I'm appalled! No hue and cry about a price being increased?

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Your posts make me chuckle.

Clearly, you have no clue about how the VIP really program works, that the guides regularly call themselves 'the plaids' and, yes, that it's considered bad form spending 8+ hours with a private guide and not leaving them a tip.

Glad I can be entertaining to you ;)

I never said I knew how the program works. I’ve been escorted on tours when I was with my employers. I have no clue if they tipped them or not, wouldn’t have been my place to decide that or see that transaction.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
I won a VIP tour once, for 8 hours, as part of a trip I won.
We were family of the day, opened the park, and were already overwhelmed..
We had no prior knowledge and were "surprised" with a VIP guide. Not knowing what it was about, we didn't have a plan of action or any clue. We squandered a bit of time, but got to walk into the fp line of everything good at 3 different parks, had backstage SUV service from one park to the next, and got instant "reservations" at a restaurant.
If I had known in advance, I might have had a better plan, and hit even more stuff. The poor guide was flustered, because he had to try to explain what and who he was, and what we could do, etc. It was also weird eating lunch with a stranger.
The whole thing was cool, but uncomfortable (I had little, anxious kids, who were kind of freaked out about going on rides with a stranger).
I did not tip (I couldn't have afforded to back then- we won this trip right when we could not afford to go back to Disney with small kids).
Now I feel awful that tipping is pretty accepted for plaids.
Official wdw policy is that anyone not paid on a tipped salary - currently $2.13 or whatever Florida minimum is - is NOT allowed to accept gratuities. The exceptions other than tipped wage would be “speciality” positions outside the union agreements such as wedding planners.

Of course it happens...but Disney never accepted standard hourly employees to accept tips. It was a way of controlling the plebs...similar to how they manipulate table assignments and shifts for wait staffs so they don’t reap too much of the prices at sitdown restaurants. They would also make 3x the managers.

A big problem at pleasure island was Disney not being too keen on bartenders and staff raking it for 5 hours.

On the other hand - employees pushing for tips would have gotten out of hand quickly and absolutely...so the policy makes sense there too.

When you have 60,000+ employees in a low wage state...you have concern of such things.

Long story short: don’t feel bad. They likely are not allowed to accept gratuities anyway.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Me too. I’ve been told by multiple cm’s In normally tip appropriate positions that they aren’t allowed to accept tips (piano players, entertainers at Boardwalk, and some food service stands like ample hills for example.)
It they are a standard hourly or salaried employee...they are not.

It is 100% a fireable offense and they will do that to set an example.

Since I have “some” knowledge of GSO operations (where tour guides at least used to fall)...gratuities are likely unofficially “tolerated”...but never encouraged or admitted.
 

awoogala

Well-Known Member
Official wdw policy is that anyone not paid on a tipped salary - currently $2.13 or whatever Florida minimum is - is NOT allowed to accept gratuities. The exceptions other than tipped wage would be “speciality” positions outside the union agreements such as wedding planners.

Of course it happens...but Disney never accepted standard hourly employees to accept tips. It was a way of controlling the plebs...similar to how they manipulate table assignments and shifts for wait staffs so they don’t reap too much of the prices at sitdown restaurants. They would also make 3x the managers.

A big problem at pleasure island was Disney not being too keen on bartenders and staff raking it for 5 hours.

On the other hand - employees pushing for tips would have gotten out of hand quickly and absolutely...so the policy makes sense there too.

When you have 60,000+ employees in a low wage state...you have concern of such things.

Long story short: don’t feel bad. They likely are not allowed to accept gratuities anyway.
this was my understanding in general. But I still tip the housekeepers these days. ;)
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
this was my understanding in general. But I still tip the housekeepers these days. ;)
I can’t remember if there was a policy difference/exclusion...but housekeeper tips were never Interferred with.

My guess is since that was a 100% industry policy no one ever said a word.

Let’s face it...they deserve it. The bad waiter that brings you juice at cape May and then disappears for 45 minutes...doesn’t.

The Person who Gabs and walks you into the ride exit in magic kingdom?
...well...guess it depends on how good their jokes are? 😉
 

The Mom

Moderator
Premium Member
So you are saying us lowly slobs can't discuss and should not concern ourselves about what our betters do since we can't afford it? Nice.

I think it concerns people who wonder about the state of the company, which comes up often on this site. The state and price of VIP services could correlate in other areas of service, price, and wait times at the parks and is completely valid to discuss in a forum about all things Disney.

The title of the thread has the OP wondering why isn't there a hue and cry over the increase price of VIP tours. I only gave an explanation as to why most posters are not complaining about it. A rise in ticket prices? Yes, there will be a hue and cry. A rise in parking/hotel/dining plan prices? There will be pages of posts. But as I stated, this only affects a small % of posters, so people aren't up in arms about it.

But just as a teetotaler will not be upset about an increase in alcoholic drink prices, most of us will not be upset about an increased price of a service that we have never utilized.
 

Vacationeer

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I’ll give my review soon, but basically my parents are coming for two days. Originally the goal was to do a day at Epcot (their favorite park) and MK but then Star Wars happened and my father is a huge fan and wanted to see it, trying to do all 3 parks, plus 3 full service restaurants I knew was a recipe for disaster.

I was also desperate to avoid Rise opening chaos and when I booked I thought I was going to avoid that with a VIP guide, but even with me stuck doing the lottery from hell the VIP guide would allow us to ride the major MK rides, TSL, MF:SR, Mickey, and get my parents on FoP ( which I know they will love.). I also know that since we are spending most of a day at Epcot, we will not have to do all 4 parks on the tour. I have the income to splurge on this, and I want my parents to have as stress free experience as possible and even with my considerable theme park skill knew I couldn’t deliver what they wanted by myself; that’s why I’m doing it.

If this was a normal week long trip or if as originally planned we would have stuck to 2 parks, I never would have done it.

That I can understand. Have a great time with your parents!
 

matt9112

Well-Known Member
The majority of people posting on this forum have never used the VIP tours, nor do they plan on doing so. So an increase in price doesn't really concern them.

Im taking donations. I would glafly let everyone on the forum know all about it.
 

solidyne

Well-Known Member
The title of the thread has the OP wondering why isn't there a hue and cry over the increase price of VIP tours. I only gave an explanation as to why most posters are not complaining about it. A rise in ticket prices? Yes, there will be a hue and cry. A rise in parking/hotel/dining plan prices? There will be pages of posts. But as I stated, this only affects a small % of posters, so people aren't up in arms about it.

But just as a teetotaler will not be upset about an increase in alcoholic drink prices, most of us will not be upset about an increased price of a service that we have never utilized.
Even as one of the "lowly," myself, took no offense whatsoever, but I do admire your clever shift from "them" to "us." ;)
 

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