Tables in Wonderland vs DDP?

[pooh0601]

I am a passholder and have always been purchasing a Tables in Wonderland card each year for $75. We always more than get back our $75 each year.

Does anyone use the Disney Dining Plan that is a passholder? Which is the better value? We usually have a counter service breakfast and lunch and sit-down dinner each day we are there.

[DizneyRox]

The DDP would never save us any money. The 20% discount on food saed us oer $700 on our last trip, we're using the same card again on our upcoming trip which will push it over $1500 savings for the $75 cost.

That's a real savings, we're not paying rack rate for a room, or have to buy tickets we don't need, etc.

We're also not eating food we wouldn't normally eat or feeling like we HAVE to eat or we'll waste our credits.

[KylesMom]

Which is the better value? To answer this question, you really need to crunch some numbers based on your own dining habits. Each time we sit down & estimate what our out-of-pocket costs will be with the TiW card versus purchasing the DDP, the TiW card comes out a couple of hundred dollars in our favor per trip. However, this is based on our dining preferences. We eat one TS per day, we enjoy appetizers & cocktails with our meals but aren't big on desserts and oftentimes we will only have a few snacks during the day - not full CS meals - if we're having a large TS or buffet for lunch or dinner. :mickey:

[pooh0601]

Thanks to both of you. My dining habits are exactly the same, and I notice huge savings each trip with the TIW card. The DDP I thought makes you eat more of what you might not want so you aren't wasting it.

I'll be getting my new TIW card this week when we go on our trip. It's great that you can now just buy them at Guest Relations at any of the theme parks.

[forever a child]

I would love to get the AP and use the TiW card. But I guess I am a bit confused on how it save $. I mean you save 20% on dining but aren't you automatically billed 18% in gratuity? I mean if the service is worth it...that's fine but I would prefer the choice myself.

Just wondering :scratch:

[Pirate Granny]

WELL...TiW does help if you are getting two CS and are at places that TiW can be used. We were at the FQ and Pop...so all meals there qualify for TiW...if the resort has a TS restaurant, you can't use TiW at the CS. And you are correct you are charged 18% tip and you only get 20%...so you have to eat a whole lot to get back your initial $75 when you only get 2% a meal...HOWEVER...you can use TiW for appetizers and alcholoic drinks which the DDP does not cover...so...it depends how you eat as the previous poster stated...I'm going to be watching how the DDP changes for 2011. If no desserts then I have to re-evaluate...but we'll be at OKW and so, no CS available and we'll be eating breakfast in the Grand Villa...so the DDP with one CS (lunch or dinner) and 1 TS may be just what we need...especially at character meals where the children's cost is very expensive and that one meal more than pays for the day's plan.
:pirate:

[Pirate Granny]

Well, as an afterthought...I would still tip 20% normally, so I gues TiW would be a 2% savings...
:pirate:

[DizneyRox]

I would love to get the AP and use the TiW card. But I guess I am a bit confused on how it save $. I mean you save 20% on dining but aren't you automatically billed 18% in gratuity? I mean if the service is worth it...that's fine but I would prefer the choice myself.

Just wondering :scratch:
Unless you routinely stiff the server, this is actual savings. On a $100 check, I would normally leave $120. When I present the TiW card, my bill becomes $98 out the door, so I save myself $22.

I leave no more when gratuity gets included, and I make sure I receive a level of service that would warrant 18% tip. Sometimes I push them a little harder on purpose.

You are right to be cautious, but I've never had a problem. And it can be remedied by talking to management.


Well, as an afterthought...I would still tip 20% normally, so I gues TiW would be a 2% savings...
:pirate:
I see where you're going, but it is more than 2% savings. You can think of it as "free" tip plus... It would take quite a while to break even if it's only 2%, it is not. In your case, you need to think of it as 2% savings AND you don't have to leave a tip (of course you are, but it's not actual money out of your pocket).

[forever a child]

WELL...TiW does help if you are getting two CS and are at places that TiW can be used. We were at the FQ and Pop...so all meals there qualify for TiW...if the resort has a TS restaurant, you can't use TiW at the CS. And you are correct you are charged 18% tip and you only get 20%...so you have to eat a whole lot to get back your initial $75 when you only get 2% a meal...HOWEVER...you can use TiW for appetizers and alcholoic drinks which the DDP does not cover...so...it depends how you eat as the previous poster stated...I'm going to be watching how the DDP changes for 2011. If no desserts then I have to re-evaluate...but we'll be at OKW and so, no CS available and we'll be eating breakfast in the Grand Villa...so the DDP with one CS (lunch or dinner) and 1 TS may be just what we need...especially at character meals where the children's cost is very expensive and that one meal more than pays for the day's plan.
:pirate:

Thanks for confirming. Since I dont get appetizers or alcoholic drinks it really would not be great for me. But I think the concept of the card is great and I am glad it is a helpful option for many!


Unless you routinely stiff the server, this is actual savings. On a $100 check, I would normally leave $120. When I present the TiW card, my bill becomes $98 out the door, so I save myself $22.

I leave no more when gratuity gets included, and I make sure I receive a level of service that would warrant 18% tip. Sometimes I push them a little harder on purpose.

You are right to be cautious, but I've never had a problem. And it can be remedied by talking to management.


I see where you're going, but it is more than 2% savings. You can think of it as "free" tip plus... It would take quite a while to break even if it's only 2%, it is not. In your case, you need to think of it as 2% savings AND you don't have to leave a tip (of course you are, but it's not actual money out of your pocket).

I would not "stiff" the server but there was a time or two where I would not have minded to do so:D I don't want to have to "work" to make them give me good service...unless I need something or the food is bad, I will let them serve me well or poorly and my tip will reflect that service level. I don't tip 20%. But I will tip 15-18% for good service and 10% for poor and I am sure (knowing myself as I do) that there has been a time or two in my life where I did not tip at all (not at Disney though) because service was so poor. ;)

However, I also tipped the driver for ME, and Taxi Drivers and I have considered (though I never have because I don't do it in other hotels either) considered tipping Mousekeeping. I just have a problem with mandated 18% on a discount card. However, I strongly believe in mandated 18% gratuity in large parties of 6 or more. I know people with infants that put them in the 6 people category for their group often complain of "well, they are just an infant...they won't be ordering off the menu, so why should they be counted?" But then they are giving the waiter/waitress formula to warm up or asking for them to bring things in some special way (sippy cup, wash the pacifier that fell on the floor or whatever) and don't think that they are "serving" the infant as much or more than any of the other paying guests. I digress:secret:
Just my :twocents:

[SurferStitch]

I really hate when people equate the TiW savings to only 2%. That isn't true at all, unless you routinely leave lousy tips or none at all. If you are a responsible tipper (our norm is 20%, and more for great service), the savings are 20%+. So if we stick to the 18% auto gratuity, we are saving even MORE than the 20% with the card!

We also don't make our servers work harder for their 18% auto gratuity on the TiW card. I just can't do that...sorry. Auto gratuity just doesn't bother us AT ALL, so we don't play games to get our "money's worth" out of the gratuity.

We were sitting next to a CM and his friend at Biergarten in May, and the CM complained about TiW saying it was only a 2% savings, and I just didn't care to explain the actual savings to him. It was our first night in WDW, I had half an Optimator beer in me, and I was in too much euphoria to try to educate someone. :D

As to the OP, we've found the TiW card to be a better value. Now, we DID save a lot of money with the DDP the one time we used it, but tend to save a couple hundred more per 10 or 12 day trip with TiW. We like a TS and a CS per day, so either choice works for us. Even including CS meals OOP, we still save more with TiW, but again, a couple hundred, not tons.

I've seen the advertised savings of the DDP to be "up to 20%" on dining at the WDW website. I've found that serious number crunching in Excel gave us very accurate savings totals between the two options, and TiW wins out.

[KAT1811]

I really hate when people equate the TiW savings to only 2%. That isn't true at all, unless you routinely leave lousy tips or none at all. If you are a responsible tipper (our norm is 20%, and more for great service), the savings are 20%+. So if we stick to the 18% auto gratuity, we are saving even MORE than the 20% with the card!

We also don't make our servers work harder for their 18% auto gratuity on the TiW card. I just can't do that...sorry. Auto gratuity just doesn't bother us AT ALL, so we don't play games to get our "money's worth" out of the gratuity.



:yes: :hands: :exactly:

[kapeman]

Well, as an afterthought...I would still tip 20% normally, so I gues TiW would be a 2% savings...
:pirate:

In that case you would save 22%.

The 18% is automatic, win or lose for the server, there it is.

So you save 20% plus the extra 2% that you would have tipped if the gratuity were not automatic.

A bit redundant, but I posted before I read the whole thread.

That's the way I look at it.




I've seen the advertised savings of the DDP to be "up to 20%" on dining at the WDW website. I've found that serious number crunching in Excel gave us very accurate savings totals between the two options, and TiW wins out.

I remember, not that long ago, when the DDP marketing info said you could save up to 30%.

[KAT1811]

We are huge TIW fans. We are not DDP fans. We are more interested in appetizers than dessert and we enjoy a bottle of wine or drink with our dinners. The TIW discounts the food I choose to eat which works best for us.

If you figure a meal at $100, a 20% discount would bring the meal to $80, then add on a 18% gratuity $14.40 ($80. x .18), that brings the total bill to $94.40. The initial meal would have cost $118. with an 18% gratuity so that is actually a savings of $23.60

Our TIW card paid for itself in the first two meals. We are typically a travel party of 8 (myself, DH, our 3 DDs, DS, and my parents). Over the course of our 18 day trip we saved hundreds!!!

[Mickey'sGirl]

No matter how we crunch the numbers, we can not make any of the Dining Plans a better deal for our family than the Tables In Wonderland Card is. We do not often order desserts, we frequently will share appetizers, and we sometimes have an adult beverage with our meals. Like many previous posters have stated, we typically tip 20%, so the automatic gratuity is not an issue. With the Dining Plans we would be getting food that we neither want nor need, and we would still need to add the 20% tip to our Table Service meals. I just can't justify the plans for us.

We :heart: the TiW card!

[DisneyBunch5]

Is the mandatory 18% gratuity based on the cost of the meal prior to or after the TOW 20% discount?

[Mickey'sGirl]

It's based on the adjusted price.

[SurferStitch]

I actually don't like the tip being based on the adjusted total. I think the servers should be tipped on the pre-discounted amount. But hey, if that's Disney's policy, so be it.

But, every time we dine at Narcoossee's and Cali Grill we leave more. Tom at Narc's is amazing, so he gets at least 25% of the original bill for a tip. He deserves it. Also, Ron at CG is one of the very best servers, and treats us like royalty. He also gets at least 25% like Tom. :thumbsup:

[VWL Mom]

Actually the tip is on the original price not the adjusted (just looked at my receipts to verify). IMO the reason they automatically add the tip is avoid tipping on the discount which on larger checks is a big difference.

For example: Cali Grill after discount was 209.10. If I tipped 18% on that the server would have gotten 37.63. The total before discount was
261.83 and the 18% added to the bill was 47.05. Difference to server is almost 10.

I have no problem with this and have been known to add more at times. Don't know if it is the area we live in or growing up in the restaurant business but we usually tip 20% around here, too.

[Mickey'sGirl]

I stand corrected! I actually agree with this though, so all is good! Thanks for the info.:thumbsup:

[mickeyman42]

I would think that the TiW card is a better value unless you use the DDP to eat at restaurants that you would never pay oop for. we tend to eat at more expensive restaurants when we have the DDP as I would never pay over $100 for a meal that my kids barely touched! however, if you are going to same restaurants regardless of DDP or TiW then I would think that the TiW is better

[SurferStitch]

Actually the tip is on the original price not the adjusted (just looked at my receipts to verify).

Okay, good. I had asked my DH if the tip was pre-discount, and he said no, that it was on the discounted total. We both thought that was wrong, but was policy.

Maybe the two beers he had at that meal clouded his math skills a little! :secret:

Since the servers always handed him the bill, I never really looked at them down there, so I wasn't really keeping track. My bad.

[KAT1811]

Actually the tip is on the original price not the adjusted (just looked at my receipts to verify). IMO the reason they automatically add the tip is avoid tipping on the discount which on larger checks is a big difference.



Tipping on the original total prior to any discounts or comps is propper restaurant etiquette. Many people don't know that they should calculate the tip based on the original meal price. Even if the kitchen makes a mistake on your meal. Quite often the server is the one that pays the price for a situation out of his/her control. We constantly overtip so the automatic tip is rarely an issue.