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From AllEars:
http://www.allearsnet.com/din/new.gif The Walt Disney WorldŽ Resort will be implementing an across property policy change regarding gratuity at all food and beverage locations. Effective January 1, 2008, 18% gratuity will be added to all transactions, regardless of party size. (11/8/07 Disney Dining Experience Newsletter)
This is reportedly for ALL table service locations regardless of whether you are using a Disney Dining Experience card or not.
What do we all think of this?
I think this stinks! Disney is slowly making the resort experience too expensive! So if free dining comes around again in September of '08 I'll be paying 18% for Chef Mickey's!!! Good thing I've never met a buffet I didn't like. I'm gonna make Chef Mickey nervous
There is still conflicting rumors (since you get different answers from different ppl) about this. Whether it is just the DDE or all TS regardless of how you pay.
Personally...IMHO.....I will not be forced to tip a set amount. It is no longer a gratuity (which is voluntary--according to the definition for it) if that is the case but an extra tax--if you will and for lack of a better word--- for that meal. We have already decided if it comes down to this we will drop free dining for next year (yep we will give up free food) and do room only or we will not be eating any TS at all or we will be asking for the manager before we even start eating and INSISTING that the automatic tip not be included then tip what we feel that server has earned. (sorry but full tip % for buffet is not an option here)
I look at it this way too, Disney has been trying to find a way to come out ahead on the DDP........this is the way to do it. Charge an automtic tip and when you do no one will want to eat TS and all those credits they have will go to waste meaing money in the Mouse's pockets because ppl will be paying for the DDP then only getting 1/2 of what they paid for then turning around and paying more for more CS. They really need to think this thru more before implementing it.
LMMEO:lol: You and Donnie would get along well I think. He has never met one he doesnt like either.:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by ohiodisneydad
Dont forget tho you will be paying the same percentage at a buffet for a server who only brings drinks and takes away plates as one at a full service who does all that and lots more.
PSSTT...not to make you jealous (nah..i wanna :grin:) We already have the free dining for Sept 08 on the bouncback program. :thumbs:
I also will refuse to pay 18% for a buffet. Maybe they will get so many furious customers by February that it will go away. Sorry for you January diners.
Wow - that is pretty shocking. I did have some friends who worked at Prime Time and they were constantly getting "gipped" on the bill. A lot of guests would not tip AT ALL (allegedly because they thought the tip was somehow included). Is this new policy some backlash on the part of the cast members after the Disney Dining Plan? I heard they were not happy that plan.
18% is pretty steep. What if the service is bad? What motivation will they have to do a good job?
Someone else actually posted about this elsewhere on this forum
Upgraded Disney Dining Experience Process New Tip Policy
They posted the entire e-mail form the Disney Dining Experience Team.
After reading that post, I was prompted to blog about it:
The Grump's Opinion: Proposed Dining Changes for 2008 Part III
I think they just pay the servers at least minimum wage and have a NO TIPS ACCEPTED policy.
I don't think there is anywhere in the US that has people wait on tables and pays them minimum wage. They all work for $2 and some odd change per hour plus tips.
If you suddenly had all your wait staff at WDW working for minimum wage, you'd really see a downturn on service. They would have huge pay cuts
I ate a weeks worth of breakfast at chef mickey's! 18% is way to much across the board....
Eighteen percent would be fine IF it would GUARANTEE good service. But that is the purpose of a tip. To reward for good service---or it is in my opinion!
All Ears has since changed their info:
WDW Restaurant and Dining News
Still no confirmation if this only applies to DDE folks or not.
I don't mind paying 18%...I just don't want to be forced to do so. If the service did not warrant that high of a tip, I would let management know before I left the establishment so I could get it adjusted.
Not sure how I feel about the buffet servers getting 18%. Again, some would definatley deserve it. Others would not.
I'm very curious to see how this pans out!
This will just give wait staff personnel another reason to provide less service. Without any incentive to get a tip they can provide whatever level of service they want to can still get a very good tip.
Another Point I find totally frustrating with tipping is the upward creep all the "acceptable" percentage to tip. The argument is that over time tips should rise in order to keep the income of the wait staff in line with the cost of living. This is already done by the fact that the cost of the meals continually increase faster than the cost of living.
Instead of adding on a mandatory tip they should just go to the European system of Service Compris if they want to give their wait staff a mandatory tip.
I feel forced to comment here. My husband and I went to WDW for our honeymoon, and happend to get in on the deal for free dining. Most of the time, the service on the dining plan was great, but then we went to California Grill. The waiter was a snot the minute we told him we were on the DP. It was as if he already knew he was getting his 18% gratuity (which was included on the old DP) so he could treat us any way he wanted. Little did he know that had he treated us with any kind of decent service we'd have done for him what we did for the rest of the waitstaff we'd had through the rest of our honeymoon - we tipped them on top of the tip they received from the DP. I understand Disney's perspective - not everyone who visits their parks understands the idea of gratutity, so their staff may on occasion get short changed. However, from the average American family's perspective (by the way, Walt wanted Disneyland and WDW to be accessible to the "average American family"), this feels like another way to hammer us when we go to see the Mouse.
What I've seen at WDW lately (and living 20 minutes away now means we go frequently) has lead me to belive that they are suffering in the service area in some of their table service restaurants. Maybe making their staff earn their tips with no "Dining Plan or Mandatory Gratuity cushions" would deliniate the high-quality servers from those who just aren't up to Disney standards. If every server I encountered was up to Disney standards,(let alone my own standards) I'd gladly pay 18% gratuity; however, the ball should be in Disney's court to prove their staff is 18% quality every time before forcing the hand of their guests.
I feel that a tip should be a reward for good sevice, I certainly don't mind paying 18% if I had a lovely meal with good service, but if you get a surly server who could not care less I would resent it. I hate that it causes bad feeling, it puts a downer on holiday dining!!