How much to budget for gratuities?

[ElleBelle88]

The package we are looking to book includes the DDP as standard but we are considering paying the extra to upgrade to the DxDP. I am slightly unsure about this because of the potential increase in gratuities. I know it will be fairly difficult to say, but, is anyone able to give me a rough estimate for how much we would need to budget for tips for each plan? We will be staying for ten nights and if we had the DxDP we would probably mainly have 2 table services a day, sometimes three or two with a signature. We are two adults and one infant (who will obviously eat off of our plates).
Thanks!

 

[pangyal]

The best thing to do would be to go onto a website that has all of the menu items for the places you plan to eat (with pricing), add up what you think you would eat for each meal, and budget your gratuities accordingly.

 

[DCLPrincess]

Just my opinion but I did the deluxe plan once and it was way too much food. Unless you plan to do all signature it's a lots of food.

 

[purple figment]

No one will be able to tell you how much to budget because personal tipping preferences cannot be discussed on the disboards.

At best you can look at the menus on the Disney website, allears or wdwinfo or any other site that includes prices, add up what you would order and figure it out from there.

At the top of the Restaurants board is a tipping sticky:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/tipping-info-thread-for-disney-dining-updated-for-2017.3568148/

 

[Magical2017]

Without violating the rules (I hope), I would factor in the total amount I paid for the DDP and then add the percentage I think I would tip to that total. Since some places include gratuity, you will be overbudgeting rather than underbudgeting. That seems to be a good plan when traveling to WDW, at least for us.

 

[vinotinto]

The DxDP is $116 per adult per night and that includes two snacks. You could calculate the percentage you would tip on $116 per person per night and that should give you a rough idea, since you probably will come out slightly ahead on the DXDP, but you wouldn't factor in the two snacks.

 

[ElleBelle88]

I'm sorry, I didn't know that my op or the potential responses could not be line with the rules! Thank you for all your comments though! Looks like I need to get calculating! I will also refer to the tipping sticky! Being from the UK, our tipping culture is arguably very different to the US way!

 

[rwdavis2]

Since the dining plans are not designed to save you money then adding your normal tip % to the overall dining costs plus and any drinks not include should work. Figure about $10 per cocktail.

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm sorry, I didn't know that my op or the potential responses could not be line with the rules! Thank you for all your comments though! Looks like I need to get calculating! I will also refer to the tipping sticky! Being from the UK, our tipping culture is arguably very different to the US way!

I think you are fine. I would use the total cost of the DxDDp per person as a guide to your total meals cost.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We simply budget $20 per 1ts meal. The average always works the two of us.

 

[Rich M]

If you go to google and type in Dining Plan calculator the site will come up and if you input your meals it will give you an approximate tip calculations in there. I use that number and budget and extra $25 per meal to that for exceptional service. We put it on a disney gift card ahead of time and then whatever we have left over goes towards booking the bounce back offer at the end of a trip or a gift.

Personally we love the DxDDP because we can opt to get apps that we normally wouldn't try paying OOP.

 

[YesterDark]

I did a 5 night trip last year on the DDP. I brought $200 for tips and it was more than enough. I also did character meals for nearly ever sit down meal.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Without violating the rules (I hope), I would factor in the total amount I paid for the DDP and then add the percentage I think I would tip to that total. Since some places include gratuity, you will be overbudgeting rather than underbudgeting. That seems to be a good plan when traveling to WDW, at least for us.

That is exactly what we did. And, of course, we came out over budgeting. But it worked for us, because then we knew that we had enough cash for tips.

 

[GirlDreamer]

If you go to google and type in Dining Plan calculator the site will come up and if you input your meals it will give you an approximate tip calculations in there.

Thanks for this tip, I've just checked it for our trip. I have a question though, it says tip is included with CRT and Hoop-Dee-Doo, is that correct? Even on the dining plan?

 

[Rich M]

Thanks for this tip, I've just checked it for our trip. I have a question though, it says tip is included with CRT and Hoop-Dee-Doo, is that correct? Even on the dining plan?

I believe that is correct and why it is 2 credits to go to. The website states:

 

[MomOTwins]

Thanks for this tip, I've just checked it for our trip. I have a question though, it says tip is included with CRT and Hoop-Dee-Doo, is that correct? Even on the dining plan?

Yep—included. We tried to tip extra at CRT and they said no.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Yep—included. We tried to tip extra at CRT and they said no.

That's great, it'll save us a little money as it's one of the more expensive meals.

 

[GillianP1301]

As a rough estimate, we are 2 people (one child, but he predominantly ordered off of the adult menu) for 9 nights and our tips were about $250 in total. I tip 20%, on average. We used all but 5 of our credits on TS meals.

 

[MomOTwins]

I just realized I never answered the original question. Prices really vary at WDW restaurants even within the same restaurant, so without knowing what you like to eat (e.g., steak/lobster or pasta), and whether you take advantage of the included alcohol, the differences in tip amounts could be quite significant. On Dxdp you get an appetizer; DDP, you do not. At a normal TS restaurant, I would say prices are typically range from about $9-15 per appetizer, $17-35 per entree, and $7-12 for dessert, so around $50 per person on average on the DxDP or more if you get an alcoholic drink (included on the plan). Character meals for lunch are dinner are similar, and range from around $40-60 per person all included. Signature meals are higher cost, at $15-20 per appetizer, $40-60 per entree, and $10-15 per dessert, so I would estimate around $75 per person for a TS meal or more with alcohol. If I had two people, tipping 20% on the DxDP, assuming you get alcohol at some meals and some signatures on some days, I would budget between $40-55 per day total for tipping.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I think the question has been answered. Going to close this one