Are $60 buffets Disney's incentive to purchase the DDP

[Hikergirl]

It's pretty easy if the kids are 12 and under...

2 adults, 3 kids with any type of discount (there's a military 15% off, there's a $5 off 2 dinners, etc) and it's not too hard
1 App - $8 (didn't mention multiple apps)
2 Beer - $6 x 2 = $12
3 Kid Meals for 12 and under (drinks included) - $6/each x 3 = $18
2 Normal adult steak meals with side (smaller size) = $15/each x 2 = $30
Total before discount, tax, tip = $68
Using lower discount ($5 off) = $63
Tax and tip 25% of total before discount (18% tip, 7% tax - tax may be off, so adjust tip) = $17
Total = $80 (on the nose)...

Our prices here are higher, our smaller steak dinners are $20.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I haven't commented...but it is a bit much to purchase slightly-better-than-Golden-Corral food for $75/person (tax/tip) just to meet 4-5 characters. I mean, you could go to any 4 star dining establishment in Orlando proper (ie off theme park property) and eat a 3 course meal (sans alcohol, which you don't get at the buffet either) for the same price or less.

 

[Nancyg56]

I guarantee you most people think they are tipping their server and no one else. That is how it is always presented and that is what most people gauge their tip on.

I have never once discussed with people how well the table was cleaned as a factor in how I should tip.

They should know better. I was serving in CT since I was 18 and I always had to tip out the bartender and the bus people. We did not have runners. I am 59, so the practice has been alive for a long time. The calculations are in place in resorts like WDW as well as many other restaurants to protect the restaurant owner. They are responsible forr ensuring all tipped positions claim their gratuities, so it is generally based on the check in busy restaurants. Due to debit cards tracking is very important because an IRS audit is not pretty. Right now my job is in payroll and all my clients are small businesses, so not all of them have gratuity accounts that are in place to hold tips and then add them into paycheck a, but I will tell you that the owners are vigilent about making sure the tips are paid out accurately. We have the audits conducted in our office. Larger restaurants have the gratuity divided up automatically.

My son worked fo a PGA resort in Florida. Every check had a, 18% gratuituy added to it. If he was a server his portions was allocated to him, but was also divided up with the bus person and runner in his section, as well as with the bartender. If he tended bar he tipped out the runner who helped him.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

no one should be priced out of a disney meal or disney vacation, and disney just keeps pushing us out the door, univerdal here I come

Incorrect...Disney was never designed to be "affordable"...

However...it was built around middle class means as its core clientele...and they no longer like that.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

You really cannot use Mickey Math on this. Your server has no contol ove tun ove, number of guests. The server also does not get that total tip. It is split among a host of people who support your table. ANd the serve oly makes a fraction of minus minimum wage. In MA the min wage for servers is $2.35 per hour. In my experience a buffet was way more work than a normal table service meal. Way more.

Agree...

You can't set your own limits of "what's appropriate" to tip because Disney is screwing you.

That is NOT related to the waiters. It's not appropriate to downgrade it because you're paying the price of Bob Igers tan.

You either pay their prices plus 18%...or you don't eat there.

You either pay the price of the dining plan +18% on the bill they give you...or you don't go.

Simple.

I saw some "we never looked at the bill because we are on the dining plan..."

Then how...do you tip? That's a scary concept for me.

 

[beer dave]

You really cannot use Mickey Math on this. Your server has no contol ove tun ove, number of guests. The server also does not get that total tip. It is split among a host of people who support your table. ANd the serve oly makes a fraction of minus minimum wage. In MA the min wage for servers is $2.35 per hour. In my experience a buffet was way more work than a normal table service meal. Way more.

You seem to have skipped what I was actually concerned with to insert your own discussion-- It is dinner and a show pricing..... The server has nothing to do with the entertainment to follow.... especially when we are talking about seeing the night time shows after eating..... And the character meals don't take much extra time from the seating since they all come around while you are eating.... so I am saying the tip needs to be limited on the idea of how much is the food service and how much is the show service. I'm pretty sure the characters do not share in the tip out.

And again, no server no matter how many trips to the table deserves 200 dollars an hour.

 

[Nancyg56]

Agree...

You can't set your own limits of "what's appropriate" to tip because Disney is screwing you.

That is NOT related to the waiters. It's not appropriate to downgrade it because you're paying the price of Bob Igers tan.

You either pay their prices plus 18%...or you don't eat there.

You either pay the price of the dining plan +18% on the bill they give you...or you don't go.

Simple.

I saw some "we never looked at the bill because we are on the dining plan..."

Then how...do you tip? That's a scary concept for me.

Unfortunately, many people tip differently when they are on vacation because no one knows them. They leave what they want. And that is scary. That server, and those attached to that check, pay taxes on their portion of the 18% calculated unless the tip is added onto a debit card which can be verified. So while some people have calculated how much these individuals are making per hour, they ae not factoring the amount that the serve is not making yet paying taxes on, because the tip is not always automatically added on. One of the reasons we cannot really discuss tips on the DIS is because we had some heated discussion here after folks insisted they would NOT tip because they could not afford it. Or because no one would see them again. Ot when the tip was included in the plan some folks wee mad because they thought if it was reduced the plan cost would be reduced. That did not work out as planned.....

 

[beer dave]

Agree...

You can't set your own limits of "what's appropriate" to tip because Disney is screwing you.

That is NOT related to the waiters. It's not appropriate to downgrade it because you're paying the price of Bob Igers tan.

You either pay their prices plus 18%...or you don't eat there.

You either pay the price of the dining plan +18% on the bill they give you...or you don't go.

Simple.

I saw some "we never looked at the bill because we are on the dining plan..."

Then how...do you tip? That's a scary concept for me.

I agree with this completely, but again... what is the show component and what is the meal portion? They just doubled the caracter meals and show packages... that makes them a package--- how much do you tip on a package?

 

[Nancyg56]

You seem to have skipped what I was actually concerned with to insert your own discussion-- It is dinner and a show pricing..... The server has nothing to do with the entertainment to follow.... especially when we are talking about seeing the night time shows after eating..... And the character meals don't take much extra time from the seating since they all come around while you are eating.... so I am saying the tip needs to be limited on the idea of how much is the food service and how much is the show service. I'm pretty sure the characters do not share in the tip out.

And again, no server no matter how many trips to the table deserves 200 dollars an hour.

I understood your concern, but IMO, the entertainment is an impediment to the server, not a bonus. And I have no idea how you can factually calculate what a server is making per hour. I won't tell you what to tip, but I will say that I think your math is off.

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree with this completely, but again... what is the show component and what is the meal portion? They just doubled the caracter meals and show packages... that makes them a package--- how much do you tip on a package?

18%, just like SOA and HDDR, CRT and Mickey's BBQ.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I agree with this completely, but again... what is the show component and what is the meal portion? They just doubled the caracter meals and show packages... that makes them a package--- how much do you tip on a package?

Disney has never claimed...nor will ever claim that character dining is a "show"

I can assure you...it will never Happen.

And the customer will hold the bag forever on that one.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

If you "can't afford the tip"...then you can't afford to go.

You'll have a hard time getting me out of this trench.

I'm done here.

 

[Nancyg56]

Disney has never claimed...nor will ever claim that character dining is a "show"

I can assure you...it will never Happen.

And the customer will hold the bag forever on that one.

ANd because the HOuse ultimately can set the rules whe it comes to how they add in gratuities, if they see that the servers are paying the price in regards to the increases, they will determine that all character meals will have the tip added onto the bill. Take it or leave it. That is why parties of 6 have tips added on automatically instead of the parties of 8 in many other places. The tips wee probably drastically lower on larger bills than on smaller parties where the bill was tighter.

 

[beer dave]

I understood your concern, but IMO, the entertainment is an impediment to the server, not a bonus. And I have no idea how you can factually calculate what a server is making per hour. I won't tell you what to tip, but I will say that I think your math is off.

As I said-- I tip 20%.

Getting a priority seating at fantalumiwishes does not impede the server.

 

[Nancyg56]

If you "can't afford the tip"...then you can't afford to go.

You'll have a hard time getting me out of this trench.

I'm done here.

No argument from me on this end. We took the little family on our street with us, and all Mom was responsible was her share of the tips and her beverages. She moaned and groaned on the cost and my DD calculated for us every other day. I finally had to tell her that we tipped out at least 20% per meal, and she ate, but that wine was not included in the plan, nor were her cocktails by the pool, which all had tips added and that added up. The tip gripe was one that put my son on edge, because he was the sin who worked fo several years in the PGA resort, and he knew how the tips were broken down behind the scenes. You can eat? You tip. You want to drink? You tip. You want someone to cart you bags for you? You tip. And I know that this is just my own thing, but if someone is cleaning my toilet and washing my bathroom, and changing my sheets, and places my lotion? I will tip. And happily! It's my job at home. LOL!

 

[Nancyg56]

As I said-- I tip 20%.

Getting a priority seating at fantalumiwishes does not impede the server.

LOL! No...But that gynormous Mouse is a bit of a pill, and his dog? Yikes! LOL!

 

[beer dave]

If you "can't afford the tip"...then you can't afford to go.

You'll have a hard time getting me out of this trench.

I'm done here.

Once again I agree with you... And no one said anything about affording the tip....

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Once again I agree with you... And no one said anything about affording the tip....

Nancy indicated it had come up in th past...

And that silly ascertion from 2007 that the tips somehow "drive the price up" on the dining plan

 

[LSLS]

I agree with this completely, but again... what is the show component and what is the meal portion? They just doubled the caracter meals and show packages... that makes them a package--- how much do you tip on a package?

How do you tip if you go to like a medieval times?

 

[manning]

NOt being snarky, but why? You know if your sever is clearing plate, and refilling beverages in a timely manner. You know if you are getting alcohol. You see bus peopple clearing tables. You know what is happening.

In a conventional meal you see the same thing. Server, runner, bus persons and you get your alcohol if you wish. The same people are tipped out at a preset percentage of every check.

At 18% ?