Using Disney Gift Card For Meals - Can it cover tips?

[retlaw_yensid]

Hello,

We're visiting DLR in August and plan on bringing along Disney Gift Cards that we would use for dining and souviners. My question is whether or not tips from sit-down meals can also be taken from the Disney gift card, or would I have to supply a credit card for that portion of the meal?

I surmise that restaurants 'pend' the transaction when a customer uses a credit card (so they can edit the transaction to include the added tip), but does the same process apply to gift cards?

Thank you for your help!

-Ken

 

[Indiana Scott]

Yes, you can tip from a gift card. You use the card just like a credit card.
Hope you have a great trip!

 

[FarmBoy78]

Yes. Obviously you have to have the amount on the gift card to cover it, but yes.

If the meal is $70 and you hand the waiter/waitress two $50 gift cards, one will be zeroed out, and one will come back with $30 available. There will be a line for tip. If you put down, $15 for a tip, when you check your balance shortly later you will have $15 remaining on that card, as the tip has been taken out.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Simple answer: Yes. Long answer: I tried it twice on my last trip & I'll never do it again. It confused the wait staff & took forever (like 25 min @ BTRBBQ.) I don't love carrying cash, and I thought it would be a simple process to pay gratuity on the card, but it was not

 

[Sherry E]

I have tipped on a Disney gift card in the past at DLR (Storytellers Café was one such place where I did it), but the last time I tried to do it I was told it was not allowed. It was Carnation Café. They told me up front, before I ordered anything or was seated, that the tip could not be put on a gift card even if the meal was paid for with that same gift card, and they were quite certain about it. They said that it had been allowed at one point, but not any longer. I didn't have any spare (available) cash at that moment, so I just went elsewhere (counter service) to eat.

I have no idea if the CMs at Carnation just gave me incorrect information and Carnation Café actually allows tips on the gift cards -- my feeling was that they were wrong, because tons of people use gift cards to pay for meals, and it would make sense that many of them would just want to include the tip on the gift card as well -- but I wasn't in the mood to ask them to check with someone else (a third person) to be sure, so I just left.

Hopefully there is no problem with adding the tip to a gift card now -- at any of the table service restaurants -- and you will be able to do it without an issue.

 

[DG24]

I did it at arial's, goofy's, river belle F!, and several others laces I jan with no problem. You just have to give the card back a second time after you pay so they can deduct the tip off. I usually tell them when I am paying that I will add the tip to the gc. I have never had to wait a long time for them to do it. If they stop the practice, I think they will lose more tips because I am not going to carry cash in the parks. I take two or three gc a day and pay for everything with them. I don't think I am mean, but unlike the previous post, if an establishment told me after I made ressies that tips could not be added onto gc I would have ate anyway and told them my tip was to change the policy. Because it is a theme park and many do not carry cash, I for one won't.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I haven't done it this year, but I did do it last year at Carthay Circle, Ariel's Grotto and Blue Bayou. None of them had a problem with it. I don't know if the policy has changed since then.

 

[gottalovepluto]

A gift card is supposed to be cash-equivalent in the state of California, but tipping on them can be confusing for wait staff who have not done this before so you may need extra patience. I would have been quite angry if I had gone to Carnation Café with my gift cards and been informed that I was not allowed to tip on them, kudos to Sherry E for not losing her cool! I would have marched straight down to city hall. If the systems were down or something fine, it happens, but just a blanketed ban on using your gift cards for tips is unacceptable....

Anyways, rant done now to help OP, if you happen to be staying onsite you can charge to your room key the entire meal and tip and then pay that off at your hotel with gift cards to avoid any confusion. Also, some stands and such inside the Disney parks aren't Disney-owned and don't accept gift cards just fyi but it's only just a couple of them. (And that's another example that one CAN pay tips via the Disney gift card system because you can charge to room and pay that with gift cards. Maybe Carnation Café had problems with servers being stiffed on their tips somehow, like people leaving a partially filled gift card that didn't cover the tip they wrote or something like that and they were trying to stop the problem, or they had some junior manager type in charge who didn't have a clue, who knows? I am a frequent user of gift cards -though not at Disneyland Resort lately because we stayed on site the last couple trips and paid via room key with gift cards- and instances where a retailer refuses to honor their gift cards in one fashion or other really upset me. Guess my rant wasn't quite done lol!)

 

[Sherry E]

A gift card is supposed to be cash-equivalent in the state of California, but tipping on them can be confusing for wait staff who have not done this before so you may need extra patience. I would have been quite angry if I had gone to Carnation Café with my gift cards and been informed that I was not allowed to tip on them, kudos to Sherry E for not losing her cool! I would have marched straight down to city hall. If the systems were down or something fine, it happens, but just a blanketed ban on using your gift cards for tips is unacceptable....

Anyways, rant done now to help OP, if you happen to be staying onsite you can charge to your room key the entire meal and tip and then pay that off at your hotel with gift cards to avoid any confusion. Also, some stands and such inside the Disney parks aren't Disney-owned and don't accept gift cards just fyi but it's only just a couple of them. (And that's another example that one CAN pay tips via the Disney gift card system because you can charge to room and pay that with gift cards. Maybe Carnation Café had problems with servers being stiffed on their tips somehow, like people leaving a partially filled gift card that didn't cover the tip they wrote or something like that and they were trying to stop the problem, or they had some junior manager type in charge who didn't have a clue, who knows? I am a frequent user of gift cards -though not at Disneyland Resort lately because we stayed on site the last couple trips and paid via room key with gift cards- and instances where a retailer refuses to honor their gift cards in one fashion or other really upset me. Guess my rant wasn't quite done lol!)

You know, I started to protest a little bit, and I did tell the Carnation Café folks that I had been able to put the tip on gift cards in other restaurants, but they seemed firm in the fact that they "used to" allow it but that it wasn't allowed anymore. I even said something like, "But we can put tips on credit cards -- doesn't it work the same way?" They said no. I had a feeling they just didn't want to be bothered with the gift card or that they just assumed it was not allowed and told me no. I figured they were wrong, though. I just didn't feel like standing there and arguing with them, and I would have wanted to tip the server as it wouldn't have been her or his fault the CMs at the front of the restaurant were clueless.

Carnation Café lost my business that day, but Plaza Inn gained it as I scarfed down their famous chicken!!

 

[FarmBoy78]

I have tipped on a Disney gift card in the past at DLR (Storytellers Café was one such place where I did it), but the last time I tried to do it I was told it was not allowed. It was Carnation Café. They told me up front, before I ordered anything or was seated, that the tip could not be put on a gift card even if the meal was paid for with that same gift card, and they were quite certain about it. They said that it had been allowed at one point, but not any longer. I didn't have any spare (available) cash at that moment, so I just went elsewhere (counter service) to eat.

I have no idea if the CMs at Carnation just gave me incorrect information and Carnation Café actually allows tips on the gift cards -- my feeling was that they were wrong, because tons of people use gift cards to pay for meals, and it would make sense that many of them would just want to include the tip on the gift card as well -- but I wasn't in the mood to ask them to check with someone else (a third person) to be sure, so I just left.

Hopefully there is no problem with adding the tip to a gift card now -- at any of the table service restaurants -- and you will be able to do it without an issue.

I had no problem doing so at Carnation Cafe at the end of March.

A gift card is supposed to be cash-equivalent in the state of California, but tipping on them can be confusing for wait staff who have not done this before so you may need extra patience. I would have been quite angry if I had gone to Carnation Café with my gift cards and been informed that I was not allowed to tip on them, kudos to Sherry E for not losing her cool! I would have marched straight down to city hall. If the systems were down or something fine, it happens, but just a blanketed ban on using your gift cards for tips is unacceptable....

Anyways, rant done now to help OP, if you happen to be staying onsite you can charge to your room key the entire meal and tip and then pay that off at your hotel with gift cards to avoid any confusion. Also, some stands and such inside the Disney parks aren't Disney-owned and don't accept gift cards just fyi but it's only just a couple of them. (And that's another example that one CAN pay tips via the Disney gift card system because you can charge to room and pay that with gift cards. Maybe Carnation Café had problems with servers being stiffed on their tips somehow, like people leaving a partially filled gift card that didn't cover the tip they wrote or something like that and they were trying to stop the problem, or they had some junior manager type in charge who didn't have a clue, who knows? I am a frequent user of gift cards -though not at Disneyland Resort lately because we stayed on site the last couple trips and paid via room key with gift cards- and instances where a retailer refuses to honor their gift cards in one fashion or other really upset me. Guess my rant wasn't quite done lol!)

Though I had no problems tipping on gift cards, if you are staying at a Disney resort, this can be an option as well if you're worried about it.

I did it at arial's, goofy's, river belle F!, and several others laces I jan with no problem. You just have to give the card back a second time after you pay so they can deduct the tip off.

I've never given my card back. It was always auto-deducted on my card.

...sounds like my experience has differed from others...

 

[GenGen22]

You know, I started to protest a little bit, and I did tell the Carnation Café folks that I had been able to put the tip on gift cards in other restaurants, but they seemed firm in the fact that they "used to" allow it but that it wasn't allowed anymore. I even said something like, "But we can put tips on credit cards -- doesn't it work the same way?" They said no. I had a feeling they just didn't want to be bothered with the gift card or that they just assumed it was not allowed and told me no. I figured they were wrong, though. I just didn't feel like standing there and arguing with them, and I would have wanted to tip the server as it wouldn't have been her or his fault the CMs at the front of the restaurant were clueless.

Carnation Café lost my business that day, but Plaza Inn gained it as I scarfed down their famous chicken!!

I think whomever you got just didn't understand how to process it. I used my GC in carnation cafe in Oct as well. Sorry you had a bad experience

 

[rwhistler92]

We tipped with Disney GC last week no problem.
Just make sure you don't use the card you tipped with again right away. It does take some time for the tip to go through on the card. I bet tips are being lost with people using their cards again too soon.

 

[agamble]

We have a Disney Visa, and our rewards come in the form of a Disney Gift card. We mostly eat counter service, but the character buffets place automatic gratuity on the meal. They took that from our gift card like everything else.

 

[retlaw_yensid]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. It's sounding like it comes down to which side of the bed the cast member woke up on that morning.

Maybe I'll plan on using a gift card to pay for the bulk of the meal, but still provide a credit card to pay for the rest (and tips). Thanks again!