught up with the group in front of us that they were getting way more bang for their buck then we were. We didn't know at the time that this was her first tour alone. When we got to the end of the tour she was met by a group of co-workers and supervisors that presented her with her official riding crop. I know that no one tipped because there was way to much activity at the end to do so, but I don't think that I would have anyway because although she did alright, it was not extraordinary in any sense. We did all congratulate her and wish her well and told her that she had done real well considering how nervous she must have been. There was a planted "spy" in our group...I don't know is she knew that or not.

 

[MarylandPizzaman]

I am glad so many have responded. I will make sure and seek my KTTK tour guide out on my next visit and make it up to him. There were only four couples in our group counting us and Matthew did a great job. He made us feel very special and because of the small group we didn't even have to wear those earphones. If any of you go on the KTTK tour and get a blonde fellow named Matthew who has an insulin pump he is always checking please tell him that the couple that wore matching Maryland t-shirts will be looking for him on our return visit...
Thanks again for all of the opinions and feel free to post more

 

[LvsTnk]

I have to say that we have tried to tip concierge CM's many times and their are some that simply will not take it. If I mail something ahead of time to the IPO that's a given but to give something in person some will and some won't.

 

[bigbabyblues]

DH tried to tip an maintenance employee who came to our room at ASMo about 11 pm to retrieve my diamond earring from the sink drain. He told us from the start he may not be able to get it, but he did, and he was so very nice about it. He wouldn't accept the tip, but he was nice about it of course. DH didn't understand why, I told him some of the CM's aren't allowed to accept tips (after he left, of course).