Tipping at Disney Buffets

[MickeyNicki]

We tip 20% at buffets when the server is on top of keeping our drinks filled, dirty plates removed, makes sure we have seen all the characters etc. The only buffet that has ever given us bad service is H&V.

 

[just another guy]

I tip the same at buffets as I do sit downs - 20% for good service (which is the norm I've expirienced at WDW). I feel that disney buffet servers do a comparable amount of work to disney sit down servers so I tip the same. Also, both groups of servers receive a sub minimum wage so I feel it is only fair to treat them equally.

Exactly! People use the "they just take away dirty plates" excuse, but at a normal table service the same tpy excuse could be used, "the server just tells the chef what I want, and brings it to me 20 minutes later"

Anyone know about how much the servers are paid at these restaurants?

about $3, but since they are taxed on their tips, 100% of that $3 goes to taxes.

 

[anbouk]

WOW..$3 NEVER thought servers were paid so little!!! They def deserve A LOT more, considering some people don't leave 20% tip. We ALWAYS leave at least 20% (sometimes even more!) especially if they are kind, sweet towards kids, ie; bring them a special treat, stickers, etc.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

WOW..$3 NEVER thought servers were paid so little!!! They def deserve A LOT more, considering some people don't leave 20% tip. We ALWAYS leave at least 20% (sometimes even more!) especially if they are kind, sweet towards kids, ie; bring them a special treat, stickers, etc.

They do make a lot more...with tips!

I'm willing to bet that a good waiter at a place with prices like WDW makes more working 5 - 4 hour shifts a week than I make working 5 - 8 hour shifts in my office - and I make a lot more than $3/hour. In fact, someone posted on another thread that her friend who is a waiter at a WDW restaurant makes around $60K a year. So yes, tip appropriately and based on your personal tipping beliefs, but you don't need to do so out of pity for the "poor" waiter.

 

[PatriciaH]

We tip 20% at buffets. I think it is more work for the server at a buffet restaurant. More clearing and bringing new plates/drinks out.

 

[mom2my3kids]

They do make a lot more...with tips!

I'm willing to bet that a good waiter at a place with prices like WDW makes more working 5 - 4 hour shifts a week than I make working 5 - 8 hour shifts in my office - and I make a lot more than $3/hour. In fact, someone posted on another thread that her friend who is a waiter at a WDW restaurant makes around $60K a year. So yes, tip appropriately and based on your personal tipping beliefs, but you don't need to do so out of pity for the "poor" waiter.

WOW 60,000 I don't know about disney but most servers do not make that I am sure unless they work in a upscale restaurant. I make 2.13 a hour plus tips, I do good but nothing to brag about. But then again IHOP is not a upscale restaurant but a family breakfast restaurant. In the end its not what you THINK a server makes, you should tip 15-20 percent of the bill PERIOD. Now if you get horrible service tip accordingly..

 

[just another guy]

They do make a lot more...with tips!

I'm willing to bet that a good waiter at a place with prices like WDW makes more working 5 - 4 hour shifts a week than I make working 5 - 8 hour shifts in my office - and I make a lot more than $3/hour. In fact, someone posted on another thread that her friend who is a waiter at a WDW restaurant makes around $60K a year.

Thats EXTREMELY rare.

 

[seven dwarfs]

This is a interesting thread because my family of eight is forced an 18% tip at buffets. Hum. I wonder if the majority says 10%-15% then shouldn't the party of six be the same forced %. Better yet, I'd like to make my own decision of how much I want to leave. And at Disney the buffets are not cheep by any means.

 

[pilferk]

Thats EXTREMELY rare.

When we were last at WDW (Jan '06) we had a meal at 50's Prime Time (not a buffet, I know). The waitress happened to be from CT (as we are) and we struck up a conversation.

Turns out, she used to work for a major insurance company. At 55, they offered her a nice retirement buy out package (she'd been there about 25 years), and she took it and decided to move to Florida. She was a big Disney fan, and wanted to work for the mouse....not corporate, but in the parks.

Long story short, she said roughly what the earlier poster said: After tips, she was making a LOT more than one might expect. Easily $20+ an hour, and during the busier seasons close to double that. She said that, combined with her pension and lower cost of living in Florida...she was actually doing a LOT BETTER than she was in CT, drudging away 40+ hours per week, and she liked her job a whole lot more.

So.....that's just another anecdotal log to add to the fire. Is it rare? I don't know....but, provided she was being honest (and I can't see why she wouldn't be), I can't see how she'd be a big exception to what goes on normally.

 

[mom2my3kids]

This is a interesting thread because my family of eight is forced an 18% tip at buffets. Hum. I wonder if the majority says 10%-15% then shouldn't the party of six be the same forced %. Better yet, I'd like to make my own decision of how much I want to leave. And at Disney the buffets are not cheep by any means.

While I understand it cost more with a larger family, when you go to disney things are going to cost more. Like many of us told you before, if you get BAD service and you really feel like they don't deserve the tip then complain to the manager. If you get good service then you should be fine with it and just fork out the extra few bucks. I don't normally pay 2.50 for a coke either but its Disney things are inflated..

 

[just another guy]

When we were last at WDW (Jan '06) we had a meal at 50's Prime Time (not a buffet, I know). The waitress happened to be from CT (as we are) and we struck up a conversation....

I beleive it. Take disney's top restaurants(both by price, and popularity), and they take 1/4th of each of those restaurants servers(the full time servers). Those are the only ones making decent money. Disney stopped hiring full time servers several years ago. They would much rather have 2 servers work 2 days a week, than one server work 4. That, and then disney doesn't have to give them ant benefits. Servers get their restaurant based on seniority. The only way a full time server could transfer to the Crystal Palace would be if they've been working elsewhere at disney as a server for 20-25 years.