Local bakehouse lined up for Disney Springs
What happens when you add a red-hot Orlando bakehouse to the international offerings of Disney Springs? Well, we’ll find out in the next few months after the announcement that local cult favorite Gideon’s Bakehouse will open a flagship store at the big Disney entertainment center.
By Susan & Simon Veness
The wildly successful East End Market business was recently announced as one of the next Disney Springs tenants, following its success as “Best Place in the World to get a Cookie,” according to The Boston Globe.
And the Daily City had a mouthwatering preview of the new showpiece store this week, with the additional news that the local sensation will ramp up its typical offerings with an expanded array of cookie flavors, tall cake slices, a range of iced coffees to pair with their baked goods, and a Hot Cookie Hour each evening.
Owner Steve Lewis, who started the business out of his kitchen in 2011 before moving to the East End Market in 2016, insisted: “We’re proud to be representing the creative Central Florida small-business scene, which has grown so much over this past decade.”
Here’s what we can look forward to when the new store opens later in 2020 (in addition to their signature half-pound cookies!):
- An interior featuring a “whimsical Victorian design” that builds on the original location that takes its inspiration from artists like Edward Gorey and Disney’s Haunted Mansion theme park ride.
- An “immersive entertainment-filled queue that will share our story as guests progress towards the counter.”
- Design led by the renowned Studio 407, who have already worked on the new Tri-Circle-D Ranch at Disney’s Fort Wilderness.
It represents a singular success for one of our local businesses despite the current pandemic, as well as a mouthwatering addition to the Disney scene.
Gideon’s secret, of course, is that everything is fresh-made on location and, once they sell out of a particular cookie for the day, it’s sold out. They don’t ship, and the later you arrive, the fewer the choices. So, make a note in your diaries for late 2020 — and stand by for a new cookie extravaganza!
Editor’s Note: Susan & Simon Veness freelance write for a number of publications, ours included. But here they write on behalf of the Central Florida Tourism Collective, a group they formed, and in which we are a part of, that aims to give visitors a reassuring message of life in the heart of the Sunshine State during these unprecedented times.
