Over a dozen different restaurants at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando are participating in the popular Magical Dining Month for 2024, offering deals on 3-course meals. This post covers dates, details, and our recommendations for where to eat during this dining discount.
Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining is celebrating its 19th anniversary from August 16 through September 30, 2024. 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.
Nine of the 48 Michelin Guide restaurants in Orlando are participating in Magical Dining 2024, including Bib Gourmands the Ravenous Pig ($40) and Z Asian ($40). You can also choose from seven Michelin Guide “recommended” restaurants: AVA MediterrAegean ($60), BACÁN ($60), Four Flamingos, A Richard Blais Florida Kitchen ($60), Kabooki Sushi ($40), Maxine’s on Shine* ($40), The Pinery ($40), and Ravello ($60).
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 much more limited and smaller scale, with the Swan & Dolphin being the only on-site hotel at Walt Disney World that’s participating. Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is also on the list, and it’s just barely off-site.
As for the 2024 Visit Orlando Magical Dining Month, here’s a full list of participating on-property Walt Disney World restaurants:
Disney Springs Restaurants
- The Edison
- Mario & Enzo’s
- Jaleo
- Summer House on the Lake
Swan & Dolphin Restaurants
- Amare (Swan Reserve)
- Il Mulino New York Trattoria (Swan Resort)
- Todd English’s bluezoo (Dolphin Resort)
Bonnet Creek Restaurants
- La Luce (Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek)
- Zeta Asia (Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek)
- Unreserved Food Bazaar (JW Marriott Bonnet Creek)
Other WDW Restaurants
- 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 134* participating restaurants in Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining Month, click here.
According to Visit Orlando, there’s a record 150 restaurants participating in Magical Dining Month, but 16 of those don’t show up on the list yet because their menus aren’t live. We’ll update accordingly if any additional Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando spots are added.
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. Make sure you add that if it’s not included on the Magical Dining Month menu!
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.
Since we’ve been posting about Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining Month back in 2017, the price has increased from $35 per person to $37 last year to $40. 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.
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 and the Edison, but our average meals at both spots typically cost less than $40, so I’m not sure either would garner a recommendation for this particular deal.
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.
While the Walt Disney World lineup isn’t as formidable as past years, there are still some good and new options that have our interest. In particular, the trio of Bonnet Creek options (although maybe not Unreserved Food Bazaar).
Also, we’ll take any excuse to revisit Jaleo, which is a personal favorite–and always a great value during Magical Dining Month. It’s also very conveniently located to the “Disney Dreams That Soar” drone show viewing area, making for an easy ‘dinner and show’ date night.
As mentioned above, the 2024 Magical Dining Month lineup features a record-shattering 150 restaurants. This is the second consecutive year of a rather big bump–the number I have for 2023 is “over 125,” which was up from 86 restaurants in 2022. That makes sense, as pent-up demand was only starting to slow in Fall 2022, but had fully fallen off by last year.
I’m actually somewhat surprised that there aren’t even more Walt Disney World restaurants on the list for 2024. Pre-closure, more restaurants at Walt Disney World participated in the promotion, including locations in the resorts (Flying Fish, Jiko, Olivia’s, Sanaa, etc) and others at Disney Springs (STK, Morimoto Asia, Wolfgang Puck, Terralina, Paddlefish, etc).
That hasn’t been the case for the last few years, due to an evolving mix of capacity constraints, pent-up demand, staffing shortages. Now, it would seem, you can add the return of the Disney Dining Plan and Free Dining promo to that list.
Nevertheless, we’ve noticed far less dining demand in the last year-plus. Even during the peak season, Advance Dining Reservation availability has loosened up. From what I’m seeing, this is continuing even now that Free Dining is in full swing. Nevertheless, I can understand why some spots would be in “wait and see” mode to assess how much Free Dining moves the needle. Perhaps the 2025 Magical Dining Month will have more participating Walt Disney World restaurants.
It is at least somewhat telling that Summer House on the Lake is on the restaurant roster for the 2024 Magical Dining Month. This is noteworthy because this is the newest restaurant in all of Walt Disney World, so you’d think that fans and locals would be eager to book it–wanting to try something different.
On top of that, it has a fairly crowd-pleasing menu. Finally, it has a great location for the “Disney Dreams That Soar” drone show. If Summer House is already experiencing issues that necessitate participating in this discount, that’s a bit of a red flag. Not a huge one since it is at Disney Springs and the dining scene is very competitive there, but at least a modest one (maybe a yellow flag).
Ultimately, Magical Dining Month 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 artificially boost demand for restaurants. Not to get too speculative, but I wonder if more restaurants might suddenly find themselves wanting a similar bump in demand. Maybe we’ll see more added to the Magical Dining roster at the last minute?
Of course, that’s a bit off topic here. For now, we’ll enjoy Magical Dining Month and look forward to future (anticipated) dining deals and better ADR availability at Walt Disney World. It’s unquestionably a golden age of restaurants, with many of the locations at Disney Springs leading the way. Hopefully you have the chance to try something new that was previously unapproachable, price-wise!
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 2024? 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!
