The Cake Bake Shop restaurant, designed by Gwendolyn Rogers, is a new dining venue and bakery at Walt Disney World that replaces the ESPN Club located on the BoardWalk within walking distance of EPCOT. This covers everything you need to know: the opening date, the full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu and their prices, how to eat here during the soft opening, and some commentary on the controversies (plural) surrounding this new WDW dining concept.
Let’s start with the cake bakery restaurant opening date as this has become a common question from readers over the past few years. Not since Space 220 and the Toy Story Roundup Rodeo has a restaurant experienced as many construction delays as Cake Bake. (Not too long ago, indeed, as they remain two of Walt Disney World's newest restaurants. )
The project's slow pace has actually become a punchline. Or at least, until this month. The Cake Bake Shop restaurant has been conducting limited testing and trial operations for invited guests, actors and various VIPs for the last week and has been closed ahead of the first week of October. So we know its debut sometime this month is inevitable. 84 years have passed, and this day has finally arrived…
The latest update is Cake bakery shop now open (soft) Open from October 24, 2024!
Early this morning, The Cake Bake Shop opened its doors quietly. The table service restaurant will offer dinner service on Thursday, October 24 at 4 p.m.
From Friday 25 October, the restaurant side of the Cake Bake Shop will open for breakfast at 7am and will be open until 11am. Following this, lunch and dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Open daily from 7am to 11pm
During the soft opening period, the cake bakery only accepts walk-in service. Expect it to reach saturation on a regular basis this coming weekend as it works its way through the long line of bloggers, vloggers, influencers and Florida fans who have to be “first.” Given the higher menu prices (More on this later), It will be interesting to see what their organic demand looks like regular Walt Disney World will welcome guests once the initial artificial rush is over.
Reservations for the Cake Bake grand opening and other events will be available in the near future through the My Disney Experience app and DisneyWorld.com. (We're told it will be done within the next week, but no other details beyond that.)
It’s worth noting that Walt Disney World has yet to announce an official opening date for the Cake Bake Shop. They may want to give it a longer runway to make adjustments during the soft launch, as the cake bakery has proven to be receptive to guest feedback. They should probably pay more attention to this.
Here are the complete and final Breakfast, lunch and dinner menus at Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers:
The cake bakery has been mired in controversy since its initial announcement.
Many Walt Disney World fans are upset about the closure of ESPN Club. It provides a convenient location to watch major sporting events within walking distance of EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios, making it a rare non-resting location used for such purposes.
The Cake Bake Shop is basically the antithesis of ESPN Club. I don't want to paint too broad a brush with the guest demographics or anything, but the vibe of the cake bakery is basically Bibbidi Bobbidi Cake Boutique. You're more than welcome to draw your own conclusions about who sports bars appeal to.
Anyway, when Walt Disney World announces 'unexpected' closure of Big River Grille & Brewing Works On the other side of the boardwalk earlier this year. The air offer is surprising as it is not at all as this restaurant has been unpopular (and terrible) for a while. Suddenly might be a more appropriate word. Even more surprising is that the river wasn't closed a few years ago.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that Big River’s closure adds more Credibility Concerns about BoardWalk’s meal list. From an objective perspective, it's hard to take complaints about ESPN's club closures seriously. If it's as popular as some fans claim, it will stay open. The difference with Big River disappearing is that BoardWalk now lacks easy-to-use options, and I can see why that would be upsetting to regular BoardWalk users or DVC owners here.
Thankfully, Trattoria al Forno still exists and is one of the best mid-range table service restaurants in Walt Disney World. Not to mention there are plenty of other options around Lake Crescent at the Swan and Dolphin Resort or the Yacht and Beach Club Resort. and passengers traveling via Skyliner to other nearby resorts. Oh, and there are those just steps away from the EPCOT World Showcase.
A few weeks ago, the building wall was removed, revealing a menu posted outside the cake bakery. Then a new, bigger controversy emerged – the sky-high price sparked a huge backlash on social media. While outrage is the norm on the internet, these complaints are understandable.
To be honest, we expected the prices to be high and warned fans to be prepared for the Cake Bake Shop to be pricey considering other Walt Disney World locations. It stands to reason that if things in Indiana are expensive, then things in Walt Disney World are even more expensive. We recently discovered that a Din Tai Fung in Downtown Disney commands a similar premium to a Din Tai Fung in an affluent area of Southern California.
Despite expecting the prices to be high, when the cake bakery menu was posted outside the restaurant, I was shocked by what I saw. I’ve been doing this for a while – it takes a lot to blow me away at this point. But you know what? The kids menu includes $18 PB&J sandwiches, $18 grilled cheese, $8 Coke, $26 eggs, and $26 fruit plate! (Unlike some, I no The $32 burger blew me away. Yes, it's ridiculous, but if you do the math on the lunch set menu, Space 220 already has a burger for about $40! )
Regardless, Ms. Rogers must have heard the complaints, because the cake bakery menu posted outside was quickly updated with cost-adjusted content. In most cases, prices are down almost across the board. (The above menu is final reflecting most of the markdowns. )
Some were down just 1 penny (which I guess is commendable for $0.99 consumer psychology?), while others were down more than $10. Some items did go up a few bucks to be consistent with their category (others lost a few bucks). Without doing any math, I would guess that menu prices have dropped by around 10-15% on average. This is a huge win for those who complained online and proves that our continued efforts really make a difference.
Before we nervously pat ourselves on the back, it's worth noting that it's unclear how these price cuts were achieved since the cake bakery hasn't opened yet. Maybe this was a hollow victory after all. Maybe the portion sizes have been reduced, the supplier has been replaced, or lower quality ingredients will now be used. Personally, I'm not too thrilled about it all. Something tells me that the $18 PB&J's are all marked up, while the quality of the Coca-Cola (with free refills) is more or less the same.
I have a lot of ideas about cake bakery prices, some of which you may not like. (Don’t worry, I’m sure most of you will agree with most of it.) But, you know what, it's been a long week of price increases, and that's a lot to digest, so I'm going to pause.
In part, this is because I also want to hear from my readers and incorporate some of their feedback into upcoming articles. So now's your chance to impress your family, friends, former classmates, in-laws, outlaws alike, by posting your thoughts in one of the top 1,570 Disney-related blogs on the internet. When preparing to get the smartest and sharpest insight into your cake bakery restaurant menu prices (and anything else, for that matter), consider the following factors:
- The Cake Bake Shop is owned and operated by a third party, which means Disney is not responsible for these prices except through indirect rental charges. (However, the presence of other third-party restaurants—including those within the park—with cheaper menus somewhat weakens this reasoning.)
- The price of the cake is per slice (albeit a large piece), not the whole cake.
- The following is the menu broad ripples and carmel Cake baking location for reference.
- Other locations are very popular, albeit expensive and located in Indiana.
- Cake Bake Shop does not use gold flakes, endangered animals, or any other rare/exotic ingredients in these dishes or drinks.
I'm looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts on this and hopefully taking the above points into consideration. I think I have a good idea of what to expect, but I'm still open to all kinds of opinions, including “unpopular” or contrarian ones.
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your thoughts
What do you think of Gwendolyn Rogers' Cake Bake Shop? Would you dine here or not? Are you surprised by its price? Think the price is worth it, even if they do require a second mortgage? Are you excited about this new bakery and restaurant or will you miss ESPN Club? Any other thoughts or concerns? Have any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback (even if you disagree with us) is both fun for us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!
