The Disney Tipping Info Thread *Updated 9.1.09*

[DisneyLover83]

Last year DH and I did Deluxe DDP and we will be doing it again this year (May 9-16) Last year I went through each menu and did a mock order (usually tried to base it around more expensive options) to figure out how much cash I needed for tips (we always plan for 20%) for the whole week. I checked my math several times before we left and at the end of the week had to charge several tips to the room. I am starting my cash plan for this years trip and would appreciate any "tips" anyone has to plan out my "tip" cash so I can be more accurate this time around. Thanks!

 

[Babyyoda1212]

We found it much easier to just charge all the tips to the room, so that we did not have to carry the extra cash around or worry if we had enough. That would have been just too much thinking involved.

 

[Jetstar]

We paid cash for tips on our trip in Dec 08. We (party of 2) each seem to carry around $40.00 on average and would take turns paying for the tips. Also if we knew we were eating at a Signature Dining restaurant we would carry more.

 

[Twinsmomma]

My family is doing the Wildlife Discovery Tour in March. I have never taken a tour before. Should we tip our tour guide? If so how much? There are 6 of us and it was $300. Thanks for the help!!

 

[deverzs]

I like the 18% automatic,.

 

[hematite153]

You can not use the gift card to pay off room charges. My parents wanted to do this for our trip and was told that it wasn't allowed.

That seems odd. They market the gift cards as a way to pre-pay for your vacation and then they market the KTTW as a way to avoid carrying anything else. So, you'd think they could be used together. Plus, lots of people have reported using gift cards to pay their room charges.

Is it possible they asked the question imprecisely? You cannot use the "free $200" card to pay for your room. Could the CM have thought that this was what they were asking about?

 

[lornak]

I don't excatly know where to put this thread so I'm hoping someone will help me out if it is in the wrong place....! Here's the situation--we are getting the free $200 gift card with our package later this month. We have booked the dining plan and I'm wondering if I can us the gift card for tipping? If not directly, could I charge the tips back to my room and then pay my room bill with the gift card?

Also, we paid for CRT out of pocket. Is there any way to cancel that payment the day we eat there and use the gift card instead??? Just trying to figure out a way for that card to really save us money vs just spending it on souvinirs!!!!!!

 

[RIPaula]

bumping this question as I still don't see the answer..can the $200 gift card be used to tip? How about for alchohol?

 

[DSLTX]

OK - I've been wondering this too and posted the same question previously. I decided to just go find the answer and found it on the Mom's Panel on the WDW site. So -I'm guessing it's correct. Here was the Question and the Answer:

Q - We are coming down in mid-May. Everything is paid; room, tickets, and deluxe meal plan. Friends just gave me $200 in Disney Gift Cards. Other than souveniers, what how can I spend these? Can I tip with them somehow? Thanks

A - You can use the Disney gift cards in almost every shop and restaurant at WDW. I recently used gift cards myself at shops in the parks and resorts, and at restaurants and snack carts in the parks and resorts.

Even though you're on the dining plan, you will still need to tip your server. So yes, you could use the gift card for that purpose. At the end of the meal, just tell your server that you'd like 18% (or whatever you feel is appropriate) of what the meal charge would have been taken off the gift card and used as the gratuity. You shouldn't have any problem at all with this.

Hope you have a great trip -- your good send off from your buddies should help a lot with this

 

[jcemom]

I was planning to pay cash for all our tips. I was thinking it would get us out quicker, since I could 'pay' for the meals with our DDP credits at the beginning, then leave our tip in cash at the end. Now I'm worried about carrying so much cash with me through the airport on our way there.

For those of you who pay in cash, how have you handled that? Is there a debit machine at Disney so I could take some cash with me and withdraw some later on? We leave tomorrow, eek. I should have figured this out sooner.

 

[bicker]

I was planning to pay cash for all our tips. I was thinking it would get us out quicker, since I could 'pay' for the meals with our DDP credits at the beginning, then leave our tip in cash at the end.

I don't think that approach would work -- I think they have to enter all the items ordered into the POS system, including your dessert order (if any), and then apply the Dining Plan credits as payment. Can you handle Dining Plan meals in a pre-pay manner? I don't think so...

Is there a debit machine at Disney so I could take some cash with me and withdraw some later on?

I seem to remember there being some nasty surcharge applied by the bank who owned the machines.

 

[ChelleinNC]

I was planning to pay cash for all our tips. I was thinking it would get us out quicker, since I could 'pay' for the meals with our DDP credits at the beginning, then leave our tip in cash at the end. Now I'm worried about carrying so much cash with me through the airport on our way there.

For those of you who pay in cash, how have you handled that? Is there a debit machine at Disney so I could take some cash with me and withdraw some later on? We leave tomorrow, eek. I should have figured this out sooner.

There are ATM machines around Disney (in the parks & resorts) but I don't think that'll get you out of dinner any faster. The server will still bring your check at the end of the meal, even with the DDP. You wouldn't want to do it before the meal, there could be mistakes that you wouldn't see/be able to fix.

 

[jcemom]

Thanks for the speedy replies! I won't worry about it then. Most of our meals are buffet though, or other one-price meals. The only ones that aren't are outside the parks while DD will be at Neverland, so we have no time constraints with those ones. I know we paid early before at Crystal Palace, not at the beginning, but early. But using room charge I had to figure the tip when I paid, not ideal since I had no clue what sort of service we'd get.

I should have figured all this out a week ago, LOL. Now we're over a holiday weekend so even if I deposit the money now it won't be credited until the middle of the week, ditto if I transfer it from my savings. I don't keep a lot of extra money in my checking. I guess I could just use my credit card and pay it when I get home.

I'm sitting here looking at a rather large stack of $5's and $1's, trying to figure out what to do with them.

I just 'knew' I wanted to pay cash for everything this time. But then today when I put all the small amounts I had stashed everywhere together, well, now it's a big amount. Dining tips, mousekeeping tips, bell services and skycap tips, airport food money, pony rides and face painting money, misc spending money... ugh.

 

[DSLTX]

Last July we were on the DDP and used cash for all tips. I thought it worked out great. We probably tipped a bit more than a straight 18 or 20 % since we always rounded up. We estimated tips each day and only took that amount into the parks with us. I don't know if it necessarily got us out any faster but my guess would be it did.

 

[hematite153]

Now I'm worried about carrying so much cash with me through the airport on our way there.

To answer this part, since it sounds like you have the cash already ready to be used as tips, you can get traveling money pouches that allow you to carry money under your clothes, strapped to your underwear, etc. If you've got multiple responsible people, I'd also recommend splitting it up so that no 1 person has it all.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You can not use the gift card to pay off room charges. My parents wanted to do this for our trip and was told that it wasn't allowed.

You know, there's some confusion between the $200 gift card bonus that goes with some 4/3 MYW packages, and the one-day park admission-value gift card on your birthday for which Guests already possessing multi-day tickets are opting instead. The latter can be used ONLY in certain locations and only on the birrhday, and not for food - but as far as I know, the $200 GC can be applied to room charges.

 

[mathgeek]

We're thinking of getting the Tables in Wonderland card to use for our TS dining the next couple trips, and I noticed that you can use it at the All-Stars food courts as well. (I assume b/c there is no TS restaurant at these resorts?) So my question is this...it says that there is an automatic 18% gratuity charged when you use the card - I'm fine with this at a TS b/c we would tip anyway, but do they do this charge at these CS locations? I thought I remembered reading that they didn't when it was DDE, but that was a while ago. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I'm going to ask when I call to order the card, but they're closed on Sunday, so I thought I'd see if anyone here on the DIS knew.

Thanks!

 

[dizneeat]

Gratuity is only added at Table Service Restaurants. At resorts that do not have a TS restaurant (All Stars, Pop and POFQ) take it as well - NO gratuity is charged there. (I THINK you can use it at the AK CS as well, as Yak and Yeti is not Disney owned and doesn't take it - but I could be wrong for 09)

 

[RoseGrows]

We just returned from a week in WDW using the Deluxe Dining Plan. There were 8 of us, and we had more food than we needed. It is very awkward when dining as a group, to calculate the tip. I wish Disney would either decide to make the tip inclusive in the dining plan, or figure out some way of making the whole system easier to use. They encouraged us to have charging privileges on our room key, and after seeing what chaos we ran into every time we ate as a group, we decided that we would be better off charging the tip to our room. It is still awkward, and not all the servers seem to understand what they are supposed to do. The good part of the DDP, or any of the dining plans, is that we were able to budget and pay for our meals prior to our trip.

 

[hematite153]

We just returned from a week in WDW using the Deluxe Dining Plan. There were 8 of us, and we had more food than we needed. It is very awkward when dining as a group, to calculate the tip. I wish Disney would either decide to make the tip inclusive in the dining plan, or figure out some way of making the whole system easier to use. They encouraged us to have charging privileges on our room key, and after seeing what chaos we ran into every time we ate as a group, we decided that we would be better off charging the tip to our room. It is still awkward, and not all the servers seem to understand what they are supposed to do. The good part of the DDP, or any of the dining plans, is that we were able to budget and pay for our meals prior to our trip.

Given that you were a group of 8, an automatic 18% gratuity should have been applied. Plus, you can split up your bill in any configuration you choose (just tell the server who should be on which bill). So, tipping should have been easy. (Each bill would have listed the required tip.)

I'm sorry you found it so complicated, but, I'm not really sure why.