Episode 1149 - Walt Disney World Questions

Authored by: cgessner on Friday, February 08 2013 @ 11:25 AM CST

After listening to this episode, I also checked a few of my restaurant bills and it does appear that Disney is charging slightly over 22% for a gratuity when it supposedly is billed as 18%. I think a little WDWToday/60 MInutes episode is in order to find out what is going on. I never looked this closely at this before until it was mentioned here, but you can be certain I'll be looking at my dining bills a bit more closely now.

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Authored by: TinkyBell on Friday, February 08 2013 @ 11:49 AM CST

It's always been my practice that, if I get a discount on any restaurant bill, I base my tip on the original subtotal before allowing for the discount. So it totally makes sense that Disney is doing this for the automatic gratuity.

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Authored by: aurora3000 on Friday, February 08 2013 @ 01:04 PM CST

I agree, the subtotal you see is after the 20% discount. Then the 18% gratuity added is based on the original total. They should be better about clarifying this on your receipt.

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Authored by: chopsva on Friday, February 08 2013 @ 08:04 PM CST

Assuming mike used TIW 20% the totals are:

TOTAL AS GIVEN IN SHOW: $31.38
ADDING BACK IN THE 20% DISCOUNT, TOTAL "WAS": $39.23
CALC 18% GRAT ON PRE-DISCOUNT TOTAL: $7.06 (MATCHES AMOUNT GIVEN IN SHOW)

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Authored by: djdavies on Saturday, February 09 2013 @ 03:12 PM CST

The first question was about the Disney Dining Plan and not Tables in Wonderland, and I don't think it was really answered. I do not know when the question was sent in, but the arrangements between Disney and the third-party restaurants are not sorted out as quickly as with the Disney-controlled restaurants. As a result, 2013 Dining Plan materials published in Summer 2012 did not include all the restaurants that ultimately chose to accept DDP credits by the time 2013 began.

Both Via Napoli and Toyko Dining do accept the Disney Dining Plan in 2013, so either the restaurants had not agreed to participate at the time of the question, or the website from which he got his information may not have been up-to-date.

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Authored by: Keith on Saturday, February 09 2013 @ 07:00 PM CST

Mathematicians you guys are not. They are calculating the gratuity on the original bill (before the TIW discount), thereby not shorting the server. Consequently, the 18% gratuity is added back to the discounted bill. It is really not that complicated.

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Authored by: Mike Newell on Sunday, February 10 2013 @ 09:13 AM CST

This is why we keep Len on the show.

He's so much more than good looks ya know!



---
Mike
MouseWorld Radio
www.mouseworldradio.com

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Authored by: FlyerFan1973 on Tuesday, February 12 2013 @ 03:17 AM CST

I checked ten different table service restaurants when I have used Tables in Wonderland over the past year and all checked out just right. Actually, a couple times Disney gave me a 20.01% discount and twice tipped 18.01%, but once shorted the server with a 17.99% tip. The confusing thing, as several people have already noted is the final bill that we actually pay lists a "subtotal" that subtracts the food and beverage discounts from the original pre-tax subtotal. If you add your Tables in Wonderland discount to what Disney labels a "subtotal", you'll see that they tip exactly 18% on the pre-tax amount of your original bill.

Based on tipping etiquette that I have been taught, this is correct. Tip on the non-discounted bill, before tax is added on.

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Authored by: bblhed on Thursday, February 14 2013 @ 02:25 PM CST

Like everyone else said, the tip is based on the original total, not the discounted total.

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