I know what to tip and I would guess that most people on this board know what to tip. I would guess that most likely those on this board tip above the average based on appreciation of Disney. But most are on the DDP to save time, money, and to gain security in know where they are going to eat on what day and at what time. And most are not concerned with giving back. Therefore, tipping is going to be forgotten, not what it should be, or right where it should be (which I would say is in the minority). So, does any body see any way within this new dining plan(s) that there is going to be any reason for there to be the same level of service that we have experienced let alone better service?

And, I have never tipped a buffet. It never even crossed my mind. I had better start because those service people bust their rears. But how do you tip and know that it is getting to the staff? Leave it on the table? Yeah, right!

I'll keep you company behind that large object! I'm in the exact same boat as you are!

Yay, I'm not the only one!

We used to (pre-DDP) regularly make ADRs on the day before or even on the same day in the morning just before we left the hotel without much trouble as long as we were just a little flexible in times. And yes we actually just walked up regularly too! :eek: It was SO nice.

As far as the servers, I really do feel for them. It looks like they'll likely be dealing with a big cut in tips.

I think we should start a write in campaigne to put the tip back in and give the choice of app. or dessert. what do you all think?

I think this would be an ideal solution for guests and CMs.

However, whatever led Disney to make the changes was based on careful calculations and strategic planning. I doubt they'll budge at least until they can see the consequences of the changes and how reality matches up to projections.

Well, this just sucks. I was all excited because I had figured out (after many calculations) that the DDP would probably work for my "foody" family. NOW, I'm just not sure. It was a great deal with tips included - not so much any more. We always ate sparingly and ended up paying about the same as what the DDP cost, so it had seemed like a great way to "enjoy" our vacation without having to think about our budget all the time.

The only thing I'm "happy" about is that they took away the appetizer and not the dessert. One of the BIG reasons we were looking into the plan was because of my dessert-hog-father-in-law who always wants to buy one dessert and (ahem) share it. :rolleyes: Basically, that means we all get one pass of the dessert while he sits with it in front of him, talking and taking several bites. When my mother-in-law read that dessert was included, she was so happy - we could all have one and Mr. Dessert Hog can snarf his own dessert without touching ours!

BUT, overall - the tip thing is what makes me doubt the program the most. Not only because it's kind of a pain for us, but I can totally see the servers getting jipped. It's really too bad.

And, I have never tipped a buffet. It never even crossed my mind. I had better start because those service people bust their rears. But how do you tip and know that it is getting to the staff? Leave it on the table? Yeah, right!

Just put it on the credit card slip like any other tip. The wait person is identified on the check. And I think the standard for buffet tip is around 10%.

I think we should start a write in campaigne to put the tip back in and give the choice of app. or dessert. what do you all think?
The only kind of pressure Disney understands in these matters is financial. If enough people don't purchase the Dining plan, and if their focus groups and marketing surveys reveal the reason why to be tips and/or appetizers, you might see a change.

I don't care if we get an appetizer or a dessert or both or whatever. My main complaint is the tip not being included. It's an inconvenience. Why is Disney cutting corners in the service dept? Why are they suddenly acting like they don't make a squillion dollars a year? Very neuvo-riche; very tacky; very un-Disney.

So are you saying that if a restaurant has a special 10% off on all steaks, then I should tip on the normal, non-discounted price of my meal, or the actual price on the check? I can't see anyone needing to make that kind of calculation. If there's a discount, then I'd tip on what I actually spent. That's a different issue from the DDP, where I should be tipping on the total that I would have paid without the DDP.

It's not at all different. YES you SHOULD pay on the NON-DISCOUNTED TOTAL. The server is NOT doing 10% less work or providing 10% less service. The tip should be on what you ordered, not on what the management decided to charge you. By your calculation, if they decided at the end of the meal to give you the entire meal for free, you would stiff the server entirely because you should only have to tip on what you paid. Wrong.

Sorry if I sound vehement, but as I said before, I was once a server, and we cringe at such discounts specifically because of misunderstandings like yours. So I am trying to do all the remaining servers of the world a favor by getting this point driven home for anyone who doesn't understand how important it is to tip fairly and correctly.

So to tie this back to the changes in the DDP. I have not done the DDP, but I am pretty sure that at the end of the meal, they present you a bill with an outline of actual costs, even if you paid with DDP. Is this true? And then there is a section outlining anything you bought which is not included on the DDP. And then I am told they put an automatic 18% tip on the bill, which you can choose to pay or change the amount of. I am guessing they will do the same thing going forward, but will place a tip amount equal to 18% of the entire bill, and will attempt to educate people even more--maybe make that tip section even larger and bright red or something, with neon lights that say "tip not included!". LOL!

I don't think the tip was included on the stuff that I'd purchased (alcohol). I'll have to dig out some receipts and look.

And I'm going to have to give that other issue some thought, Clotho. I can see your point about the discount working against the server. On the other hand, my tip is never calculated on the basis of service, but on the total amount of the bill. If my bill is 30 bucks, then I should be tipping 15 to 20%. If it's 25 bucks, same thing. If management does a 2 for 1 meal, then 2 people are eating for $30 instead of $60. I've always just tipped on the $30. As I said, you make a good point, but I'm not sure if that burden on the server should fall on me, the customer, or on the employer that's doing the special. And in many cases you simply can't calculate the "true" value of a meal. The daily special might not exist in any other form on the menu, so how do you know what it would cost if it's not on special? Interesting food for thought (pun intended!).

Well, these new changes have helped me decide that the Dining Plan is definitely not worth it for us. We found that eating at a TS restaurant every day took up a huge chunk of time so next time we plan to do mostly CS meals and snacks with the occasional TS thrown in. Pricing out a typical week of food we found that we would be spending less than the cost of the DDP. Plus, we wouldn’t be locked into making sure we used up every last one of our credits.

As far as tipping, I’ve always felt that the current system of basing the tip on a percentage of the bill to be flawed. Dining out recently at a local restaurant in my area, the entrées ranged from $8.99 for a Chicken Caesar Salad to $32.99 for the Filet Mignon. The tip for a someone ordering the Filet would be much higher than the tip for someone ordering the less expensive entrée, yet the same effort was required by the server to bring both plates to the table. I usually end up tipping a bit more if I order an inexpensive entrée, and a bit less (at least 15% though) if I order a higher priced item.

I guess the bright side would be that now we will do less table service and have more time for playing in the parks. The one thing that I did not like about the plan previously was that it felt like we spent a lot more time eating than we would normally. Since the plan now stinks (imo), I no longer need to spend any time debating whether or not to do it. We've used it enough in the past to have tried the majority of restaurants so I know where I would want to spend my non DDP dollars and not be disappointed.

To answer another poster, yes they do give receipts with totals at the table service restaurants when you are on the DDP. They gave receipts without tallies at the CS locations, but I just wrote it down on the slip, so I could do my nerdy spreadsheet after vaca to see how much I saved. Wow, now I'll have to tally what I spend without the plan, and see how much I saved by NOT buying it!

I just watched the "Walt Disney World Resorts" special on the travel channel, and at the end, there was this spiel about how Disney was working so hard to keep people ON property. In the past, and for this trip in September, the dining plan kept us on property. I doubt we will use it again now that the tip and appetizer are gone...so I guess next years trip will include trips to Sea World and IOA/Universal. Umm, don't think the plan is working....I like the idea of the "deluxe" plan, but it just does not seem worth the hefty price increase. I knew it would be more, but not that much.

Somebody refresh my memory, other than the dining plan, what else can I only get with a "package" that would be so irresistable as to keep me from booking room-only, and getting discount tickets from Undercover Tourist or somewhere like that ?? :confused:

You will occassionally get little trinkets. One time, when Philharmagic had just opened, it was a nice poster of Donald and a pin, all framed up. And too big for my suitcase, even if I didn't have anything in it, so the 'free' framed poster cost me the price of the UPS shipment (I figured who ever dreamed up that promotion had stock in UPS!)


Yeah, not exactly "irresistable" in my mind. I can see now that unless they return the dining plan to it's former glory, I'll be booking "room only" from now on. But at least that will give us more flexibility to go off-site to Universal, Sea World, Cape Caneveral, etc. -- won't feel compelled to make it back every day to eat our TS (or even CS) meals on the dining plan. :|

I see some good and bad with the new dining plan.

The first year that my husband and I visited WDW we were not sure on how things worked, but quickly we learned the ropes. At times we did feel stuffed at the end of the day and did not feel like eating breakfast the next morning.

Here is what we did on our last trip 2006 Dining

The evenings that we knew we were having a big meal like when we went to Jiko and Flying Fish Cafe we split a breakfast or lunch using only (1) CS (Counter Service). Had the ribs at Flame Tree barbeque at AK park for lunch. :fez: Plenty for two.
And usually if we had a big meal the night before we would use a snack for a muffin or something down at the quick service in our hotel.
Splitting CS meals was a great way to make your Dining points last a little bit longer and that was not our plan we just did not want to have that stuffed feeling and we never really felt hungry or starved by doing this. The first year we went I think we were overwhelmed and always feeling stuffed but with the way we did things last year we were able to enjoy all meals and snacks without a problem.

For our trip next year I am not sure what dining plan we will purchase. I think alot of serious thought:confused: has to go into this is it worth paying the extra to split TS meals or just pay for it and keep our original plan that we did last year.

With the 2008 DP I think the TS restaurants and the servers are the ones that will be paying for this new plan. Some people will not tip the appropriate gratuity to their servers and I think this is going to make the level of service from the servers go down. I remember our first year we thought we were suppose to tip and we left our server a $20.00 tip, we ate at the Flying Fish. Oh well, live and learn. He did make our first visit to WDW and Flying Fish a very memorable one.

Anyway just a thought on how we did things.

Haven't used the DP but we were planning on using it next time - we had thought we would get quite a few 2 credit TS meal type choices (treat ourselves) and still have enough food for the fortnight by sharing between us, given portions are so big, even at CS places. Which brings me to the deluxe plan. Who on earth is going to eat this much food???!!! Now I'm not some skinny minny who doesn't eat - constantly on a diet in fact. But... Even in my greediest moments I'd be as sick as a pig if I even attempted to put away this much food. I don't think Disney are being inventive enough with the new DP choices. I'd go for something which was mostly CS but with some TS thrown in; say for a 14 day package, 7 TS meals and 21 CS meals, a snack every day and the Resort mug thing. This is a much more sensible amount of food but allows for some luxury and would also theoretically free up the TS places a bit.

Our last trip to WDW was in '05, and we paid for all meals OOP. We're returning this December just in time to make use of the DDP before the changes. I think the old plan will save us quite a bit of money and allow us to eat more TS meals than we did in '05. However, I don't think I'll consider the DDP for any future trips once the changes take place, as I don't see it being much of a value without the appetizer and gratuity included. Also, I've worked as a food server in my college days, and I always tip on the total BEFORE any coupons or discounts, as I think most people do and should. :)