How do you budget for tips on Free Dining?

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

I have a Grand Gathering of 11 people, 6 adults and 5 children (1 of those will be 2 years old).

Our trip was a gift, and we got Free Dining, everything else has been scheduled, paid for etc. - the only unknown is how much tip money. I figured it would be a good idea to get a Disney Gift card and for us all to pool some money and use the gift card, but I am at a loss for what to tell everyone to chip in. Being that we are a large party, I know they charge us 18% (but we usually 20%+, since waitressing and bartending put me and my sister's through college).

I saw on another thread that people (families of 2 and 4 persons) were budgeting $200.00 for tips, that just seems so low, especially for 4 people, eating 7 table service meals.

Any tips on how to estimate, what would you say?

Thanks

 

[cepmom]

I look at the menus for the restraunts we plan on eating at and try to estimate what we might order there. That way I can can up with a rough estimate on the 20% tip. I charge the tips back to the room and pay it off when we get home so I don't need to worry about having enough cash on hand. Would it be possible to charge the tips back to your room, then at the end of the stay, collect the money owed from everyone?

 

[disneynutsss]

I look at the menus for the restraunts we plan on eating at and try to estimate what we might order there. That way I can can up with a rough estimate on the 20% tip.

I did the same thing, except I will bring the cash or put the cash on my credit card beforehand.

 

[delmar411]

I would pick which restaurants you are eating at. Then add up as if everyone ate the most expensive items on the menu. Then take 20% of that. That way you are covered on the high end and anything leftover at the end of the trip can go for ice cream or some other treat for the group.

 

[tink1957]

allearsnet.com has copies of menus & prices to help you budget your tips. I hope this helps.

 

[disney1990]

I have a Grand Gathering of 11 people, 6 adults and 5 children (1 of those will be 2 years old).

Our trip was a gift, and we got Free Dining, everything else has been scheduled, paid for etc. - the only unknown is how much tip money. I figured it would be a good idea to get a Disney Gift card and for us all to pool some money and use the gift card, but I am at a loss for what to tell everyone to chip in. Being that we are a large party, I know they charge us 18% (but we usually 20%+, since waitressing and bartending put me and my sister's through college).

I saw on another thread that people (families of 2 and 4 persons) were budgeting $200.00 for tips, that just seems so low, especially for 4 people, eating 7 table service meals.

Any tips on how to estimate, what would you say?

Thanks

We 20% of the cost of the meals at each of the restaurants. We research the menus and the approximate cost of each meal using www.allearsnet.com
then go to dining and then to menus.

 

[srdipert]

Without really looking up the prices say each adult meal is 30 X 6 and each kids meal is 10 X 4 that would be 220$ and a 20% tip would be 44$. So 44 X 7 would be 308 so maybe budget 400 and you will be over. Some 2TS places might be a little more per person and some lunches and breakfast might be a little less.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Before DD18 and her friends went on their graduation trip last summer, I went through the menus for the TS retsaurants that they were planning to eat at. The dollar amounts for all of their meals were pretty much the same at each of them. With a 18%-20% tip for each restaurant, it came to about $20 per meal for the 4 of them. So, they each budgeted about $35 apiece for tips for the 7-night trip.

 

[MichaelColey]

There are a few places (like Cinderella's Royal Table) where the tip is still included. For the others, we typically tipped 15-20% depending on the service, although some were as low as 10% (for really bad service) or as high as 25% (for exceptional service). Most of the single-credit table service meals were about $80-100 (for our family of four), so the tip was usually around $15 per meal. We typically tipped a little less for the buffets, where the waiters didn't need to worry about anything but drinks. We charged everything back to our room and paid with our credit card (which we pay off each month) at the end of the trip.

 

[tiki23]

My tip estimates may have been one of those on the low side. But
some of our favorite dining experiences are at buffet restaurants... Biergarten, Boma and Crystal Palace...and I don't tip 18% at buffets.

 

[lnh'smom]

This may be a silly question but do they "charge" you the tip if you have a certain number of people? Like for instance, if you have 8 or more people, restaurants add on 18% to your bill. Do they do that during FD?

 

[JenLanDisney]

Before DD18 and her friends went on their graduation trip last summer, I went through the menus for the TS retsaurants that they were planning to eat at. The dollar amounts for all of their meals were pretty much the same at each of them. With a 18%-20% tip for each restaurant, it came to about $20 per meal for the 4 of them. So, they each budgeted about $35 apiece for tips for the 7-night trip.

I agree. I budget $5 per TS per person per meal. It gets us close enough to not worry about having enough for the trip.

 

[lfwhipp]

This may be a silly question but do they "charge" you the tip if you have a certain number of people? Like for instance, if you have 8 or more people, restaurants add on 18% to your bill. Do they do that during FD?

they add a tip to parties of 6 or more at 18%. we are usually a party of 7 and have that assessed to our bill. we use our Disney Visa a lot through the year as well as using it to pay for our trip. I transfer the reward dollars to my reward card and use it to pay for the tip, after looking at the menus and past years experience we usually have around 300-400 on the card and end up walking away with a little spending money for souvenirs.

 

[lnh'smom]

We'll be a party of 7 too so I guess I better figure out what we would possibly be spending on food if it wasn't FD and budget from there. I guess my next question would be will they break it down? For instance, my family is only 4 and DSIL has the other 3. Will it all be one amount, like $25 or will it be broken down like $15 for us and $10 for them?

 

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

Thanks for the replies. I figured on the high side that 6 adults x 45.00 per meal = $270.00 per meal. 4 children x 20 (the 5th child is a toddler) = 80 so I am thinking a total of $70.00 tip per meal, so that works out to be $490 for the week. I would rather budget higher than lower.

We do plan on going to a buffet or 2 but with our group (we have 4 of the 5 children are special needs and with a messy toddler), so I would still probably leave a good size trip. I waitressed in college and I wouldn't want to wait on our group!!

 

[tiki23]

We'll be a party of 7 too so I guess I better figure out what we would possibly be spending on food if it wasn't FD and budget from there. I guess my next question would be will they break it down? For instance, my family is only 4 and DSIL has the other 3. Will it all be one amount, like $25 or will it be broken down like $15 for us and $10 for them?

I'm curious about this as well, as my sister has her own reservation but we will be eating several meals together. Technically, the checks will have to be split into the two parties (as you can't charge more meals to your DP account then there are people on your DP room reservation) so I'm wondering if both "parties" will get charged 18%?