Dinning Plan 2008

[Kycha]

Had coffee with a good Disney friend of mine (that I often travel there with) the other day and we were talking about the new dining plan, confused whether we'd use it again.
Both of us are in the restaurant business and always overtip..even on the former dining plan. We both feel really bad for the servers at WDW now. Some people were mad before about the gratuity being added to their bill, but now with no gratuity added, those poor servers will NEVER see a dime! They make about $3.00 an hour in FLA serving...they really depend on their tips!!
Anywho...we also said, Disney should take away the dessert with the counter service meal and put back on the appetizer on the table service.
Who needs dessert then?? Remember most table service restaurants in Disney, a salad can be your appetizer! Or add on the tip to table service again and take away something else!..or just charge more, people will pay for it, just for the convince of an all inclusive plan!

Just my opionion.....??

I agree. DH and I never eat dessert when we eat out at home. We would definitely prefer soup or salad or appetizer than dessert. And when we were on the DDP in 2005 and 2006 we never ate the cs dessert(except Tusker House which had a fantastic carrot cake...yummmm).

I was reading a couple threads on the Dis about the changes. A couple posters made it sound like the servers themselves were the ones pushing for the gratuity not to be included in the DDP. According to these posters, the servers felt they could get more/better tips if they weren't included. Doesn't make any sense to me. I would have much preferred they leave the plan the way it was, and raise the price a couple dollars.

[m 'n c]

I was reading a couple threads on the Dis about the changes. A couple posters made it sound like the servers themselves were the ones pushing for the gratuity not to be included in the DDP. According to these posters, the servers felt they could get more/better tips if they weren't included. Doesn't make any sense to me. I would have much preferred they leave the plan the way it was, and raise the price a couple dollars.

I can see the servers thinking this but they probably forgot the part about other countries don't tip and they won't be tipping here either. I bet they lose out more times than they "win" with the tips now.

[Kycha]

I can see the servers thinking this but they probably forgot the part about other countries don't tip and they won't be tipping here either. I bet they lose out more times than they "win" with the tips now.

That is exactly what I thought. Plus, there are many people that have used the dining plan in the past and may not be aware of the change. So, they are either going to stiff the server unintentionally or may take out their dissatisfaction with the changes by intentionally stiffing their server.

I don't know. I am still really up in the air about using the ddp. We have taken advantage of the free dining package twice and it worked out okay. The fact that it was free food was worth any hassle we encountered. And with our upcoming trip in December, I wasn't going to bother with it. But, DH wants to try all these new restaurants. So, I am still up in the air about it. I ran some numbers and it looks like even paying tips oop, we would save about $80 using the ddp. Ugh. I just can't decide. lol.