Tables in Wonderland

[sonogirl]

Upcoming trip with my family and sister’s family. Would like to purchase TIW for dinning discount for the 8 of us. At time of bill payment can you use the card but each pay your own bill, or do you have to pay for all on one bill? If so is there a easy way to keep track of who owes what?
Thanks in advance!! Lori

 

[siren0119]

Upcoming trip with my family and sister’s family. Would like to purchase TIW for dinning discount for the 8 of us. At time of bill payment can you use the card but each pay your own bill, or do you have to pay for all on one bill? If so is there a easy way to keep track of who owes what?
Thanks in advance!! Lori

If you are using the TIW discount, the entire bill needs to be paid by the person who has the TiW card. (You may already know this, but you need to be either DVC, AP holder or Florida resident to get TiW, it's not something you can purchase without one of those 3 things). TiW also automatically adds an 18% tip to your bill regardless of party size.

When I go out with large parties, we use the TAB app to keep track of who owes what. You snap a photo of the receipt and then can divide things up among people in your party - it works for multiple receipts too, so that you can tally things up for a full trip. It also links to Venmo to make settling up easier.

 

[gharter]

If you are using the TIW discount, the entire bill needs to be paid by the person who has the TiW card. (You may already know this, but you need to be either DVC, AP holder or Florida resident to get TiW, it's not something you can purchase without one of those 3 things). TiW also automatically adds an 18% tip to your bill regardless of party size.

This.
We have had the TiW card for 4 years and love it.
TiW can also be used for alcohol purchases at restaurants and in lounges (which the other discounts don't do).

 

[Dean Marino]

Of note.... check the TIW site for who qualifies to PURCHASE a TIW card. FL Resident, AP, or DVC.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/tables-in-wonderland/
Not everyone can buy this.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

Our TIW card is in my name. When we were at The Grand Floridian Cafe my sister wanted to pay the bill. Without even thinking about it, she put her credit card in the bill folder. They ran her card without a question even though it was my name on the TIW card.

 

[TavieP]

I have a general question about TIW and I hope this is the right place. My BFF and I travel to WDW together and we're both DVC members. We usually get the Standard Dining Plan and it works out fairly well for our style - we typically breakfast in our DVC room, do lunch and dinner in the parks (generally one meal in CS and one is TS and it can vary whether that's lunch or dinner) as well as a snack or beverage here and there.

For our upcoming November trip, it'll be F&W festival and I'm debating whether it makes sense to do the DDP or not. We'd do small plates at the festival for meals on our Epcot days instead of making any kind of TS reservation in Epcot. For the rest, we're planning to do Cali Grill one night for dinner, Hollywood Brown Derby another day for lunch, Yak & Yeti another day for lunch (or Tiffins - haven't decided yet - yes, I know it's a difference in price/entitlements!) and probably a brunch at Olivia's one day, and the rest do snacks & CS. That would use up our week's worth of TS entitlements.

Estimating with a DDP calculator, it looks like we'd save around $100 pp if we do Standard DDP instead of out-of-pocket based on our style. It's hard to tell though because the F&W festival is really throwing me off with the estimations.

I wonder if we should consider going out-of-pocket and getting a TIW membership instead for the TS meals? Would that savings help offset the money we'd save by doing DDP? What would you do?

 

[DisBuckMan]

Our TIW card is in my name. When we were at The Grand Floridian Cafe my sister wanted to pay the bill. Without even thinking about it, she put her credit card in the bill folder. They ran her card without a question even though it was my name on the TIW card.

There have been multiple reports of what you describe. It all depends on how attentive the server is.

TiW does clearly state that the card holder has be the one to pay the bill, though.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

There have been multiple reports of what you describe. It all depends on how attentive the server is.

TiW does clearly state that the card holder has be the one to pay the bill, though.

I understand that the cardholder has to pay, that's why I mentioned this. I'm not sure how closely they follow the terms of the TIW card.

 

[DisBuckMan]

I understand that the cardholder has to pay, that's why I mentioned this. I'm not sure how closely they follow the terms of the TIW card.

I would imagine that the cases of one card owned by someone other than the TiW member being used to pay a bill slides by more often than attempting to split a bill and use the (as the OP asked about) discount does.

 

[homey12]

We have 2 upcoming trips planned, There are 7 of us. I am considering purchasing the TIW.... decisions, decisions....

 

[giovanni2231]

If you do not have a dining plan and eat sit down meals, then for sure it is worth it, especially if you drink alcohol while eating. If you use a dining plan, then Tables is only used for the extras not included in the dining plan. Also, if you are only planning to come once in a 12 month calendar year, then the price you pay for TIW, may not be worth it.

I myself have Tables, but i go more than once per year and even though i buy the dining plan, i usually have some extras during meals that make it pay for itself. Plus,

One side note and the reason I buy the card... If you rent a car or use your own car and want to use valet at any of the hotels you are eating at, when you use your TIW card, valet is free. I have even popped into the local bar when valeting at a hotel that we haven't eaten at and bought one drink using my TIW card and have gotten the valet for free. There is no minimum on using the card or getting valet included.

 

[kiford]

Our TIW card is in my name. When we were at The Grand Floridian Cafe my sister wanted to pay the bill. Without even thinking about it, she put her credit card in the bill folder. They ran her card without a question even though it was my name on the TIW card.

We were at Boma's in late May with friends. DH has a TiW card and one of our friends did. The card was in her name and her husband put down his credit card to pay and they wouldn't take it even though they have the same last name (which my friend tried to say should be good enough). The server told us that they (Disney management) are cracking down on this and if they (the servers) get caught doing a mismatch charge, they can get a reprimand in their file. Don't know how true this is but I could see it happening so I wouldn't count on lax servers. I've also seen them get very picky about having the person paying when using AP discounts show both their card and photo ID so I wouldn't be surprised if it's a wider plan to ensure that only discount holders get the discount as they've probably seen it be somewhat abused and are feeling that they're losing out on income. So assume the person who pays needs to have the card. Originally I was going to get the card in my name since I'm the one who does all of the planning and booking. I figured it wouldn't be an issue since I would pay with my MB and it goes onto DH's credit card anyway. But since we ended up purchasing the card at the same time as we activated our APs, he just put it in his name. I just have to make sure I never travel there on my own (not likely - at least not for the foreseeable future).

 

[CheeseheadDave]

There have been multiple reports of what you describe. It all depends on how attentive the server is.

TiW does clearly state that the card holder has be the one to pay the bill, though.

I was down chaperoning a band trip. We had a chaperone dinner at Paradiso 37 and were paying with separate checks and I gave the server my TiW card for the check for my wife and me. After a really long time, the server came back with everyone’s checks and had applied the TiW to all 14 checks. After seeing everyone’s quizzical looks and glancing at the check of the person next to me, I realized what happened and had to do a mad scramble around the table to explain to everyone that an 18% tip was already added to their bill and to just go with it.

I hope she never got in trouble for that.

 

[giovanni2231]

From a server stand point in Disney, especially in the sit down restaurants, they pretty much always go above and beyond to accommodate and do whats best for the customer. If you think about it though, I guess for them its a win as well when it comes to TIW, since there are people that don't always tip at least 18%, but them running it all thru the card, it's guaranteed. For the few people that would have given 20% or more, the guarantee of 18% probably works out better in their favor the majority of the time.

 

[mousestruck]

Our TIW card is in my name. When we were at The Grand Floridian Cafe my sister wanted to pay the bill. Without even thinking about it, she put her credit card in the bill folder. They ran her card without a question even though it was my name on the TIW card.

This has been our experience as well. There have been multiple occasions in which we split the bill with another family -- one bill, paid with two credit cards -- and have never been questioned or denied.