just wanted to throw my two cents in:
Tipping has been around in Western Civilization for over 400 years. Most Western European countries have moved away from tipping towards the "service charge". I'm not sure why the semantics of a "service charge" versus an "automatic gratuity" are so upsetting. As with most things, Europe is ahead of the cultural curve and we are seeing this trend slowly coming to America. Per Se, a very high end New York restaurant, was lauded in the New York Times for abolishing the tip in lieu of the service charge. This is a $250/head restaurant with a 2 month waiting list. The service charge, included in that price, is a 20% gratuity to the service. An while percentages vary, the service charge is how servers in countries that don't have "gratuity" are paid. Perhaps it is a purely psychological discomfort with the notion of being in charge of someones compensation - the gratuity - that causes people to believe that a "service charge" that nets the exact same results is somehow different. Also, guess what happened after implementing the service charge included set price menu. You guessed it - customers continued to tip extra. Also, the menu price has increased 69% in 2.5 years. Here are some links:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/361713
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/o...0f5ff2faa&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
The 18% mandatory tip on parties of 6 or more also seems to cause a lot of consternation. This has not just come into play in Disney World, but is common all over the place at all classes of restaurants. Why? Well, numerous studies have demonstrated that the more people the smaller the bill adjusted tip is. And not by a small amount either. With an average tip for a single diner of 17.5% every additional diner at the table decreases the average tip by .7%. 6 people at a table average a 13.3% tip. 8 people at a table average a 11.9%. Obviously no one here would ever tip that way, unless the service was terrible, but on average everyone else does. Unhappy waiters/waitresses who work large parties and get stiffed spread their misery to other tables. These customers complain to managers. These servers complain to managers. Overtime it obviously became apparent the it was worth a small amount of griping about an auto-grat at the beginning of a meal than dealing with the ramnifications of p.o.'ed servers and miserable customers. Here some research on the subject:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dicook/stat503/05/cs-tips2.pdf
Finally, for all the insistence here that everyone wants to be free to tip based exclusively on the quality of service, the facts don't show that to be true in the real world. In a rather large survey tip percentage showed little correlation to the rating service was given. However, there were dramatic differences in how men tip women, women tip men, how different ethnic groups tip each other, whether the server mentioned their name, bent down to talk, etc. More fun stuff, this from the world's foremost authority on the subject of tipping:
http://people.cornell.edu/pages/wml3/pdf/Beyond_Gratitude_and_Gratuity.pdf
Nothing anyone says here is actually going to change anyone elses opinion on this topic. Automatic gratuties will continue to become the norm until we switch the term to service charges. Then we can argue whether the people that don't tip above the service charge are cheapskates or whether the people that do are show off so an sos. However, I will point out that I love going to Disney World and have never had a "bad" experience although I have had some thoroughly average service. But I would never want to go into a restaurant betting against the service as badly as some people here seem to want to. Stop fretting about "what if" your service is so bad you would want to leave less than 18%. On a $100 meal if you felt your service would have gotten 15% you are talking about a difference of $3. Is this really worth getting you blood pressure up about? If something about the experience was so bad that you think you need to stiff the server (10% or less - in my opinion) then something probably happened that needs to be brought to someones attention - so take the moment to speak to a manager and save someone else from going through the same thing. If it doesn't rise to speaking to a manager it probably doesn't deserve less than 15%.
About the 3% gratuity - no one here really knows anything about what that means at all. I will guess though, that 3% is the amount that Disney servers tip out nightly to the rest of the house. The rate would be in line with nicer restaurants so certainly makes a plausible solution. Again, I don't know why everyone wants so badly to find reason to give as little as possible to the people that choose to come at work at what is supposedly our favorite place.
And before the haters start in, I didn't say one word about how hard anyone works, how buffets in the world compare outside of it, or how much/little anyone actually makes.
kaytieeldr, either you feel really strongly about your post, or the boards are messing up again 
