Table service restaurants at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando are participating in the popular Magical Dining Month for 2025, offering deals on 3-course meals. This covers dates, details, and our recommendations for where to eat at and around WDW during this dining discount.
Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining is celebrating its 20th anniversary from August 15 through September 30, 2025. Enjoy three-course, prix-fixe dinners for $40 or $60 per person depending on the restaurant, plus tax and gratuity. Participating locations include select Walt Disney World restaurants, many of Orlando’s most popular restaurants, and several recent Michelin Guide Florida Restaurants near Walt Disney World.
Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a record 160+ participating restaurants during this year’s program! This milestone anniversary for Magical Dining includes 26 new additions and 15 MICHELIN Guide-recognized restaurants, each offering three-course, prix-fixe menus. Many restaurants will also feature a limited-edition 20th Anniversary Dish in celebration of the milestone.
You can also do dinner and an overnight stay via Visit Orlando’s Magical Nights. This features special offers from some of Orlando’s top-rated hotels, including some that are home to restaurants participating in Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining Month. This promo is more limited and smaller scale, but there are several Disney Springs area hotels that are participating this year and offering discounts of 15% to 30% off. There are also a few noteworthy nearby hotels participating in this deal, including Orlando World Center Marriott and the new Evermore Orlando Resort.
As for the 2025 Visit Orlando Magical Dining Month, here’s a full list of participating on-property Walt Disney World restaurants:
Disney Springs Restaurants
- Mario & Enzo’s
- Jaleo
- STK
- Summer House on the Lake
- Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill
Swan & Dolphin Restaurants
- Amare (Swan Reserve)
- Il Mulino New York Trattoria (Swan Resort)
- Todd English’s bluezoo (Dolphin Resort)
Other Walt Disney World Restaurants
- La Luce (Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek)
- Zeta Asia (Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek)
- Benihana Lake Buena Vista (Hilton Orlando at Disney Springs)
- Ravello (Four Seasons Resort Orlando)
Here’s the list of participating Universal Orlando restaurants:
Universal Orlando Restaurants
- Amatista Cookhouse (Loews Sapphire Falls Resort)
- The Kitchen (Hard Rock Hotel)
- The Palm Restaurant (Hard Rock Hotel)
- Mama Della’s Ristorante (Loews Portofino Bay Hotel)
- Trattoria del Porto (Loews Portofino Bay Hotel)
For a complete list of the 164 participating restaurants in Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining, click here.
Our Commentary
Honestly, not a lot of new ground to cover with this year’s Visit Orlando Magical Dining. It’s the 20th Anniversary, and we were hoping they’d go big and bold with 200 restaurants, including several newcomes at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. And in their defense, there are more restaurants than ever. I count an increase of 30 over last year, which was a record. So that’s great for locals!
But when it comes to the lineups at both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, the lists are pretty stale. Walt Disney World did add a couple of options at Disney Springs as compared to last year, but nothing unexpected. Everything on that list has been part of Magical Dining before–multiple times. As for Universal Orlando, the list is completely identical to last year. I was hoping to see Flora Taverna at Helios Grand make the cut, but it’s probably a good thing (for the restaurant’s health) that it didn’t.
It’s probably worth noting that it’s not as if Walt Disney World is choosing this lineup. All of the restaurants are third parties, so they’re electing to participate (or not) on their own. Nevertheless, I’m surprised more of them aren’t participating, especially given decreased demand for Advance Dining Reservations across all of Walt Disney World.
Admittedly, we don’t get to Disney Springs nearly as much as we used to, but it’s usually the case that if Disney owned and operated locations in the parks & resorts are struggling, third parties at Disney Springs are doing even worse. There’s also the reality that August and September are two of the slowest months of the year.
Consequently, I’m surprised that there aren’t even more Walt Disney World restaurants on the list for 2025. Pre-COVID, more restaurants at Walt Disney World participated in the promotion, including locations in the resorts (Artist Point, Flying Fish, Jiko, Citricos, Turf Club, Olivia’s, Sanaa, etc) and others at Disney Springs (The Edison, Morimoto Asia, Terralina, Paddlefish, and more).
After peaking in 2017-2019, the list has fallen off a cliff in the last few years. Initially, this was understandable due to a mix of capacity constraints, pent-up demand, staffing shortages, and then the return of the Disney Dining Plan and Free Dining promo. But at this point, it’s painfully obvious that dining demand is nowhere near its peak. It’s interesting and surprising restaurants aren’t doing more to entice demand, especially third parties.
Then again, we’ve also seen Walt Disney World offer more limited lists of restaurants for both VIPASSHOLDER Days and Welcome Home Weeks, offering 40% off for a small pool of options as opposed to 20% off for a wider variety. Honestly, I don’t really understand that decision, either.
Maybe there’s something to this. In this case, perhaps Disney Springs restaurants have found it’s not “worth it” to seek patrons looking to ‘dine on a dime’ or that these menus don’t entice new demand, but cause existing customers to ‘trade down’ on what they’d order. Maybe there’s nothing to understand. It’s just an oversight, or third party restaurant management not wanting to hassle with Magical Dining. We’ll probably never know, but it’s nevertheless interesting.
Since we’ve been posting about Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining Month back in 2017, the price has increased from $35 per person to $40 (or $60). When you consider the soaring input costs of labor and food, that actually doesn’t seem too bad. Most of these meals are deals even at $5 more than they cost 7 or so years ago.
We’ve done Magical Dining Month deals several times, and have had great success with the meals far more times than not. Sometimes the offer is illusory (by virtue of smaller portions or modified items), but more often that is not the case. This is a chance for these restaurants to get you in the door during what’s otherwise a slow time of year, wow you, and hope you return to pay full price.
Note that you have to order from the specific Magical Dining Month prix fixe menu to take advantage of the $40 pricing, and that menu is not the standard menu at some locations. It usually is at mid-tier restaurants, but obviously not at fine dining locales that have dry-aged steaks or other expensive specialty dishes.
Of the Walt Disney World options, our top recommendations would be Jaleo (far and away) and Todd English’s bluezoo. We’re also fans of Amare, but that’s a more reasonably-priced restaurant, so it might make sense to focus on the Disney Springs or Swan & Dolphin alternatives first.
Summer House on the Lake is once again on the restaurant roster for the 2025 Magical Dining Month. This is noteworthy because this is the newest restaurant in Disney Springs, so you’d think that fans and locals would be eager to book it–but it’s been part of the promo for each of the last two years.
Also on the list once again is Ravello at the Four Seasons. We’ve been saying “next time” about this table service restaurant for like a decade at this point, but still haven’t made it there. (Well, we did do the Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy & Pals, but that’s not what I mean.) I’d love to finally knock that one out, especially following Ravello’s Michelin recognition.
Another highlight that’s on-site adjacent is Four Flamingos, A Richard Blais Florida Kitchen at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, which was recently recognized by the Michelin Guide Florida. This Hyatt is technically not on-site at Walt Disney World, but it’s a stone’s throw from Disney Springs, and is one of our favorite hotels in Central Florida.
There’s also Bosphorous Turkish Restaurant, which made our list of Great Restaurants Near Walt Disney World. Bosphorous has four locations in Central Florida–Winter Park, Winter Garden, Dr. Phillips, and Lake Nona. Bosphorous’ must-eat dish is the signature, baked to-order Lavas hollow bread. We also have friends who rave about AVA MediterrAegean, but we’ve yet to make it over there.
Over at Universal Orlando, we did the Kitchen and Amatista Cookhouse as part of Magical Dining Month a few years ago. Both definitely skew more towards the comfort food side of the spectrum, rather than being fine dining or any sort of elevated cuisine. We enjoyed both, and left absolutely stuffed (and with leftovers). I’m in no rush to return, but would dine at either if we were staying the night at one of those resorts and needed a place to eat.
Ultimately, Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining is offered because this date range is the off-season and a slow time for the restaurant industry at large–it’s a good way to juice demand for restaurants. My hope is that more restaurants will be added to the lineup next year, but in the here and now, it’s difficult to get too excited about these options when DVC’s Welcome Home Weeks offer 40% off several table service restaurants in the Walt Disney World parks & resorts. Personally, I prefer those choices and the flexibility of the normal menu at a discount.
Obviously, not everyone is eligible for that. For many Walt Disney World locals and guests, Magical Dining Month is a great opportunity to try something new without breaking the bank. It’s unquestionably a golden age of restaurants, with many of the locations at Disney Springs leading the way. This is a great time to give one of them a chance!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you plan on taking advantage of the Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining Month at Walt Disney World? Where will you dine during the deal in 2025? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of why these discounts are being offered, or the future of the restaurant scene at Walt Disney World? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!