2017 Dining Plan

Go Intamin said:
Anyone have a list of what's on the dining plan this year?

If you are looking to explore your food options go to the web site but don't look under "Explore" you won't find it there. Try "Play" because we were all taught to play with our food. :)

Pete said:
It's amazing how people find ways to justify shady actions just to make themselves feel good about doing something wrong.

It's not a hard concept to understand, if your picture doesn't appear when the pass is scanned you shouldn't be getting the food. If the employee chooses to ignore that, then it is a training/performance of job issue, it doesn't make it right.

Remember, abuse hurts everyone by possibly causing policy changes that make it less pleasant for everyone.

+ 2 for Pete

Random question for those of you with dining plans.

Do you follow tipping etiquette when using your dining plan at a table service restaurant such as Chickie and Pete's or Johnny Rockets?

I used my plan for the first time ever at Chickie and Pete's and found myself facing the moral dilemma of leaving a tip or not (mostly cause I don't carry cash inside the park). I ended up buying a side of cheese sticks to be able to leave a tip with my card.

Anyways, anyone else come across this dilemma at the park? I know not really a problem but I was just curious how other people handle tipping etiquette at a table service restaurant when you've technically already paid for your meal. Guess I'll avoid sit down, table service joints as I will still like to avoid carrying cash on me inside the park. Typically just take my pass, keys and phone in.

I personally tip on the full value of my meal if it is full service. 15-20%. Exceptions would be a buffet where only drinks and busing are served, I go lower.

Fold up five singles and put them in your sock. It's never a bad idea to have money, and I'm not sure what harm or inconvenience would result from carrying some money.

I'm trying to think how I've handled this. I'm not the type to carry cash around anyway, I usually swipe wherever I go. But for park visits in the past I've made sure I have cash on hand for things like drinks or buying something small. So I guess for visits like Midway Market I can scare up a buck or two from my billfold. This year I have drink plan too. Hmmm.

The day I went to KI I didn't spend a dime anywhere because I didn't have to. Rides, parking, drinks, and meals were covered. And I was at counter service locations for everything so this dilemma has yet to present itself. I guess when I go to CP I'll make sure I have some bucks, because my trend there lately is to sit down somewhere rather than waste a meal on bad counter service food.

I always tip at the table service restaurants & Midway Market. I tip the full value of the meal.

Same here. I tip the full value of the meal. To me, that is the right thing to do and never question it.

RCMAC, that's usually how I roll with the pass, dining and disposable cup drinks now. Try to avoid taking as much into the park as possible. I didn't even think about tipping until I sat down and ordered and said to myself "Oh s**t the staff here works for tips compared to quick service..." So I ended up getting something to be able to tip the guy and charge it to my card.

I guess I'll have to plan ahead if i'm with a group or find a ATM inside the park before grabbing food at a table service place that uses the meal plan.

I think that seems sensible.
It's awful to find yourself in an aw s**t moment when you realize you have no cash. It mostly happens to me in parking garages and stuff like that. I was out with my mother in law today and we stopped at Jimmy Johns for a drink and I had to swipe for three bucks. Ugh.
Another thing- I like, if I can, to leave a cash tip. That way the money goes right into his or her pocket and there's no IRS breathing down their neck.

And thanks to everyone who thought we needed a lesson on when to tip and how much. That wasn't really the dilemma, but... thanks again.

Am I the only person that still uses cash primarily?

No... most bartenders and strippers use cash regularly.

The meal may be technically paid for, but that doesn't include a tip. Always tip a server.

Mac, IRS bases taxable income for servers, in part, based on a calculation that the server was tipped x amount in cash. Tipping in cash doesn't let them escape taxes, I'm afraid.

I usually buy a drink or two at the sit-down restaurants, that solves the tipping problem. Personally, I use my debit card almost exclusively. I hate bothering with cash when it is so much easier and faster to just swipe a card.

noggin said:
Mac, IRS bases taxable income for servers, in part, based on a calculation that the server was tipped x amount in cash. Tipping in cash doesn't let them escape taxes, I'm afraid.

Oh, trust me, it helps.
Especially if you're a college student with a 2.5 month out of the year job. Most don't make enough to even have to file.

CP Maverick said:

Am I the only person that still uses cash primarily?

No, and I'm not a stripper or a bartender!

CP Maverick said:

Am I the only person that still uses cash primarily?

I am also a fan of cash. I don't understand my coworkers who don't even carry enough with them to go in with other people to get lunch. They live off their debit card. I don't even have.

That makes food runs way more complicated as well. Multiple cards, multiple transactions; instead of just pooling cash together and figuring out change after. Plus cards still take longer.

Not really, most places now have no problem using their POS system to split up the bill for each person. Probably better for the server anyway as it probably makes for higher tips.

I just think paying with a debit card is easier and more convenient. Why take money out of my account just to give it to someone else so they can deposit it in their account? Cut out the middle man and just do it account to account electronically! And, I won't have a pocket full of change at the end of the day that rattles around in the cloths dryer.

Studies have proven that frivolous spending is reduced on a cash budget vs using cards.

At work it's not a sit down meal, it's someone offering to drive out and bring back food for others while they are out. We have only half an hour and there is not much of anything close by. We're basically in the middle of a corn field next to the county prison and the sheriff's department. Lovely spot for a school, eh? You can't just show up somewhere with a pile of debit cards that belong to other people to pay for a pile of food and one of the places we occasionally get stuff from may not even take them. It's a cafe in the flea market I don't know how great of a payment system they are likely to have but their onion rings are to die for and I jump at any chance for someone else to go buy them for me.

I quit using my credit cards for daily expenses some time ago because it's easier to know when you're at the end of whet you can spend when you can physically see it is no longer in your wallet or the check book register. I'm also a saver of change. Every week I would watch my grandma put her change from the shopping trip into a large bottle to save. That was a lot of money when it was full. I've been doing the same thing but I usually raid the bottle in the summer for garage sale season or flea market shopping.