A new bill progressing through the Florida Legislature could have an impact on how gratuity and service fees work at Walt Disney World restaurants. The bill, currently titled CS/HB 535 – Public Lodging and Public Food Service Establishments, aims to make it easier for dining establishments to remove guests who do not pay their dining bills. While the meat of this restaurant bill shouldn’t really impact Walt Disney World, a proposed amendment about gratuity and service fees will certainly make Disney pay attention to the bill as it moves through the legislature. Here’s what we’re tracking.
Proposed Bill Could Impact Automatic Gratuity at Walt Disney World
In an amendment to the bill, there is a section discussing limitations on automatic gratuity. The bill would ban automatic gratuity for parties of fewer than 6 people. Parties of 6 or more would be eligible for automatic gratuity. As that relates to Walt Disney World, most dining establishments that we’ve visited include automatic gratuity of 18% for parties of 6 or more, but some third-party locations have included automatic gratuity for parties of fewer than 6 guests.
Two dining locations at Walt Disney World currently include gratuity in the price of the meal. Those locations are Cinderella’s Royal Table and Hoop Dee Doo Revue.
The proposed amendment would introduce some new rules that would impact Walt Disney World. One such rule would be that receipts must list the recipient of the gratuity or service charge, and how much the business entity would receive.
Another potential change is that the bill would allow the automatic gratuity to be removed if the guest requests to not pay it. Another version of the amendment said that a guest would need to complain about the quality of service if they wanted to have the automatic gratuity removed. It remains to be seen what the final wording of the bill would be.
The act would take place July 1, 2025 if passed by the Florida Legislature.
All in all, there wouldn’t be a huge impact on Walt Disney World given that they already follow most of the rules outlined in the proposed bill. If I had to guess, I would imagine that Walt Disney World, through a proxy, would lobby for the removal of rules surrounding transparency of who the gratuity would go to, but we’ll have to wait and see.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
