Cinderellas Castle Dinner.?

[real mad hatter]

Hi Everyone,These friends of mine,nine in total,who are staying onsite in September have just booked the Cinderella character dinner via the Disney web site,but the girl in the party who is doing most of the planning tells me she had to pay up front for the entire party with her visa card,thats almost $500. She didn't mind as this is one meal she didn't want to miss for the kids sake,but I didn't know that you have to pay the full amount up front for character dining?Is this correct?not that I've done a character meal just want to make sure and also does this $500 include tips?:shrug:

 

[britdaw]

I had to pay up front for our lunch there, too, which I didn't mind, but I don't think the gratuity is included... I could be wrong, but I doubt tip would be included since you never know how service is going to be, you know?

 

[Hakunamatata]

I had to pay up front for our lunch there, too, which I didn't mind, but I don't think the gratuity is included... I could be wrong, but I doubt tip would be included since you never know how service is going to be, you know?

You are correct. Gratuity not included.

 

[real mad hatter]

Cheers.

Thanks for your answers,one more thing,because they are a party of more than six,does a automatic 18% tip get added?:wave:

 

[wilkeliza]

Hi Everyone,These friends of mine,nine in total,who are staying onsite in September have just booked the Cinderella character dinner via the Disney web site,but the girl in the party who is doing most of the planning tells me she had to pay up front for the entire party with her visa card,thats almost $500. She didn't mind as this is one meal she didn't want to miss for the kids sake,but I didn't know that you have to pay the full amount up front for character dining?Is this correct?not that I've done a character meal just want to make sure and also does this $500 include tips?:shrug:

You don't have to pay for every character meal up front. Most of them you just have to put a credit card down that they will only charge if you don't cancel with 24 hours notice. The pre-paid dinning experiences are the show dinners and Cinderella's Royal Table (which is the name of the castle meet and greet dinner). The others I can think of off the top of my head is Hoop-De-Doo and the show at the Polynesian hotel.

I am not sure if Cinderella's Royal Table does include the tip or not. It will say so if it does. I know at Hoop-Dee-Doo we paid the tip ahead of time. The can put the tip on before even with out knowing the service.

Also remember if your party is charge the tip before hand and you think the service did not warrant an 18 percent tip you can and should go speak to the manager about getting it adjust to a lower percentage and telling them why. They will only do it if you have a real complaint like you waiter was never around or it took forever to get drink refills ect. You can also ask them to adjust it higher for amazing service.

 

[Letsgetlost12]

So how does that work with the dining plan? They credit it back to your card?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We've done CRT twice and while they bring you a slip to sign and there's a space to add a tip, I thought it must have been a mistake or I must have been so frazzled that I filled it out incorrectly. Turns out, it's included...confirmed ---> According to Allears- the price for CRT includes both tax and gratuity. It's just interesting- I know I wrote in a tip amt, but they still didn't charge me that amt.

 

[wilkeliza]

So how does that work with the dining plan? They credit it back to your card?

If you already have your dinning plan when booking they just make you put down the credit card in case you cancel. If you have the dinning plan and did pay up front already just inform the hostess when you check in. They will give you a full refund back to the original form of payment. Remember it can take up to one billing cycle for the credit to show back up (or a week on like debit cards) so don't rely on that money suddenly being available.

I did this with Hoop-Dee-Do. We decided last minute to upgrade our free dinning plan to deluxe and had already paid out of pocket for HDDR. I was told you can do it over the phone in advance but there is a possibility that in the very brief moment they unbook you to rebook you someone else could be sitting on their computer and snack up your reservation if the place is booked.

Also remember some restaurants have restrictions for the use of DDP. I know with HDDR it has to be the latest show and Circle 1 to be able to use your credits. Any other time or section you have to pay Dinning Plan or not.

 

[ThinkTink721]

You only have to pay up front in full for a few WDW restaurants - CRT is one of them.

 

[tiaragirl]

When we went in August, my sister and I paid up front for supper and the gratuity was included - but it was clearly noted when we paid that they were including that money. If you don't see it written somewhere, assume that they have NOT included it in the final tally.