Disney World Offering Unprecedented 40% Off Dining Discount for APs
Walt Disney World has announced dining deal details for select table service restaurants during V.I.PASSHOLDER Summer Days. This is an aggressive 40% discount that’s normally only for Cast Members, and includes some of our favorite spots in the parks & resorts, from top tier Signature Restaurants to character dining experiences. Here’s full info plus our wide-ranging commentary about why WDW is pulling this lever, how Lightning Lanes are partially to blame, and why this could be a positive sign for even more dining discounts for more than just APs.
For starters, V.I.Passholder Summer Days will occur between May 14 and July 31, 2025 at Walt Disney World. This year’s version of the event is a little over two weeks longer than last year. The in-park focus of the ‘event’ appears to be at EPCOT so far, but like last year, Animal Kingdom will likely also be an emphasis. Those are the two parks most in need of a boost during the summer.
As part of the V.I.PASSHOLDER Summer Days, APs will be able to take advantage of exclusive perks and discounts throughout the parks and resorts during the month-long appreciation event. Walt Disney World is still in the process of revealing details about the ways Annual Passholders can take advantage of the appreciation months, so keep an eye on our Guide to 2025 V.I.PASSHOLDER Summer Days for regular updates. For now, we wanted to specifically draw your attention to the dining discount, as it’s a whopper…
Walt Disney World Annual Passholders can save 40% at select dining locations for a limited time this summer, Monday to Thursday only. These savings are available as part of V.I.PASSHOLDER Summer Days.
Save 40% at the following table-service restaurants—valid Monday to Thursday only from May 14 to June 30, 2025:
- Boatwright’s Dining Hall
- Cape May Cafe (dinner only)
- Hollywood & Vine
- Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood
- Tusker House Restaurant (lunch and dinner only)
Save 40% at the following table-service restaurants—valid Monday to Thursday only from July 1 to July 31, 2025:
- Ale & Compass Restaurant (breakfast and lunch only)
- Coral Reef Restaurant
- The Diamond Horseshoe
- Tiffins Restaurant
- Whispering Canyon Cafe
Again, these discounts are valid Monday through Thursday only at participating locations, dine-in only, during the dates indicated above. Discounts apply to the regular price and exclude alcoholic beverages, tax and gratuity. Discounts are not valid on certain items and cannot be combined with any other discount, offer or promotion.
Discounts are only for the use of Passholders and, unless otherwise noted, up to 3 Guests during each location’s regular operating hours. At the time of purchase, Passholders must present their valid Annual Pass ID in the Tickets and Passes section of their My Disney Experience app and a valid photo ID.
Turning to commentary, what’s most interesting here is how this discount differs from last year.
For each of the previous two years, Annual Passholders could enjoy an increase from 10% to 20% on discounts for food and nonalcoholic beverages at select locations throughout Walt Disney World Resort. This 20% discount applied to the regular price of food and nonalcoholic beverages, excluding applicable tax and gratuity.
Annual Passholders also received 20% off at select Outdoor Kitchens when using a cashless form of payment during last year’s V.I.PASSHOLDER Days. It makes sense that this discount has not returned this year, as the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival now ends earlier–on June 2, 2025.
Last year’s V.I.PASSHOLDER Days restaurant discount applied to a much longer list of restaurants–most of the Disney owned and operated locations around Walt Disney World. I’d assume that was a matter of simplicity, since V.I.PASSHOLDER Days always gets announced oddly late–almost like it’s thrown together at the last minute when leadership realizes numbers are soft and they suddenly find their “appreciation” for unfavorable attendees beloved Annual Passholders.
By that time, it’s probably too much work to coordinate with the third party operating participants in Disney Springs, EPCOT, and elsewhere. It’s not like they can’t independently announce their own discounts for V.I.PASSHOLDER Days, anyway. We get near-daily press releases from the various Disney Springs restaurants, so there’s nothing stopping them from opting into this, too.
In any case, the V.I.PASSHOLDER Days discount last year included several popular restaurants, such as Cinderella’s Royal Table, ‘Ohana, Topolino’s Terrace – Flavors of the Riviera, Storybook Dining at Artist Point, and more. Even with the bumped-up discount, ADRs were still abundant. The bigger discount didn’t move the needle enough.
It’s thus unsurprising that Walt Disney World has gotten more aggressive with the discount this year. It is slightly surprising that they jumped from 20% off to 40% off without a stop in between at 25% or 30% off. Forty-percent off is the ‘deep discount’ rate for Cast Members at select restaurants. To the best of my knowledge and recollection, 40% off has not been offered (widely) to anyone aside from Cast Members in the last decade-plus. It’s also interesting that this list is not the same as the CM list, both in terms of omissions and inclusions.
Continuing with the surprises, I expected to see a separate 20% off discount for everywhere else. Be Our Guest Restaurant and Boma aren’t suddenly going to be doing gangbuster business this summer. To the contrary, it’ll probably be similar to last year, with most restaurants at Walt Disney World struggling to fill tables.
If anything, business will likely be worse for table service restaurants. All of the discounts we’ve seen lately aren’t being offered as a result of Walt Disney World doing gangbuster business in Summer 2025. It’s an open secret at this point that bookings are soft. There’s a reason why, following the latest wave of discounts for this summer on tickets & resorts, we’re seeing the cheapest prices for Walt Disney World vacations in over 6 years. (See How to Get the Cheapest Walt Disney World Trip Since 2019.)
As we’ve been saying for a while, the guests who are coming are cutting costs and shifting spending from ‘discretionary’ purchases like souvenirs and table service meals and towards Lightning Lanes. This is presumably one of the motivations for offering Free Disney Dining Plans for Kids All Year Long in 2026.
After years of pent-up demand fueled an explosion in guest spending, that’s starting to come back to reality. Vacation budgets are finite, and Lightning Lanes are viewed by more and more guests as a non-negotiable purchase in order to save time waiting in line. With Lightning Lanes being essential, guests looking to trim the fat from other aspects of their trips. Table service restaurants are an easy one, especially after sticker shock sets in after browsing menus online.
All of that makes me wonder why Walt Disney World isn’t doing another tier to the discount–or even including more restaurants at 40% off. It’s unlikely that Olivia’s Cafe, Sanaa, Boma, Kona Cafe, Turf Club, or other restaurants with perpetual deep discounts for Cast Members have strong bookings for the next few months.
Walt Disney World still hasn’t announced full details for Annual Passholder appreciation days, so perhaps that 20% off wide discount is still coming. Maybe it’ll even end up being 25% or 30% off.
As a bit of an aside, it also strikes me as odd that Walt Disney World still has not brought back Tables in Wonderland.
Demand for most Advance Dining Reservations has fallen off a cliff. The environment is not what it was in 2021-2023, with strong pent-up demand colliding with reduced capacity and staffing shortages. All of that is long gone, and has been for well over a year. My anecdotal observation is that ADRs are more abundant than anytime we’ve been tracking them, and I’ve eaten at several restaurants in the last year that have been eerily uncrowded.
This has been true even during Free Dining ‘season,’ which used to be one of the busiest times of the year for table service restaurants. I still recall the halcyon days of 2014-2019, when readers would freak out about crowds being worse than expected in August and September because ADR availability was non-existent due to Free Dining. Of course, crowds were never bad–but restaurants were jam-packed. That issue did not exist last year, and I’m guessing it won’t again this year during Free Dining dates.
When it comes to Tables in Wonderland, my best guess–as dumb as this might sound–is that Walt Disney World has forgotten about it. My understanding is that it was run by a very small team, and if they were furloughed and never returned, it’s possible that the program simply slipped through the cracks as Walt Disney World started pulling out the 2019 playbook to incentivizing demand and guest spending.
I don’t know how else to explain why Tables in Wonderland hasn’t returned. It’s a way to increase demand for table service restaurants, which is badly needed, while also monetizing it via an upfront revenue stream. Tables in Wonderland kills two birds with one stone, and feels like it’d scratch Walt Disney World leadership right where they itch.
As an Annual Passholder who spends a lot on dining, I’ll happily take the 40% off select restaurants without a membership program…but I’d definitely pay for one! For a while, I thought maybe Walt Disney World was reworking Tables in Wonderland and was going to relaunch it as a more all-encompassing program with other (read: more expensive) perks, but now I’m not so sure about that. The program having been forgotten, silly as it might sound, seems more plausible at this point.
Finally, it’s worth addressing the restaurants that are offering 40% off during June and July 2025.
There are some fantastic restaurants on this list, including some that make our list of the 25 Best Restaurants at Walt Disney World for 2025 (or are honorable mentions). Sadly, many of our favorite restaurants are also unpopular ones, which is why they’re getting this aggressive discount.
In addition to the restaurants we highlight, I’d also add that Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood was once again just recognized by the 2025 Michelin Guide Florida. This is one of the restaurants we’ll be revisiting during VIPassholder Summer Days.
I also want to highlight that Toledo is not open Mondays and Tuesdays. Something I knew at one point, but forgot during a stay at Gran Destino Tower last month when I opted to eat at the Poly on a Sunday, with the plan to do Toledo on Monday. Now my stupid mistake looks like an act of 4D chess.
Other restaurants we’ll be doing are Hollywood & Vine and Tusker House. Character dining at 40% off is too good to pass up, especially before our daughter turns three. I’m surprised to see Tusker House on the list without Boma also making an appearance–it becomes a no-brainer to do the character ‘version’ of this meal for considerably less than the full-priced option over at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
As for Hollywood & Vine, that’s a no-brainer for us. Minnie’s Seasonal Dine is one of Sarah’s absolute favorite character meals, and it’s been a while since we’ve done that meal. Sarah already informed me that she has the perfect outfits for her and Megatron to wear to Minnie’s Summertime Dine. I don’t, but I also don’t think that matters.
It’s also been a bit since we’ve done Tiffins Restaurant and Coral Reef Restaurant. There have been recent reports that Tiffins has fallen, but I’m skeptical. Walt Disney World fans say the same about Skipper Canteen, and we’ve yet to have anything but excellent meals there. Part of me suspects these types of cuisine just don’t appeal to many theme park guests. Coral Reef, on the other hand, has been hit or miss for as long as I can remember. Hopefully it’s a “hit” on our next visit, but I’m not holding my breath. It’s fun, regardless, and impossible to pass up at 40% off.
Ultimately, V.I.Passholder Summer Days is a promising and interesting initiative for boosting attendance at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom during the summer slowdown. It’s also a savvy move to win back alienated ex-Annual Passholders, and also increase guest spending and fill empty tables at less popular restaurants. After a few years of Walt Disney World being able to ‘get away’ with pretty much anything and still see record guest spending and insatiable demand, consumers now appear to once again have more leverage.
This should be an interesting saga to follow, and it’s almost certain that we haven’t seen the end of Walt Disney World’s efforts to woo back former fans and pull “levers” to incentivize more demand and guest spending, especially if Summer 2025 proves to be as slow as the same months last year. We haven’t even mentioned Epic Universe in this post or the broader economy, both of which are almost certainly contributing factors as Walt Disney World gets more aggressive with those levers!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be taking advantage of this 40% off dining discount in Summer 2025? Where will you be eating or which restaurants would you recommend? Thoughts on Tables in Wonderland returning, ADR demand dropping, or anything else covered in the commentary? Hopeful that more perks, discounts, etc. are on the horizon as there’s a slowdown at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I was sad Toledo and Boatwrights Dining Hall were only open for dinner.
I am still hoping to get 20% off most restaurants, but will try and hit some of these 40% restaurants for my trip in July.
I think one reason why ADRs are more available is that WDW quick service as a whole has improved the last few years in my opinion. Mobile order has made it more convenient to me, plus the cost of QS is somewhat reasonable (compare it to fast food nowadays) and you don’t have to add tip. The cost difference between quick service and sit down adds up quick even if you are on the DDP.
Odd, I’ve been trying to make a reservation for May 15 since yesterday. Once I select a time, I either get spinning fairy dust on my laptop or the app crashes on my phone. I’ve tried both data and wifi. No one else is having this problem?
It just started working, go figure.
Carolyn and I are there from May 9th to the 14th so I did book a breakfast at Minnie’s. Since I’m flying solo till the 17th I grabbed dinner at Toledos. Will Toledo let me return later for fireworks or should I book a later meal so I’m there around 9?
Unrelated but D23 has a special program next month at the end of May about called Magic After Dark: The Story of Disney’s Nighttime Spectaculars. Can you say, “I’ll take clues for $500 Alex.”?
I’m taking by grand daughter in June. I noticed I was able to score all the dining reservations I wanted including Artist point and Ohana. I wasn’t super aggressive about getting on the app at 6:00 am but just did it the evening at 60 days. Normally you can’t get all your reservations in this scenario. That was my sign things had slowed.
Nice! I remember the last time we had the AP, there was a 40% off dining offer (not everywhere but much more than this list). That probably would’ve been in 2017. Definitely made Tiffins (semi-) affordable and we tried several other places with it.
My records show a 30% off dining discount for APs and DVC members from August 25 through October 1, 2017. At the time, I wrote about that being unprecedented. If there was a 40% off discount at some point around then, I missed it.
Interesting! Let’s see what, if anything, this brings! Frankly I don’t see it being enough to stimulate much peripheral business but maybe I’m wrong.
I am not going until August 3 but if this were going on during my trip I 100% would have upgraded my 10 day hopper to annual pass. I wonder if they really are expecting some stuff to open August 1 that people are truly expecting different dates for so they are trying to mentally lock people in to July (food/wine, starlight, test track)
On our last trip the table service restaurants were so expensive and the food was good but not amazing. It takes a long time out of your day too. We ate at Whispering Canyon, Yak and Yeti and San Angel Inn. It’s an easy way to slim down the budget to cut out the mediocre table service and just eat chicken fingers and pizza. Then put that money towards fast passes. My daughter and I go back in May and don’t have plans for any table service meals, just lots of fun snacks and coffee.
Well, that was the push I needed to force me to book Toledo for our next trip. I’m sure it will be a great meal, but we usually stick to the DVC resorts or parks. Also finally trying Hollywood and Vine for the first time. Our daughter was not really into meeting characters when she was little and now she’s a teen, so we are only going for the discount. Same with Tusker House. Added that one too. If we’re going to sit down for dinner, we might as well get as much bang for our buck as possible.
I think this is a really interesting development. Personally, I do account for whether the perks that are offered by an annual pass justify the investment vs. purchasing standard park tickets.
For me at this moment in time, this moves the needle only slightly. We just had outstanding meals at Epic Universe (Cafe Lair de la Sirene and Atlantic). By comparison, dinner at Boma a few nights ago was…mediocre. In spite of plans to eat dinner at Sanaa, we decided to skip. The dinner menu at Sanaa has been so whittled down that we didn’t want to eat there. This was very disappointing to us since both restaurants in the past were steadfast favorites. (This is not a critique aimed solely at Disney. The crispy chicken gyro I ate at Universal Islands of Adventure was barely edible and the strong odor of fish coming out of Three Broomsticks was the reason I ate the gyro). But I digress.
The point is that we plan to return to both Cafe Lair de la Sirene and Atlantic before our vacation ends. But we won’t be returning to either Boma or Sanaa for dinner. (Breakfast at Sanaa is still good). Therefore, the aggressive dining discounts won’t persuade us to purchase annual passes or dine at Disney restaurants. At the end of the day, the product matters and the quality matters. The discounts won’t be enough to lure us back to restaurants that used to delight us.
As far as annual passes go… Yes, dining discounts, merchandise discounts and hotel discounts are all included in my calculus as to whether to purchase annual passes. But the quality of the dining experience and the quality of the park experience are also included in the calculus. And certainly, the price of the annual passes are included in the calculus. As of yet, the calculus hasn’t swung back to purchasing annual passes. They are still expensive and the quality of the experience still needs improvement.
I think Disney is moving in the right direction. The room and ticket discounts are very persuasive and very welcome. I look forward to further enhancements and discounts.
As a side note pertaining to DVC (it’s slightly off topic but relevant to the experience that would make me want to experience Disney):
Positive to our recent stay: poolside service (drinks and food from the pool bar AND cold towels and ice water). Wow, this was really nice! I don’t know if that is exclusive to the DVC resort we were staying at, but this was a change from the last time we stayed here.
Negative to our recent stay: “Alternative Pool Use” aka pool hopping remains “Suspended at this time.” We wanted to spend the day at a pool at Saratoga Springs, but can’t since pool hopping remains off the table. This DVC perk has been suspended since 2020. I can’t for the life of me come up with a reason for management to keep this privilege suspended. If DVC doesn’t intend to reinstate the privilege, they should remove it and notify the membership. Otherwise, reinstate it immediately and notify the membership. Stuff like this baffles me. It’s such an easy win for them, but they don’t implement low hanging fruit.
Food is fantastic at Epic Universe thus far, you’ve certainly got that right.
That’s par for the course for new theme parks. I do wonder where it’ll be a year from now, as Universal Orlando’s existing parks & resorts don’t exactly inspire confidence. So while I wouldn’t take a meal at Boma or Sanaa over the places I’ve yet to dine at Epic Universe, I absolutely would over 95% of the other restaurants at UOR.
Which DVC offered the poolside service?
Hi, it was AKV Kidani. One of the cast members said they began pilot in Dec. 2024 at Kidani. She didn’t know if the pilot was occurring at other DVC resorts but thought it would eventually be rolled out at the other resorts and encountered us to let DVC know that we liked the service. Happy travels!
Tom, do you think there’s a chance they’ll extend the discount into August at some point?
I’m honestly not sure why they didn’t do it that with with this from the outset. August and September are even slower than June and July, and it would be odd to end Summer AP Appreciation Days only to start Fall AP Appreciation Days like 2 weeks later.
I was excited when you said” 40% off restaurants!” Then, sadly, the list was only a handful. I sure hope Disney brings back 20% off other table services, for VIP passholder days.
We will use it for Toledo‘s. Ale & Compass is a good lunch.
When do you think they will release further details? Have they released details on what percentage off of merchandise They are offering?
It’s hard to keep up with all the details Disney is releasing.
Thank you for the info 🙂
I’d expect more details in about 1-2 weeks. That seems to be the cadence on releasing info for this. Maybe the last ‘wave’ of info will come closer to the start, as a way to remind people that it’s about to start.
“Sarah already informed me that she has the perfect outfits for her and Megatron to wear to Minnie’s Summertime Dine. I don’t, but I also don’t think that matters.” Haha
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Daughters!!
also, if you’re anything like me, when someone compliments my outfit I have to look down to see what I’m wearing,..
The only time I ever seem to get outfit compliments is if I’m wearing a Detroit Lions shirt or hat. In which case, it’s usually just a “Go Lions!” and I’m not sure that counts as complimenting me. Whatever, I’ll take it.
If I’m wearing Lions gear, I actually tend to get more “compliments” than Sarah does on her clothes. I can only assume this is why she doesn’t want me wearing my Lions hoodies out in public. Probably has nothing to do with wanting me to “look nice,” as she claims. 😉