Cake Bake Shop Restaurant Opening in 2024 at Disney World
The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers is a new table service restaurant at Walt Disney World that’ll likely open in 2024. It’ll offer sit-down dining and a bakery, replacing ESPN Club at the BoardWalk. This post shares details about what’s on the horizon, including current construction photos. (Updated March 25, 2024.)
This new restaurant and bakery is one of many additions as part of a major reimagining of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. Over the next few years, Walt Disney World is adding and reimagining elements of the beloved turn-of-the-century promenade and inside the Deluxe Resort, including a charming new lobby design, nearby coffee bar, delectable dining options, refreshed guest rooms, and other special touches.
The Cake Bake Shop Restaurant will offer both savory and dessert menus, along with afternoon tea service, in a whimsical atmosphere that complements the magic of the idyllic charm of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn that guests know and love. This new concept will serve up storybook sweet treats and dreamy desserts, as The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers makes a “seaside splash” at Disney’s BoardWalk.
March 25, 2024 Update: We’re back with a few updates on the Cake Bake Shop. The first is that the exterior is finally enclosed and work is beginning on the interior of the building. The second is that, unsurprisingly, the restaurant’s official website has removed the line that it’s opening in “early” 2024. Cake Bake Shop is now just opening in 2024 according to the company (we shall see).
Reinforcing the likely reality that Cake Bake Shop will open this year, the restaurant is now hiring. According to their official Instagram account, the Cake Bake Shop will be hosting open interviews this week. If typical Walt Disney World restaurant trends are followed, that would mean that the Cake Bake Shop will open in late May or June 2024.
Honestly, that is downright shocking to me. In looking at the pace of the project and how much work needs to be completed, I would’ve pegged the opening sometime between October 2024 and Spring 2025 at this point. I cannot overstate just how slowly work has progressed. It’s going to end up taking about the same amount of time to reimagine ESPN Club into Cake Bake Shop as it did to build EPCOT Center!
With that said, it’s entirely possible that funding or resource allocation was an issue. Now that Cake Bake Shop has completed its central kitchen (see below), perhaps they’re refocusing energy and expenses at the restaurant itself. If construction moves full steam ahead, I guess it’s possible that Cake Bake Shop could be done by early Summer 2024. But my money is on July or August rather than May or June.
Here are the last round of photos we took of Cake Bake Shop, from back in January. As noted above, the building has been enclosed since then with windows and walls…
The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers was previously slated to open late last year, but updated its official website to now simply says that it’s “Coming Soon.”
This should be of absolutely no surprise to anyone who has watched construction “progress” (and I use that term very lightly) on the Cake Bake Shop over the course of the last year. This project has somehow moved even slower than CommuniCore Hall in EPCOT, which is impressive, in a way.
The Cake Bake construction photos in this post are new as of late January 2024, and there’s not much difference as compared to ones from 6 months ago. The structure of the former ESPN Club has been taken down to the studs, and the cupola atop the building has been entirely rebuilt. The process of enclosing the building is now starting to begin.
In Disney Parks Official Opening Timelines vs. Predictions, we indicated that there was no chance that the Cake Bake Shop would open last year, and that the most likely target is now Summer 2024. Honestly, if the current pace is maintained, it wouldn’t surprise me if it opens in Late 2024 or even 2025.
Presumably, they’ll speed up the pace at some point, but it’s been anemic for the last year or so. At this point, I wouldn’t count on dining at the Cake Bake Shop on your 2024 Walt Disney World vacation if you’re visiting in the first half of the year.
Part of me wonders if there’s an issue funding the project or some sort of impediment to finishing. Labor shortages for construction projects in Central Florida does remain an issue, so perhaps that’s it? From everything we’ve heard, the Cake Bake Shop’s current locations in Indianapolis are money-printing machines, and it seems like this will be a smash success.
On a more positive note, the company led by Gwendolyn Rogers just completed a new 31,200-square-foot commercial bakery in the Trinity Industrial Park in Osceola County, per GrowthSpotter. The offsite bakery is critical to the Cake Bake Shop, and is the only way to produce the volume of baked goods necessary for the restaurant while ensures quality. The BoardWalk restaurant kitchen will focus solely on the savory menu items.
The Cake Bake Shop is best known for its colossal 3-layer cakes, each of which takes up to six hours to complete because they’re all hand-stacked, hand-decorated and hand-cut. The Cake Bake Shop sells 12 varieties each day. Due to the number of cakes, anticipated volume of the BoardWalk location, and labor-intensive nature of the desserts, the commercial bakery was necessary. Perhaps Rogers first focused resources on the commercial bakery, and now attention will be redirected to the BoardWalk restaurant?
We’ve also heard from family and friends who have dined at the Cake Bake Shop in the last couple of months, who have been told that various servers and other staff at the Indy locations are part of the opening team for the Cake Bake Shop at Walt Disney World. This is good news because there are also labor shortages facing restaurants around Orlando; at the very least, having an experienced opening team means the turnaround time from having construction finished to actually opening is shorter.
In any case, hopefully construction speeds up and the Cake Bake Shop opens by Summer 2024. We can’t wait to eat here!
Whenever Cake Bake Shop does open in 2024, it’ll face a little less competition on the BoardWalk. Big River Grille & Brewing Works permanently closed in early 2024. First opening in 1996 with the rest of BoardWalk, the restaurant ended its nearly three-decade run this year.
Nothing has been announced as a replacement, which is unsurprising given that Big River going out of business was quite abrupt–they only gave employees a few days’ advance notice that the restaurant was closing. For now, Walt Disney World has added food trucks at BoardWalk for lunch. A permanent replacement probably won’t be revealed for several more months–maybe not even until 2025.
In actuality, it’s unlikely that Big River (a microbrewery) and the Cake Bake Shop would’ve been direct competitors despite both being located on the BoardWalk. More than anything, this just underscores how difficult it is for restaurants on the BoardWalk to fill tables as compared to counterparts in the parks or Disney Springs. Cake Bake Shop is “destination” dining, so hopefully it won’t have that problem.
Since the original announcement, Walt Disney World has released new concept art for the Cake Bake Shop, and how its exterior will be redesigned as it takes shape from the closed ESPN Club. As shown in this concept art, there will be two entrances. The existing entrance will become the bakery, and another will be added for the restaurant. In addition to that, large french doors will open to the outside, keeping the space light and airy–a stark contrast to the ESPN Club.
As for the look of the Cake Bake Shop location, I’m of two minds about this exterior concept art for the Cake Bake Shop. On the one hand, the bakery entrance reminds me of a faux storefront of a high end shop inside a ritzy mall. That’s not meant as a positive.
On the other hand, the restaurant side softens up the blocky and uninviting exterior of the former ESPN Club, which never looked quite right as compared to the rest of the BoardWalk. (It was simply more familiar to most fans, since it had always been there.) I don’t expect this to be a perfect fit, either, but it should be better than ESPN Club.
With this new table service restaurant and sweet spot on the horizon, the BoardWalk Bakery has become BoardWalk Deli, a “new” sandwich shop for guests to enjoy a bite along the water’s edge. This joins other food and beverage locations, like BoardWalk Ice Cream, which replaced Ample Hills (another BoardWalk venue that went out of business).
Inside Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, light and airy touches will reinvigorate the lobby, lounge, and guest rooms. Just off the lobby, a new coffee bar with artisanal beverages and quick bites will be available to-go or in newly refreshed seating spaces inside or outdoors.
In a perfect world, Disney would relocate ESPN Club to former location of the short-lived NBA Experience, giving the company’s flagship sports brand an even larger location–and one that’s easier to access for locals. There’s a lot from NBA Experience that could presumably be reused and repurposed, with the venue becoming a hybrid interactive experience and sports bar.
I would not expect that to happen–that move is simply too logical. More likely, Walt Disney World is satisfied with the number of small sports bars in other resorts (and large third party ones at Disney Springs) and ESPN Club will fade away.
Now that Big River has been vacated, perhaps Walt Disney World will opt to revive ESPN Club there. Stranger things have happened!
We are vaguely familiar with the Cake Bake Shop as it’s incredibly popular in Indianapolis, where we used to live. Neither of us have ever been there (it’s my understanding that it books up months in advance), but all of our friends and Sarah’s family rave about it. Locally, Gwendolyn Rogers is an aspirational success story.
In fact, between the time this news broke and we prepared to publish the story, Sarah has received multiple cake photo-filled text messages from family and friends, some of whom are not even Disney fans, who are excited about the news. Word travels fast in Indy, I guess. The Cake Bake Shop’s second location in Carmel, Indiana is enormous, so that should explain how they’re going to fill a space as large as ESPN Club.
Personally, I was hoping that would be turned into a themed escape room, but world-class cake shop is a nice consolation prize. I’m always looking for new and innovative excuses to eat cake, and this should fit the bill nicely.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Excited for the Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers or will you miss ESPN Club? Think this reimagining will work with the hotel theme, or is it unnecessary? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? 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!
I will miss the ESPN Club very much. It was a wonderful place to relax after the kids went to bed. The prices for pieces of cake/pie at the new place are pretty steep. Food prices are high as well. I’ll head to EPCOT or Springs now I guess. Remember how super expensive ice cream did, not a fan of the new choice.
Wow! This is great news on the Boardwalk eateries!! We often wish for better options and this is great! Most Resorts have user friendly food grabs and counter service. We ve been stuck with a pizza window that can take an hour . Expensive other choices or limited foods. ESPN is a great space! As for the other upgrades … heres hoping for a full size fridge in the one bedroom suites, (that works)
Always the term Imagineers is used to explain design changes. But who are these people? How are decisions made? Do you have insight into this critical aspect of Disney? I have some familiarity with big names such as Joe Rohde and the part creative individuals play in big projects but when hotel rooms, lobbies, restaurants, live entertainment, etc are ‘updated’, is there some kind of committee that ultimately stalemates into the fairly bland decisions we keep mourning? Because the list of things I miss is now far far longer than the list of things I love,..
When Disney going up date Boulder Ridge rooms are Shabby at best.
I’m excited about this. We never stay there because even though the location is amazing And the outside is perfectly charming, the interior lobby and rooms look like an assisted living home. I mean… pretty much exactly. I hope they lean into the retro carnival (but on the cute side vs the creepy side), with Mickey and Minnie themed enhancements. IMO the boardwalk is nicer to look at than to stay at, right now, so anything will be an improvement!! Coffee bars are always welcome too!
I am shocked that they are permanently closing ESPN Club but yet are doing nothing with the Atlantic Dance Hall. They should come up with something useful for that space.
I’ve had that same question as you in the past, and I was told that Atlantic Dance Hall more than justifies its existence thanks to weddings, conventions, and other events.
A server at the Big River Grille told us last year that ESPN Club was not coming back because they were not profitable enough. People came to watch the games and sat a long time but did not spend accordingly.
The ESPN Club will be missed by several people in my family and myself. I would think that there are other people out there too that will miss this restaurant as well. It was always packed on both college football Saturdays and NFL Sundays. If anything, this location was too small to keep up with the demand. If you didn’t arrive when the first football games started, you often didn’t get in. Disney must have been making good money at the ESPN Club, so it surprises me that they are not reopening it. Replacing this with a bake shop would continue down the path of Disney alienating a large portion of their clientele I would urge Disney to reconsider this decision or seriously consider a larger location for a new ESPN Club at Disney Springs.
I would feel more confident in the Boardwalk lobby refurb if the Boardwalk waterslide refurb had done anything to instill confidence in future Boardwalk renovations.
The Belle Vue is my favorite location at WDW to have a relaxing glass of champagne after a long day in the parks. Over many years I was served by the same bartender there (his service was stellar). I hope the Inn keeps the Belle Vue vibe which is one of the little touches that makes Boardwalk so special.
I totally agree. LOVE the Belle Vue and have spent many nights there relaxing with friends after a long day.
What about Flying Fish – one of the finest restaurants on property – or anywhere iny experience
It will not be impacted. They just (well, it was ~5 years ago, but still feels very recent) redid Flying Fish, so no need to mess with that.
I was thinking the same when the article said “ Aside from Trattoria al Forno, the dining options are fairly underwhelming.”
Flying fish is not underwhelming. It’s excellent and back with a vengeance since it reopened after the Covid shutdown.
I totally forgot about Flying Fish, which is especially odd since we just ate there last week. It was, and always is, fantastic. Sorry about that oversight!
Do we know when the construction is starting? We’re set to stay in May but would consider moving if the lobby is going to be a construction zone.
No word yet. Given how vague this announcement is, my guess is that work won’t start in earnest on anything aside from the restaurant until much later this year. There isn’t even a notice on the BoardWalk Inn page yet, and normally they try to provide a few months’ notice (at minimum) unless the work is urgent.
I could be wrong, though. Crazier things have happened.
For me, the Boardwalk Lobby is a sacred space. There isn’t a single thing that I believe needs to be changed about it. I am mourning its loss already and I have absolutely zero faith that it won’t become more bland. The Boardwalk Inn is far and away my favorite Disney World resort. I even like the standard rooms quite a bit and if their “re-imagining” is similar to Yacht Club or Grand Floridian, I’m going to say no thanks. Do they need a proper quick service location? Absolutely. Does ESPN Club hold a special place in my heart? No. But the Boardwalk Lobby is special- from the paint colors to the music to the funky (and somewhat creepy) decor. I’d hate to see it go the way of the Polynesian, which is “fine” but far from an incredible feat of imagineering.
Interesting that you’d lump the Yacht Club and Grand Floridian rooms together, because I’d say they’re dramatically different. Yacht Club’s are great, with a mix of functional improvements, luxury, and clever design touches. Grand Floridian’s are virtually indistinguishable from a mid-range Marriott. If BoardWalk gets rooms on par with Yacht Club, I’d consider that a win.
I don’t think there’s as far for the BoardWalk lobby to fall, so to speak, as there was for the Polynesian. That lobby waterfall was amazing, and BoardWalk doesn’t really have anything on par with that. With that said, I do agree that there’s almost no upside to changing the lobby. The chances of it ending up worse than now are high.
RIP Belle Vue!!!!!! You were good to us!
Hey now, let’s not mourn the death of Belle Vue just yet! I’m still hoping they just make some modifications to better accommodate mixed use, coffee and bar.
how much do we think the prices are going up due to being located on Disney property near deluxe resorts? Those cake slices are already $15 at the Indiana locations…
It’s already in an affluent part of Indianapolis, so my guess is not by too much. Maybe another 5% (or $2 on slices)? Seems like they’re pretty close to hitting a price ceiling, but then again, I’ve thought that many, many times before with pricing at Walt Disney World.
Being an Indy resident and familiar with the Cake Bake Shop, this is thematically a perfect match.
That area desperately needs a very large gasparilla grille or Cooke’s for finally a decent QS option for those 3 hotels. They could do an awesome theme for that beachy area.
I just need the Doodle Muffin from Boardwalk Bakery to live on in some capacity. That’s all I care about LOL.
Oohh a world class escape room-great idea!! I miss DisneyQuest-that space is available right? So how about some play features plus escape rooms!?
I no longer trust Disney when it comes to hotel design. It’s likely the lobby will lose its period atmosphere and become blandly contemporary. I actually think the new Yacht Club lobby is mostly good but still a mixed bag; personally, I don’t see the revamp of the Boardwalk lobby coming out as nice as that. True, the retro redo of the contemporary lobby is nice, but the Concourse is still a mess. I think Disney has decided, for whatever reason(s), that theme doesn’t matter at the hotels.
The Grand Canyon Concourse is also the part of the Contemporary that they haven’t touched during the reimagining. Personally, I think this is one area where Disney’s track record is actually *improving* rather than getting worse. Comparing hotel projects from 2019-2021 to ones from 2015-2018 shows a marked improvement and better balance.
With that said, I’m still with you in being worried. They haven’t racked up enough recent “hits” on the hotel side for me to forget all the “misses” before those.
And to be fair, bland design has infected the entire hospitality industry, imo. It’s not just Disney. Uninspired, anonymous style is EVERYWHERE right now. To a significant degree, Disney has always followed current design trends/fads.
Gwendolyn Rogers Cake Bake shop makes no sense at all. They only serve sandwiches for food and of course lots of desserts. Not sure how that fits a need for better restaurant options on the boardwalk.
Their Carmel menu suggests otherwise: https://thecakebakeshop.com/pages/carmel-menu
Not true! See Tom’s link.