Disney World Announces BoardWalk Restaurant Permanently Closing
Walt Disney World has confirmed that another restaurant at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort will be going out of business in 2024, the third such permanent closure during the phased reopening. This post shares dates & details, along with the interim replacement planned for the ‘Showplace of the Shore’ along Crescent Lake.
Let’s start with the meat of the story, which is that Big River Grille & Brewing Works will have its final day of operations on January 21, 2024. The restaurant will end its nearly three-decade run and be permanently closed as of January 22, 2024. To the best of my knowledge, Big River is an opening day BoardWalk original, and first opened in 1996. (I’d be surprised if it’s changed much since then.)
For those who were unfamiliar with it, which I’m guessing is a lot of you as it was never particularly busy, Big River Grille & Brewing Works was the only working brewpub at Walt Disney World. The third party table service restaurant served American bar fare, such as barbecued ribs and burgers. Big River had a rather large indoor dining room along with a waterfront outdoor patio.
Most notably, Big River Grille & Brewing Works had a large menu of award-winning, handcrafted ales and lagers brewed on the premises. Favorites included the Big River I.P.A and the seasonal Sweet Magnolia American Brown Ale. An extensive selection of wines, margaritas and specialty cocktails are also available. Guests could also watch the onsite brewmaster craft 5 specialty beers through floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
Big River Grille & Brewing Works was one of the slower to return restaurants at Walt Disney World during the phased reopening, opening its doors again in February 2021 after a nearly year-long closure. While slow by the standards of WDW as a whole, it arguably outperformed the average at BoardWalk, which lost ESPN Club and Ample Hills Creamery on the other end of the promenade.
On this end, Jellyrolls and Atlantic Dance Hall seem to be hanging on by a thread, which was the case even prior to the events of March 2020. Meanwhile, Trattoria al Forno is doing just fine on the other side, but its beloved Bon Voyage Character Breakfast has yet to return.
For the last year-plus, Walt Disney World has been undertaking a quasi-reimagining or refresh to the BoardWalk, which has already included the additions of BoardWalk Ice Cream (replacement for Ample Hills) and BoardWalk Deli (replacement for BoardWalk Bakery). Other stuff has happened inside the lobby and guest rooms, all of which is beyond the scope of this post.
Next up is Blue Ribbon Corn Dogs, which is a small but beloved quick service spot. Then comes the big one–The Cake Bake Shop, which will maybe/hopefully open sometime in 2024 as the permanent replacement for ESPN Club. All of this is relevant as context to the commentary below, which discusses the viability of businesses on the BoardWalk.
Word first emerged on social media that Big River Grille & Brewing Works is going out of business, via a notice sent by the third party restauranteur to its employees. Between that, notifying them that the restaurant would be closing in only a few days’ time, and Walt Disney World seemingly being caught flat-footed by the news, it’s quite clear that this was not preplanned and coordinated. It was, however, a long time coming. We’re honestly surprised Big River lasted as long as it did.
Obviously, there’s no word yet on any plans for a permanent replacement for Big River Grille & Brewing Works. Frankly, we wouldn’t expect to hear anything from Walt Disney World for months. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if there’s no announcement until 2025.
In the meantime, Walt Disney World has indicated that a rotating selection of food trucks will offer lunch options at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn starting February 22, 2024. I’m a bit surprised even by this, so perhaps I’m being too pessimistic with my prediction of no news on a Big River replacement this year.
It’ll be interesting to see what replaces Big River Grille & Brewing Works in the long term. If we’re thinking about this logically, what makes the most sense is another brewery. A sports bar & grille that’s like a mix between Big River and ESPN Club would be perfect, and fill a vital role that’s now conspicuously absent from this area.
There are a lot of dads and other sports fans who enjoy watching “the big game,” and there’s not a great option for that that’s easily accessible from the parks. Big River Grille & Brewing Works is walkable from EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and also is within Skyliner distance of a ton of resorts. A family-friendly(ish) sports bar makes a lot of sense here.
It’s kind of unfortunate that this didn’t happen a few years ago. Big River seems like it’s been on life support for ages, and there’s a part of me that wonders whether Cake Bake Shop would be going in here and ESPN Club would still be operating had Big River gone under back during the closure when Ample Hills did.
Honestly, I’m more wondering if anything will replace Big River Grille & Brewing Works, rather than what. While it’s fun to speculate about the possibilities, it’s probably also worth examining the reality that Disney’s BoardWalk isn’t the counterprogramming to Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs) that it was envisioned back in the 1990s.
There are still times when BoardWalk is absolutely hoppin’, but it certainly isn’t a huge hangout for locals. (Walt Disney World’s restrictive resort parking rules have seen to that!) Not only has this area not lived up to its full potential and doesn’t see the foot traffic needed to sustain a restaurant row, but there already are a lot of dining options. BoardWalk, Yacht & Beach Club all have a lot of options, and that’s not to even mention Swan & Dolphin, Swan Reserve, all of the Skyliner resorts, or World Showcase.
While I think the circumstances were unique that led to the closures of Ample Hills and ESPN Club, I can’t help but wonder if Walt Disney World is going to have a difficult time luring another third party into this space. I guess it’s possible that Disney will open its own restaurant in this location, but that’s difficult to see given everything else they’ve done (or not done) on the dining front in the last several years.
If you’re a third party with the option of going into Disney Springs, World Showcase, or here…which would you choose? The Big River spot–on the ‘dead’ end of BoardWalk–would be a really tough sell for me. It would almost have to be a unique and popular concept that knows it can rise above the location, fill tables regardless, and would prefer the lower rent. (Like the Cake Bake Shop!) But I’ve never been in charge of any tier of restaurant above a Subway sandwich shop, so what do I know.
On a personal note, most of my memories of Big River Grille & Brewing Works are fuzzy but fond ones from the mid to late 1990s and early aughts. This was the type of restaurant that was right up my family’s alley when I was growing up. Coming from a small town that got its first “big” restaurant (Applebee’s) the year I left for college, we absolutely loved stuff like this. Big River, Planet Hollywood, All Star Cafe–those were our go-tos. They were novel and fun, serving up huge plates of approachable food.
While I don’t purport to be an expert on this sort of thing, I’d say that Big River Grille & Brewing Works was ahead of its time, for a time. Since then, time has passed it by. Stated differently, Big River was a forward-thinking concept in the mid-90s before the craft brewpub really became “a thing” you could find in virtually any city. The idea was an interesting one, but Big River failed to evolve and stay fresh. Which is precisely why, I assume, a lot of you reading this–even Walt Disney World fans–will have never even heard of Big River, much less dined here.
While “researching” this article, I was going through the DTB archives trying to figure out when the heck was that we last dined at Big River Grille & Brewing Works. I seemed to recall being there a couple of times within the last decade, but my photo archive did not corroborate that. Then I found this tidbit in a trip report about, as it turns out, our final experience at Big River:
After being seated [at Big River], I realized this is not what I remembered. At all. Now I know how Brian Williams feels, because I remembered the environment being totally different. There’s no way that’s a result of the interior being redone in the interim–that interior was easily 10 years old.
Anyway, we were one of 4 parties in the entire restaurant, which would normally be nice, except we were seated between two tables of families, both of which had crying children. Families with crying children do not bother me, particularly at Walt Disney World, where that comes with the territory.
However, I think I speak for literally the entire universe when I say that I do not find children’s cries to be a harmonious melody. I assume parents must agree with this, or else they would encourage their children to cry more, instead of less.
The point being: if 85% of the tables in your restaurant are open, why on earth are you going to seat a couple without kids right next to two tables of crying kids? I don’t care how the restaurant is divided up for servers, that’s just poor service.
We figured we’d just ask to be re-seated when our server came, but after that took an inordinate amount of time, we started to re-evaluate what, exactly, had led us to Big River Grille. Clearly, my memory of the place was suspect. Almost no one else was here. The decor would’ve been tired and dated by the standards of a real-world strip mall in Pennsylvania. At this point, we just decided to bail.
Big River Grille & Brewing Works, you will be missed. Not by me, but probably by someone. Like Ace Ventura Pet Detective (an all-time classic), I’m perfectly happy with my fuzzy and fond–but probably very rose colored–memories. There are some things better left in the past, and for me, Big River is one of those.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of Big River Grille & Brewing Works permanently closing? Will you miss it or are you excited for whatever’s next? Think that something will take its place on that end of the BoardWalk anytime soon? What would be your ideal replacement for Big River? Expect other concepts on this end of the BoardWalk to go out of business at some point in the not-too-distant future? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
In the imaginary fantasy world where I’m the GM at BW and have influence even beyond that:
1. Second floor back of Atlantic Dance, facing Dolphin — becomes a cigar bar, large balcony, with an invite desk at entrance themed around Boardwalk Empire. This is upper-middle-class Disney Dad BWV/BCV hideout and occasional bachelor party destination for the Bonvoy hedge fund guys at Swan Reserve.
2. Former Big River location becomes either a Smashburger or a Five Guys with abundant outdoor seating, open until 11 PM. Families off fireworks.
3. Former Ample Hills location becomes Cake Shop, I have no idea how anyone modeling this financially thinks Cake Shop is feasible in ESPN’s space.
4. Boardwalk Deli/Bakery, don’t care. Other restaurants there, don’t care. Flying Fish rocks and was custom-built for corporate American Express cards. Bar up above is fine, Abrawhatever is fine except it’s small.
5. ESPN location should be a new concept called Ocean City, which is run by Disney and uses the same core menu as the Star Wars restaurant with renamed entrees. No new anything aside from theming; also have this kitchen fuel room service for both BWI and BWV. Stuff it full of boardwalk crane games that are play until you win at $20 so kids leave happy with their polyester Disney stuffed animals. This place would MANUFACTURE MONEY. I have no idea why the company renowned for imagineers isn’t telling me this. It’s beyond bizarre.
They should just replace old Ample Hills with a “better” ice cream shop chain other than Salt and Straw . Not a fan of most of their flavors . Cake Bake Shop is a full service restaurant ,tea parties etc and needed more space as to why it probably ended up in ESPN spot. Like the Five Guys burger idea however don’t think Disney is big on late night large hang outs on the Boardwalk areas outside near the hotels.
The Boardwalk has become a no fun zone for parents at night. The closing of ESPN Zone was bad and now Big River Grille. Nowhere left to watch a game at night and relax after a day at the parks on the Boardwalk. Not everyone, mostly no one wants to take the bus to Disney Springs and turn watching a game and getting something to eat into a three hour adventure. We just want to walk down stairs and have something available to us. Hopefully someone at corporate Disney is reading your site and posts. We need a nice sports bar where Big River Grille was. Thank you for starting this discussion.
I will totally miss it!!! Good food, great staff, my husband’s favorite beers. Adios habanero chicken, we will miss everything about this place. A cool ‘No disney down your throat’ place to chill.
As a newcomer, I didn’t know any of this existed. Before visiting WDW in Dec ’23, I read a LOT of this blog, plus a bunch of other stuff. None of the blog posts / podcasts / guides I consulted recommended any of these boardwalk places. Seems like no one considered them worth recommending. So in that light… this news is NOT surprising. Sorta like when a TV show gets cancelled… and you’ve never heard of it. There’s a reason it went away.
Epcot boardwalk area has definitely declined excitement wise in past 10 years . Have been staying in Epcot resort area for over 30 years and they really need to bring some new and exciting eateries in . The cake bake shop which is supposedly coming soon has been taking forever to open and not sure how well that will fit or if it will last long . Will soon see .
I actually went around 11:30am today to say my farewells, place was about 40% full and the staff was….um… “pissed” about the email notification. All of them are worried about finding work right now.
So many great times at Big River back in the day. Very fond often blurry memories lol. Yeah they really let it go. We still always stop in when staying at the Dolphin for a least a quick beer. Sad to see it go so down hill. Completely agree – I hope they go with espn/brewery/sports bar type place. It think it would do well.
How about a Dave & Busters or a Chickie & Pete’s kind of sports bar !!
Yeah, tear it down and put one of those big Ferris Wheels there.
As someone from the Midwest, I think a Portillo’s would be the Perfect choice to fill the space. It is the perfect suze building and the atmosphere couldn’t fit bette on yhe Boardwalk. if you have ever been to one, it is a huge draw and it would be the only place at Disney that you could get an authentic Chicago Italian Beef sandwich!! And FAST!
But some good news; 1900 Park Fare is reopening!
Someone posted the letter the employees got about the closure. It was dated 1/18. Three days notice???
Doug’s Fish Fry is the perfect model for a popular replacement. If you’re ever in Scaneateles, NY, don’t miss this fantastic little place!
Cigar bar! Cigar bar! Cigar bar! If I could sneak away from the family to enjoy a cigar after a day at the parks, that would be something else. It would probably convince me to buy Boardwalk DVC points. There could be characters serving drinks and cigars. Cigar smoking Mickey could be a thing. I’m sure it would work and not be controversial at all. If Umbrella Bob was back in charge, I bet I could make this happen.
Yessir, I’m right there with you – a cigar bar! Also offering good whiskeys/bourbons and scotches. Disney does ignore their finer clients by not offering a cigar lounge somewhere on property. GREAT POST, MATT!
You always have such beautiful sunrise/sunset pictures on here. Heading to Orlando as well as Tampa next week. Any suggestions on good places for sunrise/sunset pics?
When we first visited in 1999 this was the only place I found selling anything other than American lite lager which didn’t and still doesn’t fit with UK drinking habits.
Having somewhere selling beer I’ve not lager was a game changer. Food was reasonably cheap at the time. haven’t visited there since 2012.
I would like to see a whiskey bar and craft distillery
The failure of the Boardwalk to live up to the original concept is going to keep reverberating for the next 18 years or so…
Honestly, unless you’re staying at BC/YC or Boardwalk, the whole area is almost a secret to WDW guests. May fly over it from the Skyliner. Swan/Dolphin have so many dining options without WDW price inflation, why venture to the Boardwalk. To other guests, Boardwalk remains totally unseen.
I said 28 more years for a reason. DVC contracts revert to Disney at Boardwalk and Beach Club in 2042. Until then, Disney can’t do much to the BWV and BCV buildings beyond basic renovations. They certainly can’t tear them down and start anew.
That means 2042 opens the window for a MAJOR reimagining of the space.
So it largely feels to me like current Boardwalk area renovations are basically modest patching… it’s too early to wait out the clock until 2042. So keep everything “good enough” for now… but 15 years from now, WDW starts to announce a major reimagining of the whole area.
Buffalo Wild Wings?
Big River Grille served a purpose for my wife and me (annual passholders). During spur of the moment trips to Epcot or Hollywood Studios (after 2pm), we could head over to the Boardwalk and walk right in to the place and be seated on days when there were no dining reservations to be had anywhere else. Probably not the best business model thou
I just wanted to mention that Boardwalk does NOT seem to be involved in the strict parking rules of other resorts. I stopped by the Boardwalk to hang out and have a couple of drinks at Abracadabar a couple of times this year and I was quickly waved in by security both times when I said I was just visiting to have a drink. Same thing happened at Wilderness Lodge too. The only resorts I experienced tight security was at the Contemporary Resort and the Polynesian Resort. I’d guess that the monorail resorts are probably the most strict to prevent people from dodging the MK parking lot fee, and I’d imagine that Boardwalk (and probably Coronado Springs, though I didn’t go this time) to be intentionally a little more understanding due to the number of third-party destinations in those resorts. I’ll also mention that when I went in July and November both Jellyrolls and Atlantic Dance were hoppin’ way past midnight. I hope both continue on (Atlantic Dance isn’t my kind of scene anymore, but I do like Jellyrolls a lot) because I DO see the Boardwalk as counter-programming to Disney Springs. I just don’t connect with Disney Springs as anything but a loud and crowded mall anymore…