The Disney Tipping Info Thread *Updated 9.1.09*

[Tricia1972]

New tipping thread policy​

Tipping threads here on the Restaurant Boards have consistently turned into debate threads with lots of arguments. They all tend to get closed in the end once they cross the line.

The Restaurant Board mods are willing to create one thread where tipping questions can be asked and answered. HOWEVER, this is NOT the debate board.


Here are the basic guidelines
1. No fighting, name calling or debate on people's personal tipping habits. This includes but not limited to:
• I will not tip my server more than I tithe the Lord
• I will not give a server more than I make an hour
• Everyone knows servers make 100k a year, why should I tip them
• Servers should be paid a living wage and not have to depend on tips to support themselves. hence tipping should be abolished.
2. No flaming anyone for any reason.

3. Any post deemed off topic or in anyway against the posting guidelines will be deleted without comment and the poster will receive an infraction.

4. Any other thread started on the restaurant board for the "tipping" topic will be closed with a note to see this thread (This includes DDP board).

5. No personal tipping habits are to be discussed. Generally speaking, what you tip at Disney is entirely up to you. To figure out what your meal will run, check out the menus here on the DIS at (insert link here). This will give you an idea of the meal cost. Disney does provide 18% and 20% calculations on the dining receipt. What you actually tip, is up to you with the exceptions below.

The exceptions to this are those using the Tables in Wonderland (TiW) Discount Card and parties of 6 or more. If you are in either one of these categories, you will have an auto gratuity of 18% added to your bill. Adjustments to this would need to be discussed with a manager.

Parties of 6 include everyone at the table, including children under 3 and infants. If you are dining with another group and paying separate, you are still subject to the 18% gratuity added to the bill. Each group at the table can get their own bill with their portion of the gratuity split out.

Please note – Disney does not differentiate between types of Table Service – buffets, all you care to eat and menu ordering locations are all treated equal and subject to the same guidelines by Disney.

There is always concern expressed about a set gratuity and service. Your option is to talk to the manager at the time of the incident. The only adjustment possible is done by the restaurant manager. Better to speak to the manager early on and receive improved service than to complain at the end to request redeuced gratuity

6. You may pay the gratuity in many different forms. You may use:
• Disney Dollars
• Disney Visa (or any credit card)
• Disney gift cards and Disney Reward cards
• Disney room charge (KTTW card)
• Cash (Just write cash on the tip line and leave the $$ in the folder)

7. The gratuity is included in the dinner shows Hoop Dee Doo Review, Spirit of Aloha and at Cinderella’s Royal Table. You can always leave additional 

Please abide by these guidelines - and everyone can get the info they need for planning their magical Disney vacations.

If this does not work, we will ban this topic from the restaurant boards.

Thank you and we appreciate your cooperation,
The Restaurant Board Mods

 

[crimsontide27]

Ive seen quite a few posts that I feel like could use a response.

1) Disney Dollars for tipping - At Disney there is no difference between getting cash and getting Disney Dollars. At the end of the shift when you go to cash out your Disney Dollars are treated same as cash. There is always cash to turn in , so we turn in our Disney Dollars. Its not a problem for any of the servers to accept Disney Dollars as gratuity.

2) Tips being charged to the room when you left cash - When the server brings you the receipt it will have a place to leave the gratuity. If you are leaving cash there is NO REASON to write the amount of cash that you left as a tip. As soon as you put an amount down on that paper and sign it, you have just given the server permission to charge your room card. I see it all the time. A table will leave me a cash gratuity but still feel the need to write down how much cash they left me on the receipt. This authorizes me to charge your room. DO NOT DO IT !! If you leave cash, just leave cash and do nothing more....not one thing.

The cash office or GTs that cash the servers out at the end of the night will NOT authorize a gratuity if its not signed. In other words, if they are trying to charge your room for a gratuity and its not signed, the GT office cant allow it. If a server has just signed a random name to your receipt in order to get more gratuity, not only are they fired....Orange County police is called and they are arrested. I have never seen a case of a server doing this and when people complain about double charges for tips, 99% of the time its a case of them signing the receipt with an amount written on it.

3) To tell the server upfront you are on the Dining Plan or not? - YES, tell them as soon as you are seated. Many times people think saying they are the dining plan gets them less service. This is not true at all. It causes so many problems when a guest waits till the end of dinner and wants a check and then suprises the server with AHA! We are on the Dining Plan. Now the server has to go find a manager to void off every item, line by line , from the bill...then they have to re-ring everything back in. This takes quite a bit of time and by then the guest is usually frustrated with the amount of time its taking to fix the issue.

4) Tipping envelopes? - NO NO NO NO envelopes please. Reason is quite simple. Many times familys leave trash, Times Guides, brochures, childrens drawings etc all over the table. The first thing that happens when a busser comes by the table is to throw everything in the trash that doesnt belong on the table ( unless its obvious its a guests item they forgot etc ). This includes your envelopes. If you want to make an envelope to put a tip in, then hand it to the server because chances are very high that it would wind up in the trash if you didnt.

 

[Goofy22]

Does any of the following still include Tips and/or taxes

CRT - lunch
Aloha Show
Hoop Dee Doo show
Candlelight Procession.

Thanks in advance

I know for the following if you are on the dining plan they are 2 TS and the Tip is definitely included as we did HDDMR and had CRT scheduled but wound up cancelling in advance and not doing it . I'm not sure about the other 2 as we have never done those.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm not sure if it would be to, "cutesy" or if the tip is actually added on automatically since it is such a signature dining place.

Just so you know, being a "signature" or very upscale restaurant in NO way indicates the gratuity is automatically included/added on your check.

Ive seen quite a few posts that I feel like could use a response.

Thank you! You're right - those issues did need to be addressed!

 

[bytheblood]

Ive seen quite a few posts that I feel like could use a response.

1) Disney Dollars for tipping - At Disney there is no difference between getting cash and getting Disney Dollars. At the end of the shift when you go to cash out your Disney Dollars are treated same as cash. There is always cash to turn in , so we turn in our Disney Dollars. Its not a problem for any of the servers to accept Disney Dollars as gratuity.

2) Tips being charged to the room when you left cash - When the server brings you the receipt it will have a place to leave the gratuity. If you are leaving cash there is NO REASON to write the amount of cash that you left as a tip. As soon as you put an amount down on that paper and sign it, you have just given the server permission to charge your room card. I see it all the time. A table will leave me a cash gratuity but still feel the need to write down how much cash they left me on the receipt. This authorizes me to charge your room. DO NOT DO IT !! If you leave cash, just leave cash and do nothing more....not one thing.

The cash office or GTs that cash the servers out at the end of the night will NOT authorize a gratuity if its not signed. In other words, if they are trying to charge your room for a gratuity and its not signed, the GT office cant allow it. If a server has just signed a random name to your receipt in order to get more gratuity, not only are they fired....Orange County police is called and they are arrested. I have never seen a case of a server doing this and when people complain about double charges for tips, 99% of the time its a case of them signing the receipt with an amount written on it.

3) To tell the server upfront you are on the Dining Plan or not? - YES, tell them as soon as you are seated. Many times people think saying they are the dining plan gets them less service. This is not true at all. It causes so many problems when a guest waits till the end of dinner and wants a check and then suprises the server with AHA! We are on the Dining Plan. Now the server has to go find a manager to void off every item, line by line , from the bill...then they have to re-ring everything back in. This takes quite a bit of time and by then the guest is usually frustrated with the amount of time its taking to fix the issue.

4) Tipping envelopes? - NO NO NO NO envelopes please. Reason is quite simple. Many times familys leave trash, Times Guides, brochures, childrens drawings etc all over the table. The first thing that happens when a busser comes by the table is to throw everything in the trash that doesnt belong on the table ( unless its obvious its a guests item they forgot etc ). This includes your envelopes. If you want to make an envelope to put a tip in, then hand it to the server because chances are very high that it would wind up in the trash if you didnt.

This is a great post. I was actually going to comment on 1 & 4 myself, but you covered it!

 

[Dannielle_1]

Does anyone know about tipping at the Wishes Dessert Party? Do you tip?

I just booked this for Dec and I was thinking about it and don't even know if there is someone to tip. From what I've read it seems mostly self-serve (even on drinks), however there are CM's taking care of the dessert buffet. If anyone has any insite, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[Bertie131]

I would love to hear a response to this thread as well please...

 

[Dervis]

Question for everyone!
On my next trip, I'm going to be going with a party of 9. If we can get ADRs, I know about the auto-grat, but we thought that if we couldn't ger ADRS for the restaraunts we wanted, that we'd split up into a group of 4 and 5 and try to get ADRs for about the same time. At that point, would they treat us as a group of 9 and still auto-grat us, or would we be treated as two seperate tables in which niether would be autograted?

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Grr.... I don't like how the prices aren't on anything. Now that tip is NOT included...how are you supposed to know how much to tip? Or does it still show like above, it just lists what 18% should be?

 

[Seahunt]

Here's a picture of some 2008 receipts previously posted by DISer "bedell32" that might help (BIG thanks to bedell32!). Though these are for the regular DDP, you can still see how they work. Notice how bedell32 has them in order for the example (1st is TS, 2nd is CS, and 3rd is snack example).

To see how they show how many credits "remain" after a meal -look on the TS top receipt where it shows bedell32's receipt shows they then had "6 AD TBLSVC CPN REMA" (or 6 Adult Table Service Remain) and "6 CH TBLSVC CPN REMA"(=6 Child Table Service Remain).

The CS (2nd receipt) shows "17 CNTR SVC Cpns Rem" - so they had 17 CS credits left at that time.

The SNACK (3rd receipt) shows "12 SNACK Cpns Remain" - they had 12 Snack credits left at that time.

And notice it also shows "Entitlements Used" or how many credits they used for what they bought on each receipt.

One TS, CS and Snack.

Hope this helps! And don't stress because I guarantee once you get there and use the system it will all be very easy and make sense! Really!

 

[Tricia1972]

That receipt may not be a good one to look at for seeing the gratuity on a typical DDP receipt. This is definitely a group that either used the Tables in Wonderland card for a portion of their meal, or they had a total of 6 or more at their table, as the gratuity is an auto gratuity.

It also looks like one of the last receipts you get, you usually get a bundle of receipts. In the past you've always gotten at least one receipt that shows the total bill and what an 18% or a 20% gratuity would be.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you are all seated together, obviously you're a party of six or more and subject to the automatic service charge.

If you split between two tables but have the same server, you are a party of six or more and subject to the service charge.

If you are seated at different tables and have different servers and have fewer than six people at each table, you are two parties of fewer than six and are not subject to the service charge.

Just my opinion, but I would think if you appear to all be together and end up seated in the same server's station, the service charge would be automatically added to your check.

 

[sher92]

I'm thinking this is the place that I need to ask this question? We are headed to WDW next week, there will be 4 adults and 2 children (ages 2.5 and 4 mths). This is our first visit so please excuse the stupid questions! On the reservations it says gratuity included for a party of 6 or more, does this include my two kids as well? Will they just add that to our bill? And how does it work with the Disney Dining Plan? And finally, can we pay it in cash or does it just get billed to the credit card that we use?

THanks so much!

 

[celerystalker]

Hello, all! I read the first post and the past four pages and I have a question similar to this one:

I promise this won't be controversial. We have always done the DDP and have always brought cash for the tips. This year we are contemplating putting our debit card on our KTTK card for charging and using that for tips. If we do that, is it an individual charge for every restaurant every day or does it get charged to our room and put through the debit card all together in a lump sum at the end?

That's probably a really stupid question. We've just never put charging priveleges on our KTTK card before and have no idea how it works. Thank for your help!

As I understand it, you will accumulate your charges on your room key and pay them off before you check out..I think you can even pay how ever you want to.....I will have a few Reward dollars and plan to use them to pay on additional charges made even though my Disney visa will be linked to the room key.

We'll be on DDP and have a debit card on file on our KTTW card. I'm guessing the system is "magical" enough to not run any cash through on the card until I sign it?
Sorry to sound dumb, but this process mystifies me. Thanks in advance!

 

[scrapindis]

I know there is an 18% gratuity on large parties. Will they they tell each room what their portion of the tip is? We are a party of 10 with 4 rooms. I am hoping not to have to figure out what everyone owes for the tip. I hope this makes sense and thanks in advance.

 

[mickey2000]

I work as a server and my feeling would be that I pay my mortgage etc with real money not Disney dollars. I am sure they can cash them in but it just makes one more unnecessary step for them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

On the reservations it says gratuity included for a party of 6 or more, does this include my two kids as well?

Yes. Disney counts EVERY person - not just for dining gratuity, but anywhere that a count matters.

Will they just add that to our bill?

Yes.

And how does it work with the Disney Dining Plan?

Someone will correct me if this is wrong, but you should get two receipts to sign - one for your meal, and a separate showing the tip.

And finally, can we pay it in cash or does it just get billed to the credit card that we use?

Entirely up to you. If you choose to tip in cash, print the word "cash" on the tip amount line. If you leave cash and put an amount - e.g. note the actual dollar amount of the tip you left - you will be tipping twice.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I know there is an 18% gratuity on large parties. Will they they tell each room what their portion of the tip is? We are a party of 10 with 4 rooms. I am hoping not to have to figure out what everyone owes for the tip. I hope this makes sense and thanks in advance.

Each party will get its own receipt - let the server know before you order who goes with which party - which will show only that party's order and that party's tip, for the food they ordered.

 

[Tricia1972]

If you look up to the first post on this page, post number 1546, you can see what an auto gratuity receipt looks like on the DDP. The very top receipt is an auto gratuity receipt for a party of 4 who was part of a larger group.

 

[ShhhQ]

I'm thinking this is the place that I need to ask this question? We are headed to WDW next week, there will be 4 adults and 2 children (ages 2.5 and 4 mths). This is our first visit so please excuse the stupid questions! On the reservations it says gratuity included for a party of 6 or more, does this include my two kids as well? Will they just add that to our bill? And how does it work with the Disney Dining Plan? And finally, can we pay it in cash or does it just get billed to the credit card that we use?

THanks so much!

Hold on... since the children are both under the age of 3, they are not included on the Dining plan, but are allowed to eat free from adults plates... if this is the case do they still count toward gratuity?