V.I.Passholder Dining Discount Math, Rank, and a Princess Tax?

Disney announced the return of V.I.Passholder Summer Days and now they’ve released a list of dining discounts as part of this promotion. First, the rules of the promo:

• Passholders can save up to 40% at select dining locations in Walt Disney World
• Valid Monday to Thursday only from May 1 through July 31st
• Alcoholic beverages will not be discounted
• Discounts are only valid for Passholders and up to 3 Guests
• Dining Packages, like Garden Rocks or Fantasmic!, are excluded from this discount

20% Off Locations

• Be Our Guest / Lunch
• The Crystal Palace / Lunch & Dinner

40% Off Locations

• Biergarten / Lunch
• Coral Reef / Dinner only
• Garden Grill / Lunch & Dinner
• Hollywood & Vine / Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner
• Tiffins / Dinner
• Tusker House / Lunch & Dinner
• Boatwright’s Dining Hall / Dinner
• Cape May Cafe / Dinner
• Toledo – Tapas, Steak, & Seafood / Dinner
• Whispering Canyon Cafe / Brunch & Dinner

The Math and Rank

We did some quick math to see the final price for all of the participating locations with fixed prices. This is why you won’t see places like Toledo listed below. We don’t know how many servings of Pan con Tomate you’ll order and we’d never cast a critical eye for multiple plates, but that changes the math. You get the point.

Tusker House is a Character Meal Buffet in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You’ll see in the graphic above that we’ve listed:

• The standard price of the qualifying meals- in this case lunch & dinner.
• Price after the 40% discount
• 15% tip
• Total cost after discount, tip, and tax

We’ve also include rank and ratings for each of the dining locations we’ve highlighted in this post. These aren’t just our ratings for these locations. They’re the sum of tens of thousands of surveys we receive each year! You can find these dining ratings for every single table service, quick service, bar, and lounge in Walt Disney World  on the Lines App or on our website!

Tusker House is rated very highly by our Subscribers (Liners) and we 100% agree with their assessment! We eat here at full price and will be going more often with this discount. Moving on..

Hollywood & Vine is a Character Meal Buffet with a seasonal theme and it’s the one location that qualifies for the discount for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! TouringPlans Liners rate this spot Above Average and we agree. If you can time your reservation for around 10:15am, you’ll get breakfast first and lunch offerings for your second plate. Don’t skip the Beet Salad, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, or the Shepard’s Pie!

Breakfast for kids ages 3-9 is an especially good deal in our books. Mickey waffles and character time for under $25 is a win!

Exceptional indeed. This is one of our favorite Character Meals on property. It’s not a buffet, but it is All-You-Care-to-Enjoy which is essentially the same thing but without all the walking, right? Add in Chip & Dale, Farmer Mickey, and Pluto and that cobbler?!? Don’t skip this one.

 

Yikes. Be Our Guest isn’t a Character Meal (unless you count the occasional walk-by appearance of the Beast?) but it’s priced like one. This is one of the two locations with the 20% off discount and we’re afraid it’s just not enough to warrant a reservation. Even with the discount, you’ll still pay almost $70 per adult. Be Our Guest is a bold “Do Not Visit” according to our Subscribers and while the food is good, it’s not $70 good. Skip.

The Crystal Palace is a Character Meal Buffet that features Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. It’s crowded and so loud, but we love it here. The food is good, they have an excellent selection for kids, and who doesn’t love a hug from Pooh? Our Subscribers rate The Crystal Palace as Above Average and this tracks with our reviews, too. The price is still high after the 20% discount, but the quality of the food and character experience justifies the price for us.

Cape May is the only Resort Buffet that qualifies for the V.I. Passholder Discount. It’s located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort and is not a Character Meal. Our Subscribers rate Cape May Cafe 93%, Much Above Average. We’re going to fuss for a second about the fact that you have to pay an additional $29.00 per pound for Snow Crab Legs with Clarified Butter, but the proximity to EPCOT’s International Gateway still makes this a yes for us. That 40% off might make us lock in a few reservations before this deal ends.

The Princess Tax?

One can’t help but notice that not a single Princess Character Meal was included in either the 20% or 40% discount. No Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, no Cinderella’s Royal Table, no 1900 Park Fare. Not even Storybook Dining with Snow White and the Evil Queen. Disney must be betting that we’ll pay full price to have our Ski Queen Cheese and Kjøttkaker while we mingle with Princesses, and they’re right. We just aren’t happy about it.

What are your thoughts on this list and the math? Are you plotting new meals since this discount was released? Let us know!