I think Landry’s Select Club can be worth joining for a Disney World trip if you plan to eat at Yak & Yeti, T-REX or Rainforest Cafe. The membership currently costs $25 once, has no annual fee, and comes with a $25 Welcome Reward after you register.
For me, though, the most useful Disney perk isn’t actually the $25 credit. It’s priority seating at participating Landry’s restaurants.
I’ve used the membership at Yak & Yeti and T-REX and found that flexibility particularly useful when I didn’t have a good Disney dining reservation. I would not treat the card as a guaranteed reservation, but it gives me another option when I want a sit-down meal without planning every meal weeks ahead.
Is Landry’s Select Club Worth It?
For a Disney World visitor who will use at least one participating Landry’s restaurant, I think the $25 membership is relatively easy to justify.
Here’s the unusual part: the one-time membership fee is currently $25, and Landry’s gives you a $25 Welcome Reward after your account is registered.
So I don’t think of this like paying $25 every year for a restaurant loyalty program. There is currently no annual membership fee.
The bigger question is whether I’m actually going to use the benefits.
| Benefit | Current Landry’s Select Club Rule |
|---|---|
| Membership | $25 one-time fee, no annual fee |
| Welcome Reward | $25 after registration |
| Birthday Reward | $25 each year |
| Points | 1 point per eligible $1 spent |
| Earned Reward | $25 after 250 points |
| Priority Seating | Available at participating restaurants for parties of 6 or fewer, based on availability |
Where Can You Use Landry’s Select Club at Disney World?
The Disney World locations that make the membership particularly interesting to me are:
- Yak & Yeti Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Rainforest Cafe at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs
- T-REX at Disney Springs
These are full-service restaurants operated by Landry’s rather than Disney itself.
One detail I would remember at Animal Kingdom is that Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafes, the quick-service location, is specifically excluded from the Landry’s Select Club program. The table-service Yak & Yeti Restaurant is the location I’m talking about when I use my membership.
You can verify participating restaurants through Landry’s Select Club before your trip because participating locations and program terms can change.
Priority Seating Is the Disney Perk I Care About Most
Landry’s priority seating is useful, but I think it gets described incorrectly in a lot of Disney advice.
It is not the same thing as having an advance dining reservation.
Landry’s currently says Select Club members are eligible for priority seating seven days a week for parties of six or fewer, based on availability.
On a walk-up visit, that means the restaurant gives the member priority attention and the first available table that accommodates the party size.
I would never promise that showing a Landry’s card means I’ll be sitting down in five or ten minutes. A very busy restaurant can still have a wait.
But having priority over an ordinary walk-up is exactly the kind of flexibility I appreciate at Disney World.
Why I Like the Card Most at Yak & Yeti
Yak & Yeti is where the Select Club makes the most sense to me during an actual theme park day.
It’s a full-service restaurant inside Disney’s Animal Kingdom serving Pan-Asian food, and it gives me a place to sit down indoors instead of arranging the entire day around another advance reservation.
If I already have a reservation, great. If I don’t, my Select Club priority seating gives me another way to approach the restaurant.
I wouldn’t purchase the membership solely because I expect it to magically eliminate every Yak & Yeti wait. I like it because the priority-seating benefit remains useful on trips where my plans change during the day.
You can check the current restaurant details on Disney’s Yak & Yeti Restaurant page.
The $25 Welcome Reward Basically Offsets the Membership Fee
This is the benefit that makes joining feel much less risky to me.
Landry’s currently charges a one-time, non-refundable $25 membership fee. After the account is registered, a $25 Welcome Reward is added to the membership.
If I buy a membership at a participating restaurant, Landry’s says the Welcome Reward becomes available about 24 hours after I complete the online registration. Online purchases can take up to two business days for the reward to appear.
The Welcome Reward cannot currently be deferred. Landry’s automatically applies it on the next eligible restaurant visit after registration.
That is why I would join before the meal where I actually want to use the reward rather than assuming I can buy the membership at the host stand and immediately remove $25 from that same check.
The Rewards Rate Is Better Than I Originally Thought
Landry’s currently gives Select Club members one point for every eligible dollar spent.
Once I reach 250 points, those points convert to a $25 reward.
That works out to a 10% reward rate on eligible spending when measured as $25 earned after $250 spent.
The current article previously described this as 5%, so I would correct that.
Not every part of the check earns points. Landry’s excludes items such as the membership fee itself, taxes, gratuities, discounts and reward redemptions.
I think the points become more meaningful when I’m paying for several people. A family meal at T-REX or Rainforest Cafe can move the account toward the next $25 reward much faster than dining alone.
How the Landry’s Birthday Reward Works
Members currently receive a $25 Birthday Reward every year.
Landry’s adds it to the account on the first day of the member’s birthday month.
The reward does not disappear at midnight on the final day of the birthday month. It currently remains valid through the 15th day of the following month.
That gives me a little more flexibility if my Disney trip is close to my birthday but doesn’t fall inside the exact calendar month.
There is one restriction that matters for a new member: the Birthday Reward cannot currently be redeemed on the same restaurant visit as the Welcome Reward.
If both are sitting in my account, I would expect to use them on separate visits.
Can You Join Right Before a Disney World Trip?
Yes, but I would give the account enough time to activate properly.
If I’m joining specifically for Disney World, I would rather do it before I leave home than troubleshoot registration while walking around Animal Kingdom.
Landry’s currently lets members manage the account online or through its app. If the physical card isn’t available, the phone number associated with the account can also be used at participating restaurants, although valid identification may be required when redeeming rewards.
That’s useful because it means I don’t necessarily need to wait for a physical card to arrive in the mail before the membership becomes useful.
Would I Still Make Disney Dining Reservations?
Yes.
I see Landry’s Select Club priority seating as flexibility, not a reason to deliberately avoid reservations.
If Yak & Yeti is one of the most important meals of my trip and I can reserve exactly the time I want, I would still make the reservation.
The Select Club becomes more valuable when I don’t have a reservation, change my plans, decide at the last minute that I want a full meal or can’t find a useful Disney dining time.
That is a much more realistic way for me to think about priority seating than treating the membership as a secret replacement for Disney’s reservation system.
T-REX and Rainforest Cafe Make the Card Useful Outside the Parks Too
One thing I like about this membership is that its Disney usefulness isn’t limited to a theme park day.
Disney Springs has both T-REX and Rainforest Cafe, giving me two Landry’s options without using a theme park ticket.
T-REX is particularly fun if I have kids who are into dinosaurs, but it is loud and heavily themed. Rainforest Cafe uses the same general idea with jungle animals, waterfalls and simulated storms.
I don’t choose either because I think they’re Disney World’s finest restaurants. I choose them when the theme appeals to the group or when the Select Club benefits make the logistics easier.
If I’m looking for Disney character dining instead, that’s a different category entirely. My guide to the best Disney World character meals covers those separately.
When I Would Skip Landry’s Select Club
I don’t think everyone going to Disney World needs this membership.
If I’m not interested in Yak & Yeti, Rainforest Cafe or T-REX and I rarely eat at Landry’s restaurants back home, there isn’t much reason for me to join just because I’m going to Walt Disney World.
I would also skip it if I already have every Disney meal planned and none of the participating restaurants are part of the trip.
The membership becomes useful when I can actually use the $25 Welcome Reward and value having priority seating available as a backup.
So Is Landry’s Select Club Worth It for Disney World?
I think it is worth it if I know I’m going to eat at least once at a participating Landry’s restaurant and I value dining flexibility.
The economics are unusually straightforward. The membership costs $25 once, there is no annual fee, and the $25 Welcome Reward largely offsets that initial cost once I actually use it.
From there, I get the annual birthday reward, earn another $25 for every 250 eligible points and have access to priority seating for parties of six or fewer when availability allows.
For my Disney trips, that last benefit is still the reason I find the membership interesting. It doesn’t guarantee an instant table, but it gives me a useful option when the Disney dining schedule doesn’t cooperate.
Before joining, I would review the current Landry’s Select Club benefits and program terms because rewards and participating locations can change.
