The Disney Tipping Info Thread *Updated 9.1.09*

[su_A_ve]

being a recent 'resort switcher' we'll be going down to CSR in two weeks with DDP. Having ADRs and many character breakfasts, I can see we'll end up in PM for dinner.

PM is a special type of counter service. A la carte, my understanding is that diners get charged an automatic 'service' fee. But being considered counter service, Disney covers this 'service' fee in DDP (even though it probably shouldn't).

Now, the managers and staff would tell you that 'TIPS' are not included, and that's correct. The service fee, beign mandatory would have to be paid cash, credit or kttw upon exiting, if it wasn't covered by DDP. Remember all restaurants charge the full amount of meals and pass it to Disney as a detailed charge covered by DDP. In other words, PM is getting paid the 10% service fee.

It's just managers trying to take advantage of the situation. Wonder if that 10% service fee is not being passed down to the waiters and getting pocketed by the PM owners...

 

[Momto3Girls&Max]

We ate there this past August and they told us that the 10% gratuity WAS NOT included with the DDP and we should leave it on the table. Now I feel lied to.

 

[Salome]

Hi! I know this have been asked numerous times as I read the entire thread a fews days ago, but do you know if the tips will still be included at CRT in 2009?

I'm asking because we made a reservation today and the lady told my husband that the tips will be extra? We went in september and the tip was included in the meal (no extra charge). So is it a new thing or we just had a misinformed CM? Thanks!

 

[Anjelica]

Please refresh my memory but isn't tip included in the price of HDDR? I recalled the one and only time we did it I don't remember them taking credit cards/room cards, etc. to leave an "extra" tip - is this right?

 

[griz_fan]

Hi,

I just want to make sure I understand the mechanics of tipping for a party of 6 on the DDP. Its out 1st trip and I'd hate to spend time worrying about tipping.

If I understand correctly, tax is included in the DDP, but the tips are not, and, since we're a party of 6, we're automatically charged an 18% gratuity (and can tip more if we feel its warranted). So, does this scenario sound right?

We order an apetizer for $10, each person in the party orders a $30 meal, a $5 non-alcoholic drink, a $10 desert, and $40 in alcoholic beverages.

Apetizer: $10
meals: $180 (6x$30)
Drinks: $30 (6x$5)
Desert: $60 (6x10)
Alcohol: $40
Total: $320
Tip: $57.60 ($320x.18)

At the end of the meal, we would owe $107.60 which we could pay in cash, credit card or charge back to our room, does that sound right?

 

[Tricia1972]

Hi,

I just want to make sure I understand the mechanics of tipping for a party of 6 on the DDP. Its out 1st trip and I'd hate to spend time worrying about tipping.

If I understand correctly, tax is included in the DDP, but the tips are not, and, since we're a party of 6, we're automatically charged an 18% gratuity (and can tip more if we feel its warranted). So, does this scenario sound right?

We order an apetizer for $10, each person in the party orders a $30 meal, a $5 non-alcoholic drink, a $10 desert, and $40 in alcoholic beverages.

Apetizer: $10
meals: $180 (6x$30)
Drinks: $30 (6x$5)
Desert: $60 (6x10)
Alcohol: $40
Total: $320
Tip: $57.60 ($320x.18)

At the end of the meal, we would owe $107.60 which we could pay in cash, credit card or charge back to our room, does that sound right?

That sounds right, the only difference would be that you'll be charged tax on the appetizer and alcohol.

$50 - Alcohol and Appetizer
$3.25 - Tax on Alcohol and Appetizer (6.5%)
$57.60 - Gratuity (18% of $320)

$110.85 - Total Owed

 

[Tricia1972]

Please refresh my memory but isn't tip included in the price of HDDR? I recalled the one and only time we did it I don't remember them taking credit cards/room cards, etc. to leave an "extra" tip - is this right?

Unless there has been a very recent change, the tip is included for shows.

 

[kar0066]

We just got back on Saturday after a week at Disney on the dining plan. One odd experience - At Sci-Fi the waiter brought the check (he knew we were on the dining plan) and he asked how I wanted to take care of the "balance". There was no balance. I wrote "cash" on the tip line and had the 18% under the check. He then asked if I wanted to charge the balance to my room. I asked him what balance? He pointed to the suggested tip. He was fine when I showed him the cash.

I have no problem tipping for good service but I did not like the way he implied the "tip" was the balance of our check. I then noticed that he asked other customers how they wanted to take care of their balances.

 

[smidgy]

.

I couldn't quote it, but I was trying to respond to your dilemma of when to go, : "but 4, get 3 free" in march; "free DDP in sept"; or both. the answer... both, of course!!

We just got back on Saturday after a week at Disney on the dining plan. One odd experience - At Sci-Fi the waiter brought the check (he knew we were on the dining plan) and he asked how I wanted to take care of the "balance". There was no balance. I wrote "cash" on the tip line and had the 18% under the check. He then asked if I wanted to charge the balance to my room. I asked him what balance? He pointed to the suggested tip. He was fine when I showed him the cash.

I have no problem tipping for good service but I did not like the way he implied the "tip" was the balance of our check. I then noticed that he asked other customers how they wanted to take care of their balances.

the waiter handled that poorly. there WAS no balance, since tips on the DDP with parties under 6 are optional. I'm thinking he was trying to point out that the tip is no longer included, since it was for a long time, and guests who haven't visited in a long time might not be aware of this. a better way to make this clear without "begging" for a tip would be to say at the beginning "you're dining plan includes one soft drink each, one entree each and one dessert each. appetizer and tip are no longer included"
this way he is just pointing out the changes, not singling out the tip. after that, no mention should be made of the tip.
I hear fellow waitresses say "do you need change?" that sounds rude to me. I always say, "I;ll be right back with your change" ... if they want to say, "No, it's all yours," they can at that point. this way I'm not being presumptuous.

oh, to the previous poster who was afraid of bad service when the tip is included (cause of little kids who have a hard time waiting if service is bad):
I already posted that service is wonderful at disney! but often kids can be impatient, so you can ask them to bring out the kids' entree's right away. this is what I do with little kids... I ask the customer if they want the children's meals right away so they aren't bored having to wait for their grilled cheese while dad's well done steak is being prepared. they usually take a long time to eat anyway. hope this tip helps!

 

[TPCShauna]

How have people on this board handled tips while on the DDP? Do they just bring back the receipt and then charge the tips to your room?

Thanks!

- Chris

This is exactly what we did last week and it worked out perfectly. There were no issues of double charges.

I do have one word of warning. If you are on a dining plan and want to leave a tip on your KTTW card, you MUST do so when the server takes your card the first time. If you don't have extras on your bill (such as alcohol), the system will close out your table when the card is run the first time. If you only purchased items covered by the plan, the computer will detect this and close the table with $0.00 balance owed. You cannot then add an additional tip to your KTTW card at this time. This happened to us once at 1900 Park Fare so we had to leave cash for our tip. If you have extras on your bill such as alcohol and/or appetizers, the table will be left "open" in the system and you can add your tip to the amount left on your balance.

I hope this info is helpful. All in all, tipping was very intuitive and not at all difficult to handle once you figured out the system. I will say that you get lots of pieces of paper but that's not really a problem either.

Finally, we only had one bad service experience our entire trip which is amazing considering that we were on DxDP and had TS meals at least once if not twice a day for 8 days. I really felt that the Disney servers wanted us to enjoy our meals and worked hard to make sure that we did. They were deserving of their tip in every instance and I was pleasantly surprised at the high level of service given all the negative comments I had read going into our trip.

Let me know if you have any questions. We got back on Monday so I have plenty of recent experience.

 

[disneyfan2kids]

and if you're paying cash, how do they "make" you pay the auto gratuity? If you leave 16% do they chase you down for the rest? Just curious.

Karen

Simple... they add it on to your bill. Regardless of if you pay with cash or cc...if you use DDE at all they WILL add the tip to the bill. It's the rules of the DDE card use. So unless you're suggesting you "short" them on the bill, which I assume nobody would do, they are gettin their full tip... as well they should.

That is why I'm saying if you add ANOTHER 20%..they will be getting a 40% tip.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Sorry, there is no discussion on percentage people will or will not tip

thanks for understanding

 

[Anjelica]

Hopefully this is an ok question but I don't recall during our last trip if the amounts they put at the end of the receipt (i.e. the 18%=xx and the 20%=yy) were those percentages calculated on the taxes as well? I know some places around here do that although I thought I have read that you typically don't tip on tax.

 

[hematite153]

Hopefully this is an ok question but I don't recall during our last trip if the amounts they put at the end of the receipt (i.e. the 18%=xx and the 20%=yy) were those percentages calculated on the taxes as well? I know some places around here do that although I thought I have read that you typically don't tip on tax.

You are correct. You do not typically tip on tax.

The suggested tip amounts at the bottom of the wdw receipt are calculated on the pre-tax amount. (I went and checked a receipt to confirm this for someone who asked a few months ago.)

 

[Maine-iac]

Simple... they add it on to your bill. Regardless of if you pay with cash or cc...if you use DDE at all they WILL add the tip to the bill. It's the rules of the DDE card use. So unless you're suggesting you "short" them on the bill, which I assume nobody would do, they are gettin their full tip... as well they should.

That is why I'm saying if you add ANOTHER 20%..they will be getting a 40% tip.

I did not know this until now and looking at my receipts they did not charge any gratuity above what I wrote on the slip. Do they add automatically only if the guest does NOT add gratuity to the check? I checked my bank statement and nothing above what I added to the slip was taken out of my account.

 

[Dancind]

The tip is already added in when you get your bill, before you pay. I made that mistake at Flying Fish, adding another 20%! Since I was staying at the Boardwalk, I went down and asked them redo my bill (same night). Embarrassing, but it was the price of another meal!

 

[Maine-iac]

The tip is already added in when you get your bill, before you pay. I made that mistake at Flying Fish, adding another 20%! Since I was staying at the Boardwalk, I went down and asked them redo my bill (same night). Embarrassing, but it was the price of another meal!

But where on your receipt does it show the auto gratuity? I am not seeing it and it does not appear to have been charged. I added up what was purchased, subtracted 20% discount, added the tax and added gratuity that I wrote on the slip and it comes out right with no extra gratuity taken. I just want to make sure I did not give an extra tip.

 

[Braxtonsmom03]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could answer this...
We will be traveling with my husbands family next september and we will all be on the dinning plan(hopefully free ) since we will be a large party and over 6 people I know tip will automatically be added but my question is will we be able to tip individually(as in my family) on our portion of the bill when we give our kttwc? or should we all have cash to leave on the table for the tip?
Thank you in advance!!
Tiffany

 

[Tricia1972]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could answer this...
We will be traveling with my husbands family next september and we will all be on the dinning plan(hopefully free ) since we will be a large party and over 6 people I know tip will automatically be added but my question is will we be able to tip individually(as in my family) on our portion of the bill when we give our kttwc? or should we all have cash to leave on the table for the tip?
Thank you in advance!!
Tiffany

The tip will be part of your total bill, but you could either put it on your KTTW card or give the server cash to settle the balance of your bill when using your DDP credits. (Put your KTTW card for DDP credits and the cash for tip in the Folio and give it to the server to settle the bill)

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could answer this...
We will be traveling with my husbands family next september and we will all be on the dinning plan(hopefully free ) since we will be a large party and over 6 people I know tip will automatically be added but my question is will we be able to tip individually(as in my family) on our portion of the bill when we give our kttwc? or should we all have cash to leave on the table for the tip?
Thank you in advance!!
Tiffany

I think it would be easiest to leave the tip together, so cash might be your best bet.