DVC Members visiting Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond over the next month-plus will have the chance to enjoy some excellent freebies and perks, as Disney Vacation Club’s ‘Welcome Home Weeks’ returns for a second year. This lists the latest discounts and free things at WDW, along with our commentary about these perks and why it has us hopeful for the future.
Welcome Home Weeks first debuted last year, following in the footsteps of V.I.PASSHOLDER Summer Days. Now it’s back once again, from August 14 through September 16, 2025! DVC Welcome Home Weeks features free tasty treats, special experiences, and extra aggressive discounts just for eligible Disney Vacation Club Members.
This is in addition to the growing list of Disney Vacation Club Membership Extras, which currently lists 317 Member Benefits according to Disney. Don’t get too excited–at least half of that list is either nothing special–but there are a lot of valuable perks. See our List of the Top 10 Disney Vacation Club Member Perks for the ones that are worthwhile.
First up is FREE ICE CREAM! This is not a drill!!! Treat yourself to a refreshing, complimentary Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bar, ice cream sandwich or fruit bar at select Walt Disney World locations.
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Location: Tower of Terror Courtyard
- Dates: Mondays and Tuesdays, starting August 18, 2025
- Times: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
- Location: Upcountry Landing in Asia
- Dates: Thursdays and Fridays, starting August 14, 2025
- Times: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Magic Kingdom Park
- Location: Tomorrowland Terrace
- Dates: Wednesdays, starting August 20, 2025
- Times: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
- Disney Springs
- Location: Gateway to Discovery – A Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Center
- Dates: Mondays and Fridays, starting August 15, 2025
- Times: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- EPCOT
- Location: Lobby of Living Seas Salon
- Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting August 19, 2025
- Times: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Location: Disney Vacation Club Preview Center
- Dates: Daily, August 14 – September 16, 2025
- Times: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Members who are eligible for Membership Extras may enjoy this benefit. Valid park admission and park reservation required. Limit of one ice cream bar, ice cream sandwich or fruit bar per person per week, per location. A valid Disney Vacation Club Digital Membership Card and photo ID are required.
Welcome Home Wakeup
Mingle with fellow Members for coffee and a morning treat at select hotels at Walt Disney World Resort:
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Location: Top of the World Lounge
- Dates: Saturdays and Sundays, starting August 16, 2025
- Times: 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Location: Reunion Station
- Dates: Saturdays and Tuesdays, starting August 16, 2025
- Times: 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Limit of one Welcome Home Wakeup per week, per Member, while supplies last. A valid Disney Vacation Club Digital Membership Card and photo ID are required at event check-in. The Member listed on the Digital Membership Card must be in attendance.
Eligibility: Members eligible for Membership Extras with a Resort reservation at the same Resort where the event is being held (on an event date) may attend, plus 4 Guests (or the number of additional Guests on the reservation).
Disney Character Closeups
Meet beloved Disney Characters at fun events at Walt Disney World Resort:
- Location: Atlantic Dance Hall at Disney’s BoardWalk
- Dates: August 25 through August 27, 2025, and September 8 through September 10, 2025
- Times: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
- Parking: There is no Resort parking for this event. Members are strongly encouraged to use Walt Disney World Resort transportation.
Eligibility: Members eligible for Membership Extras with a Resort reservation at Walt Disney World Resort, plus 4 Guests (or the number of additional Guests on the reservation). A valid Disney Vacation Club Digital Membership Card and photo ID are required at event check-in. The Member listed on the Digital Membership Card must be in attendance.
Free Doughnut
Stop by Everglazed Donuts & Cold Brew at Disney Springs to receive a complimentary Welcome Home Weeks donut (while supplies last).
- Location: Everglazed Donuts & Cold Brew at Disney Springs
- Dates: Wednesdays, starting August 20, 2025
- Times: During normal operating hours of Everglazed Donuts & Cold Brew
- Eligibility: Members eligible for Membership Extras (one donut per Member, per week, while supplies last)
Free Reusable Shopping Bag
Visit select Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Centers for a complimentary, reusable bag to hold all your goodies.
- Locations: Gateway to Discovery – A Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Center at Disney Springs and Golden Vine House – A Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Center at Disney California Adventure Park
- Dates: August 14 to September 16, 2025
- Times: During normal operating hours of Gateway to Discovery – A Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Center and Golden Vine House – A Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Center
- Eligibility: Members eligible for Membership Extras (one shopping bag per Member)
Copper Creek Sneak Peek
Stop by to see the refreshed Resort rooms at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.
- Dates: To be announced
- Times: To be announced
Free Candy
Receive complimentary candy at Movies Under the Stars at select Walt Disney World Resorts:
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resorts
- Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Dates: Varies by Resort. Please check with the Recreation team at each respective location.
- Times: During normal operating hours of Movies Under the Stars
- Eligibility: Members eligible for Membership Extras (one selection of candy per week, per Member)
40% Off Select WDW Restaurants
Enjoy 40% off food and nonalcoholic beverages at select Table-Service restaurants at Walt Disney Resort on select dates:
- Hollywood & Vine at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Tusker House Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park (Lunch & Dinner)
- Toledo –Tapas, Steak & Seafood at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort (Dinner)
- Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside (Dinner)
- Cape May Cafe at Disney’s Beach Club Resort (Dinner)
- The Diamond Horseshoe at Magic Kingdom Park
- Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Tiffins Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
- Coral Reef Restaurant at EPCOT
- Ale & Compass Restaurant at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort (Breakfast & Lunch)
- Dates: Mondays through Thursdays from August 14 to September 16, 2025
- Times: During normal operating hours of participating restaurants. Discount only valid during certain meal periods at select restaurants (see list of locations).
- Eligibility:
- Members eligible for Membership Extras, plus up to 3 Guests, unless otherwise noted
- Valid during each location’s regular dining hours, unless otherwise noted. Offer valid for dine-in customers only and excludes to-go.
- Not valid on certain menu items, special events or packages and may not be combined with any other discount, offer or promotion.
- Discount is off the regular price of food and nonalcoholic beverages, excluding tax and gratuity.
- Subject to change without notice.
- Valid at select locations at Walt Disney World Resort listed above, Monday through Thursday only.
- Valid park admission and park reservation required for in-park locations.
- To receive the discount, the Disney Vacation Club Member must show their Digital Membership Card and government-issued ID. Your Digital Membership Card can be found on the My Disney Experience app and should be added to the digital wallet of your mobile device.
Note that this list is almost identical to the lists from Annual Passholder Appreciation Days, and as such, our commentary is similar. We took advantage of a few discounts then, and will be doing the same again during DVC Welcome Home Weeks.
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 recent stay at Gran Destino Tower 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, as I’ll be staying at Coronado Springs very soon starting on a Wednesday!
Other restaurants we’d recommend doing are Hollywood & Vine and Tusker House. Character dining at 40% off is too good to pass up, especially at these locations. 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.
Minnie’s Seasonal Dine is one of Sarah’s absolute favorite character meals, and we’re especially big fans of Minnie’s Halloween Dine. Technically, you could do Hollywood & Vine twice for two different character meals during Welcome Home Weeks. Minnie’s Summertime Dine runs through August 15, and Minnie’s Halloween Dine starts on August 16, 2025. So you have two days for Summertime Dine–act fast!
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but the highlight for me of V.I.PASSHOLDER Days was Tiffins Restaurant. It was absolutely fantastic. One of the best in-park meals I’ve had in years. So good that I’m planning on dining there again during Welcome Home Weeks (for research, of course–gotta have a couple meals for a more comprehensive new review).
It was also far and away the busiest I had seen Tiffins since its opening year, and ADRs for the restaurant were actually competitive. In fact, everywhere I ate during the AP Appreciation Days was fairly busy, and I’m guessing that was largely the result of Annual Passholders, because most other restaurants were not busy during my meals last month.
This really 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. And many of those are actually at DVC resorts, too!
I shared this same sentiment back when V.I.Passholder Summer Days was first announced, and thought that surely the 40% off was one tier, and as part of the slow-trickle nature of the announcement, a 20% off wide discount would be announced later. Or maybe even 25% or 30% off.
That thought was wrong. In the end, it was just the 40% off, and only at a smaller pool of select restaurants. And that smaller pool was very busy, because demand wasn’t diluted across more locations. Meanwhile, those other locations–at least the handful at which I ate–were very slow. I still don’t understand Walt Disney World’s thought process with this approach, but I’m not complaining. I’ll just focus my attention on the 40% off locations.
While we’re on the topic, I’ll reiterate that it’s 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.
ADRs are more abundant than anytime we’ve been tracking them–not just anytime in the last 5 years, but ever. I’ve eaten at several restaurants in the last year that have been eerily uncrowded. Even during Free Dining ‘season,’ which used to be one of the busiest times of the year, many table service restaurants are dead.
When it comes to Tables in Wonderland, my best guess is that Walt Disney World has forgotten about it. Seriously. (This is why I keep posting about it periodically–as a “reminder” to those within the company who might be reading this.) I don’t know how else to explain why Tables in Wonderland hasn’t returned, even as Walt Disney World otherwise pulls from the 2019 playbook.
Tables in Wonderland is 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.
When Disney Vacation Club first announced Welcome Home Weeks last year, we speculated as to why they were offering this perk. In its sophomore year, DVC Welcome Home Weeks is getting bigger and better, and we still have the same question, albeit to a much lesser degree.
Generalized guest goodwill remains reason number one. Disney used to do a lot more little things that they call “surprise and delight,” which are little unexpected things that both surprise guests and delight them. Many of these were on an individual level, and have largely vanished over the years. Some also happened at a larger scale. Welcome Home Weeks is an instance of that. Members visiting during these dates didn’t expect free ice cream or coffee, but it delights them in a way that’s disproportionate to the cost for Disney.
The benefits of happy DVC Members should be fairly obvious, but nevertheless, it’s something that Disney “forgot” to an extent from mid-2020 to early 2023 (roughly). In the couple of years since, we’ve seen the pendulum start to swing back in the other direction, with Disney Vacation Club “realizing” that a happy membership base is important. This is doubly true when they’re trying to sell almost a half-dozen different resorts, plus Disney Lakeshore Lodge on the way soon.
The second reason, which is sort of touched upon above, is that mid-August through mid-September is the slowest time of year at Walt Disney World. The expansion of DVC Welcome Home Weeks into dining discounts can basically be viewed as a de facto extension of V.I.Passholder Summer Days. Obviously, Annual Passholders who aren’t eligible for these restaurant discounts won’t feel that way, but it terms of the practical impact, the result will be similar.
I’m honestly surprised there isn’t more like this, aimed at filling tables or nudging Annual Passholders to visit the parks. The ice cream is a good example of this, and perhaps that’s viewed as good enough. There’s already the Finding Nemo magnet for APs at Animal Kingdom, plus the DVC lounges in EPCOT and Magic Kingdom, and now the ice cream and restaurant discounts.
If all those things won’t move the needle, maybe the thought process is that more won’t, either. But it wouldn’t hurt to make the free reusable bag also available at Animal Kingdom or do something else there to help buoy attendance.
Another benefit for Disney Vacation Club when it comes to stuff like this, or even Moonlight Magic or the Member Lounges, is that it creates FOMO. That’s another driver for sales. When non-Members see some of the things they could have if they “just” joined DVC, it helps push them off the fence. Especially if they’re diehard fans or regulars who might as well take the plunge.
Likewise, Membership Extras are a good way of moving the needle on resales vs. direct sales, and could incentivize those on the fence to pay more to buy direct so they don’t miss out on any perks. If DVC Welcome Home Weeks becomes an annual staple, it’s going to start being mentioned in analysis of being directly from Disney or via the resale market.
Suffice to say, it’s a solid sales strategy from a holistic perspective. Even if no one is going to buy more DVC because of free ice cream or whatever they get from Welcome Home Weeks, this plus Moonlight Magic plus access to the Member Lounges, etc., will tip the scales in aggregate. That’s precisely why these perks exist–and are part of the marketing budget as opposed to annual dues–in the first place!
Ultimately, I love that Disney Vacation Club is doing Welcome Home Weeks and think it bodes well for the future. It could mean an expansion and restoration of other perks, as Disney aims to both sell a ton more points and also entice fans to visit now that pent-up demand has faded.
The company recognizing that going above and beyond and making guests feel warm and fuzzy about their visits is a good thing that’s mutually advantageous and, hopefully, will be a philosophy that’s extended beyond just Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members. If there are any doubts about this internally, perhaps leadership should read one of the many books written about delivering exemplary Disney guest service and follow their own advice.
If you’re thinking about joining DVC, be sure to read our Ultimate Guide to Disney Vacation Club. This covers the pros & cons, resale v. direct, how much money you’ll save, and other important things to know before taking the plunge. If you still can’t decide whether membership is right for you, “try before you buy” with the recommendations in How to Save BIG on Deluxe Disney Accommodations Renting DVC Points.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the DVC Welcome Home Weeks? Excited this will be happening during your trip, disappointed that you’ll miss it, or do you not really care? Longer term, are you optimistic that this bodes well for Disney heading in the right direction with more “surprise and delight” offerings and trying to exceed expectations, or think this is just a one-off? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
