Florida Vacation Rentals

One of the confusing issues over the question ‘To tip or not to tip’ just got a little more complicated in Disney World.

Now we all know that waiting staff rely for much of their income on the generosity of guests when it comes to tipping. The custom is to leave a tip of between 15 to 20% on the original amount of the check.

But Disney guests have been a little confused on the Disney Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Experience Plan and the word is that unfortunately this has impacted on the income of the servers.

The Disney Dining Plan ( where you pay for your dining in advance as part of a package with your Disney resort hotel stay) does not include the tip. Some guests are confused about this and leave little or sometimes even no tip. What should you do? You should look at what the check would have been if you had not been part of the plan and add the appropriate tip.

The Disney Dining Experience is different. This is a card that Annual Passholders and Florida residents can buy to save 20% off most Disney World restaurants. It is a great system and one that I use a lot. Disney has now cleared up the tipping confusion on this plan - from Jan 1st 2008 a gratuity of 18% will be added to the check regardless of the size of your party.

Perhaps Disney should just go ahead and introduce this to the Disney Dining Plan too - however their reluctance could be due to the fact that they it may not look like so good of a deal to those people who don’t want to, or are not used to tipping. Perhaps it would be better to explain it a little more to people by putting a note in the check to remind them. I often get those little notes anyway ( I think it is the British accent - they don’t know I have lived in the US for many years)!

Whatever the solution - don’t forget those servers. The tip is a their livelihood.

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