Tax and tip

[noahdove]

I will be making my Tip envelopes out and I am wondering how much the tax is for TS meals or maybe how much the tax is across the board for meals?
And is the tip figured on the meal and tax? Thank you all for your help. 94 days until we arrive. We are so excited!!!

 

[erionm]

Most of WDW is within Orange County where the sale tax rate is 6.5%. All theme parks are most Disney hotels are in Orange County.

A small portion of WDW is in Osceola County where the sales tax rate is 7.5%. The All Stars Resort & ESPNWWOS are in Osceola County.

Typically, gratuity should be calculated before tax.

 

[WinterSolider]

What are tip envelopes?

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

First reply has great info.

However what are you making out envelopes for?
That's a little odd to me.
I could see envelopes for housekeeping but not at TS restaurants.

 

[SteveH]

You got some wonderful advice from @erionm already. I will add that if you are getting any discounts or sharing a meal, we like to tip as though a person is buying the full cost of a meal, not the discounted amount.

I respect that you are planning, and assume saving vs going in debt paying for your trip. That said, always bring some extra cash. Some choose to tip House Keeping aka Mouse Keeping - but not everyone does that. There are other times when a tip might be nice too.

 

[Mle8308]

If your party is 6 or more at a TS restaurant, Disney will automatically add on an 18% gratuity. Not sure how you are doing envelopes for tips at restaurants, menus and prices can change. If your party is less than 6, 18% is a good starting point for a tip. And as has been mentioned, tip on the total of the bill prior to tax. You can add it on to the check if it hasn't been done already, you don't need to tip in cash. For housekeeping, depending on room type and the number of people, tip is from $5 to $10 per day (maybe $15- $20 if in a Grand Villa or cabin/bungalow). Envelopes make sense for housekeeping tips and best to tip daily (or however frequent housekeeping cleans the rooms, it's different at different resort levels) as the same person doesn't service the room all the time.

 

[noahdove]

I like to put my tip in an envelope that I make that has a picture of where I live. I live in the beautiful region of the Finger Lakes area of New York State. I gage the tip accordingly to what the price is on the menu for TS. Plus, I always keep extra cash aside depending how great our service is. It's just a little special Pixie Dust I like to spread.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I like to put my tip in an envelope that I make that has a picture of where I live. I live in the beautiful region of the Finger Lakes area of New York State. I gage the tip accordingly to what the price is on the menu for TS. Plus, I always keep extra cash aside depending how great our service is. It's just a little special Pixie Dust I like to spread.

Love the Finger Lakes region. Went to college there and spent much time hiking the trails of Taughannock Falls.

 

[Pyxie]

I like to put my tip in an envelope that I make that has a picture of where I live. I live in the beautiful region of the Finger Lakes area of New York State. I gage the tip accordingly to what the price is on the menu for TS. Plus, I always keep extra cash aside depending how great our service is. It's just a little special Pixie Dust I like to spread.

Maybe bring the envelopes and a general estimated total amount you may need for tips, but I wouldn't make anything out beforehand. These are based on your overall bill, and unless you are eating at a buffet or family style restaurant, you won't be able to know for sure what that total would be until the day you eat. And even the fixed price places are subject to change at any time.

 

[focusondisney]

I like to put my tip in an envelope that I make that has a picture of where I live. I live in the beautiful region of the Finger Lakes area of New York State. I gage the tip accordingly to what the price is on the menu for TS. Plus, I always keep extra cash aside depending how great our service is. It's just a little special Pixie Dust I like to spread.

I normally calculate tips before tax, but many WDW restaurants have been listing the “suggested” amounts that are calculated with tax included. I never really paid attention until I read a thread about it here. On my next trip, I paid closer attention & sure enough, most of the ones I checked were calculated after tax. So be aware what you’re calculating at home might not match up with what is suggested on your receipt.

 

[Mle8308]

I like to put my tip in an envelope that I make that has a picture of where I live. I live in the beautiful region of the Finger Lakes area of New York State. I gage the tip accordingly to what the price is on the menu for TS. Plus, I always keep extra cash aside depending how great our service is. It's just a little special Pixie Dust I like to spread.

That's a good reason! It is a beautiful area to live.

 

[noahdove]

Love the Finger Lakes region. Went to college there and spent much time hiking the trails of Taughannock Falls.

Those falls are only about 45 minutes from where I live. Aren't they beautiful?

 

[noahdove]

Thank you all for your help with this. I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and saying that I will not pay the tip on the tax. There are only 2 adults and 2 children under 6, so they are making money on us already

 

[NYCgrrl]

Thank you all for your help with this. I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and saying that I will not pay the tip on the tax. There are only 2 adults and 2 children under 6, so they are making money on us already

Don’t worry about it; you’re only asked to tip the subtotal which doesn’t include the tax

 

[_19disnA]

I never view tipping as an exact formula. If your total bill is $100 and the tax is 6.5% as someone listed earlier, then even 20% of $6.50 is only $1.30. I think tipping should mostly be based on the quality of the service and there is no way to estimate that ahead of time.

Where you choose to eat as well as which items you select off the menu have a much greater impact on what your total bill might be.

 

[Dug720]

I can kind of see envelopes for Mousekeeping so it is clear that is for them.

They seem excessive in a restaurant where the server is already having to keep up with a lot of things. That's just one more thing for them to have to deal with.

 

[LKing]

I normally calculate tips before tax, but many WDW restaurants have been listing the “suggested” amounts that are calculated with tax included. I never really paid attention until I read a thread about it here. On my next trip, I paid closer attention & sure enough, most of the ones I checked were calculated after tax. So be aware what you’re calculating at home might not match up with what is suggested on your receipt.

We noticed that any Disney owned restaurant, suggested tip was calculated before tax and before any discounts were deducted. At restaurants not owned by Disney (whether in the park or in Disney Springs), the tip was calculated after tax.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We noticed that any Disney owned restaurant, suggested tip was calculated before tax and before any discounts were deducted. At restaurants not owned by Disney (whether in the park or in Disney Springs), the tip was calculated after tax.

Interesting to note. I tend to compute the tip myself but never noticed the difference in how different eateries do it.
I’ll satisfy my idle curiosity the end of this month when I visit WDW. Planning to eat at a few non Disney and one Disney owned restaurants.

 

[LKing]

Interesting to note. I tend to compute the tip myself but never noticed the difference in how different eateries do it.
I’ll satisfy my idle curiosity the end of this month when I visit WDW. Planning to eat at a few non Disney and one Disney owned restaurants.

We are Magic Key holders at Disneyland and receive a discount on our dining. I calculate tip myself to make sure I'm tipping on the value before my discount and before tax. I was pleasantly surprised to see that is how Disneyland calculates their suggested tip as well. When we went to WDW, our first meal was at Disney Springs. We received our bill with a suggested tip at the bottom. After we gave our credit card to pay, we received a WDW receipt to sign. It had different suggested tip values than the original one from the restaurant. I calculated it out and both suggested tips were before discount but the restaurant calculated tip on the tax and the WDW receipt did not. As was mentioned above, it isn't a huge amount of money, but something that I noticed.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Be prepared for all of the transportation and Bell Services tipping if you’ll be using their services. You are expected to tip the Mears driver or whatever driver you use to get to/from the airport if flying; expected to tip Bell services for transporting luggage to and from your room (we do per bag) and for holding or transporting groceries, expected to tip captain of boat if you take a fireworks cruise snd tour guide if you do a tour…it adds up. We spend a lot each trip on these type of tips that sometimes you just don’t think of when planning.