Tipping at Disneyland

[cado]

Being from Australia we do not tip as much as people from usa.I just want to know if i dine at say the Blue Bayou do i tip

 

[cheshiregirl]

Yes. Anytime you have a server waiting on you & you order off of a menu you should tip. 15% is considered by many to be the standard in the US, but up to 20% is pretty common for good service, and up to 25% for great service. At DL a restaurant like Blue Bayou does not build a tip into the bill, but a buffet restaurant like Goofy's Kitchen includes it in the price. So, it is always a good idea to look at your receipt to see whether a gratuity and service charge has been added for you.

 

[audrabolster]

We do tip at the Blue Bayou. We usually tip 20%

 

[pixiewings71]

At BB yes, at character meals no. Ariels Grotto has tax and tip built into the price so no need to leave extra unless you want to. If you are unsure just as your server, they will be able to tell you. Oh and no tipping at CS, just at TS places.

 

[cmwade77]

Even in the U.S the tipping customs vary, on the west coast, the general standard is:
10% - Acceptable Service
15% - Good Service
18%+ - Excellent Service

On the east coast you will generally find:
15% - Acceptable service
18% - Average Service
20%-22% - Good Service
25%+ - Excellent Service

One of the reasons for the difference is that most states on the west coast require that servers are paid the minimum wage before tips, most states on the east coast allow employers to deduct the tips from the minimum wage for the servers. Now, I generally tip what I feel the server's service was worth to me and that varies a lot.

Now Buffets are different as well, on the west coast:
Disney automatically includes 15%-18% tip and you should not leave an additional tip, from what I have been told.

This is not customary for buffets out here, normally you would tip $1-$2 per person, if you are served your drinks, otherwise no tip is expected.

Wikipedia has an article on tipping, which is very good, although not 100% accurate (what I wrote above seems to be the trend, especially in California), the article can be found by clicking here.

Now, I don't mean this post to offend anyone, this is just from my personal observations.

Also, if you go to places like starbucks, cold stone or many other counter service places outside Disney you may see a tip jar, if the person helping you has gone above and beyond their normal job to do so, a tip might be appropriate, otherwise I would say that no tip is necessary as a general rule.

In addition, at Disneyland, if you are ordering at the counter and they bring your food to you, they are not allowed to accept a tip.

 

[Califgirl]

YIKES! I'm on the west coast and would never tip as low as 10%.
15% - 20% is the norm. 15% is also the norm for buffets here.

However, at DLR I do believe that the tip is included in the buffets. As previously mentioned, check your receipt to be sure.

Even in the U.S the tipping customs vary, on the west coast, the general standard is:
10% - Acceptable Service
15% - Good Service
18%+ - Excellent Service

On the east coast you will generally find:
15% - Acceptable service
18% - Average Service
20%-22% - Good Service
25%+ - Excellent Service

One of the reasons for the difference is that most states on the west coast require that servers are paid the minimum wage before tips, most states on the east coast allow employers to deduct the tips from the minimum wage for the servers. Now, I generally tip what I feel the server's service was worth to me and that varies a lot.

Now Buffets are different as well, on the west coast:
Disney automatically includes 15%-18% tip and you should not leave an additional tip, from what I have been told.

This is not customary for buffets out here, normally you would tip $1-$2 per person, if you are served your drinks, otherwise no tip is expected.

Wikipedia has an article on tipping, which is very good, although not 100% accurate (what I wrote above seems to be the trend, especially in California), the article can be found by clicking here.

Now, I don't mean this post to offend anyone, this is just from my personal observations.

Also, if you go to places like starbucks, cold stone or many other counter service places outside Disney you may see a tip jar, if the person helping you has gone above and beyond their normal job to do so, a tip might be appropriate, otherwise I would say that no tip is necessary as a general rule.

In addition, at Disneyland, if you are ordering at the counter and they bring your food to you, they are not allowed to accept a tip.

 

[deletedpenguin]

Trying to figure out tip. One thing I don't miss about the States. Anyways, good rule of thumb to start with is double the tax, then add depending on whether the service was any good. (Works in Ca. as the tax is like 8 1/2%, probably not elsewhere)

But really, you only need to tip if it's a sitdown restaraunt, and there's waitstaff.

 

[mapelgleaf]

Trying to figure out tip. One thing I don't miss about the States. Anyways, good rule of thumb to start with is double the tax, then add depending on whether the service was any good. (Works in Ca. as the tax is like 8 1/2%, probably not elsewhere)

But really, you only need to tip if it's a sitdown restaraunt, and there's waitstaff.

Bingo.

That's your rule of thumb... and as long as you're @ 15% or so you'll be fine.

Oh, and round it up/down of course too so the wait staff doesn't have to mess around with it - don't leave a $4.56 tip, just leave $4 or $5

 

[DReynolds86]

A lot of cell phones nowadays have built-in tip calculators as well.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I would never tip as low as 10 percent either. If the service was that bad, then I would complain first. But for "acceptable" service, I would leave 15 percent. I read an article about how wait people have been getting less tips due to the economy. That is money they have counted on to live on.

 

[DesertBell]

Where I live, waitstaff makes something like $2.19 an hour at a lot of places. They really do depend on those tips. I would never only tip 10%;If that was all I could afford, we couldn't afford to eat out, and the extra couple bucks is going to mean more to them than to me, at that point.

 

[McCall]

Don't forget to tip at your hotel as well if you eat there and the room cleaners.
I was at Disney a few weeks ago at Paradise Pier Hotel in the coffee shop where an Autralian lady had just had a served lunch Bill was $38. She wanted to know how much to Tip, she asked the server who could not really say obviously, and she asked me, I told her standard tip would be 15 to 20 percent, but she kept insisting on a figure. Finally she said $2.00? I just shrugged, I had already told her 15 to 20 %. she left 2.00 and got up and left, the server and I looked at each other, he shook his head, and said "remind me never to go work in Australia" LOL

 

[deletedpenguin]

Don't forget to tip at your hotel as well if you eat there and the room cleaners.
I was at Disney a few weeks ago at Paradise Pier Hotel in the coffee shop where an Autralian lady had just had a served lunch Bill was $38. She wanted to know how much to Tip, she asked the server who could not really say obviously, and she asked me, I told her standard tip would be 15 to 20 percent, but she kept insisting on a figure. Finally she said $2.00? I just shrugged, I had already told her 15 to 20 %. she left 2.00 and got up and left, the server and I looked at each other, he shook his head, and said "remind me never to go work in Australia" LOL

To clear something up, wait staff in Australia get paid pretty well, so tipping is not expected. They will generally make $18+/hr. (Minimum wage here is almost $15/hr.) With that said, food is a bit more expensive as well, to accomodate higher wages. But, you never have to tip, so it kind of works itself out.

 

[Czardas]

Being a fellow Aussie , our last trip was really hard for us to remember to tip as it just isn't part of our culture. What makes it even worse is our lousy exchange rate at the moment, so we are almost paying double what Americans are, due to the rate being only 60c to the dollar. Not a great time for us to travel, considering last Feb. we were getting 90c to the dollar

Just make sure to double check your bill as sometimes tipping has already been calculated in and you risk paying it twice.

One of the things we did notice was that the wait staff really work hard for their tips and they work their tables as if they are there own small businesses, so expect better service than we get at home. We experienced some exceptional service and it was then a pleasure to tip. When we came home we truly missed the attention from the staff making sure we had everything we needed.

 

[MAH4546]

Just remember that in the U.S., it's typical to tip for just about every kind of personal service. So you won't just be expected to tip while dining at the Blue Bayou (or any restaurant with wait service). You would also tip:

Bar tenders, taxi drivers, hotel shuttle bus drivers, hotel bellhops, hotel maids, airline sky caps, hotel pool attendants, tour guides, tour bus drivers, restroom attendants, valet parkers, gas station attendants, car wash attendant, delivery guys (except post/parcels), beautician, masseuse

For services with a bill, typical tip is between 15 and 20%.

For services without a bill, then $1-$5 depending on the service provided.

Even in the U.S the tipping customs vary, on the west coast, the general standard is:
10% - Acceptable Service
15% - Good Service
18%+ - Excellent Service

On the east coast you will generally find:
15% - Acceptable service
18% - Average Service
20%-22% - Good Service
25%+ - Excellent Service
.

I'm on the West Coast. I would never leave less than a 15% tip for acceptable service. Who leaves a 10% tip? How insulting.

 

[nunzia]

Even in the U.S the tipping customs vary, on the west coast, the general standard is:
10% - Acceptable Service
15% - Good Service
18%+ - Excellent Service

On the east coast you will generally find:
15% - Acceptable service
18% - Average Service
20%-22% - Good Service
25%+ - Excellent Service

One of the reasons for the difference is that most states on the west coast require that servers are paid the minimum wage before tips, most states on the east coast allow employers to deduct the tips from the minimum wage for the servers. Now, I generally tip what I feel the server's service was worth to me and that varies a lot.

Now Buffets are different as well, on the west coast:
Disney automatically includes 15%-18% tip and you should not leave an additional tip, from what I have been told.

This is not customary for buffets out here, normally you would tip $1-$2 per person, if you are served your drinks, otherwise no tip is expected.

Wikipedia has an article on tipping, which is very good, although not 100% accurate (what I wrote above seems to be the trend, especially in California), the article can be found by clicking here.

Now, I don't mean this post to offend anyone, this is just from my personal observations.

Also, if you go to places like starbucks, cold stone or many other counter service places outside Disney you may see a tip jar, if the person helping you has gone above and beyond their normal job to do so, a tip might be appropriate, otherwise I would say that no tip is necessary as a general rule.

In addition, at Disneyland, if you are ordering at the counter and they bring your food to you, they are not allowed to accept a tip.

I'm in NM and the minimum pay for servers is waaaay below minimum wage. We tip 20% and if the server was above average, even more.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Even in the U.S the tipping customs vary, on the west coast, the general standard is:
10% - Acceptable Service
15% - Good Service
18%+ - Excellent Service

I'm also from the west coast and I've never heard of it being acceptable to only tip 10%. 15%-20% seems to be the norm for good service.

 

[albertamommyof4]

we live in canada and we usually tip between 15 and 20% for a wait staff restauraunt, but if the server is crappy i am sorry but i won't tip, if the food is crappy well i still tip as it is not the waiters fault.
As far as cab drivers, no way i have never tipped them, they do not go above and beyond of what they are supposed to do and mostly they don't even do what they are supposed to do , as far as a bell hop well we dont ever use them,
housekeeping well here we don't usually tip, if the housekeeper goes above and beyond then ya i will tip but that has never happened, most housekeepers in hotels barely even do there job lol and they do make good money here, if my room is messy from us then yes will trip but i usually clean it every monring before i leave a hotel room .

 

[Peri]

Another western state person who hasn't heard a 10% tip suggested since the 1970s!

Wow, that would be low and really insulting if the service was acceptable.

We tip 20 percent, with extra if extra things are provided.

It is also easy to compute - 41.22 bill x 2 = 8.40 so 9 dollar tip.

This is from my waitress days, too, when we got such a small base salary and had to make the difference up in tips, which had to be reported to IRS.

I wish we could go to the Australian and other customs and just pay waitstaff a living wage and stop the whole goofy system!

 

[DWFan4Life]

Same us here, we usually tip 20% at the Blue Bayou.