Gideon's Bakehouse May Be Cooking Up New Venture at Disney Springs

12 days ago in "Gideon's Bakehouse "

Posted: Monday December 1, 2025 5:00pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A new Notice of Commencement filed today suggests that the massively popular Gideon's Bakehouse could be preparing a second space at Disney Springs, or possibly launching an entirely new concept.

The permit covers a full tenant build-out at the former Art of Shaving location, a storefront that has been vacant for almost a year and sits only a few doors down from the existing Gideon's Bakehouse in The Landing.

Gideon's Bakehouse May Be Behind New Disney Springs Storefront Project

The client listed on the filing is The First Raven LLC. Public records show the company is led by Steve Lewis, the creator of Gideon's Bakehouse. Neither Disney nor Gideon's has made any announcements, and there's no confirmation that the space will operate under the Gideon's name. It's possible the company is developing something separate from the cookie-focused Bakehouse, expanding beyond the products that turned the brand into a phenomenon.

Opening day at Gideon's Bakehouse Disney Springs

Gideon's began as a small operation in late 2016 at Orlando's East End Market. With one employee and an $800 budget, the shop introduced its nearly half-pound, small-batch cookies and quickly built a devoted following. Lines of 80 minutes or more became normal, and the brand gained global attention as visitors sought out limited flavors before they sold out. The Disney Springs location at Walt DIsney World opened in December 2020 and has maintained near-constant demand since, routinely requiring a virtual queue to manage demand.

Gideon's Bakehouse at Walt Disney World

The former Art of Shaving space is modest in size but sits in a high-traffic area close to the existing Bakehouse. Until Gideon's or Disney comment, the specifics remain uncertain, but the involvement of Lewis's company in another Disney Springs project is notable, and it may soon give guests another reason to line up for whatever comes next.

Gideon's Bakehouse famous cookies

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Rteetz11 days ago

I think location made it suffer. The concept is not new or unpopular tho. It likely would've done better at a resort. Look at a place like Hook's Barbery on DCL. Lots of guys go for high end shaves and cuts. I do.

Touchdown11 days ago

See that’s my problem, I close the parks. 9:30 is usually the earliest I end my day at a park. I tend to eat around 5pm at WDW so I’m free to power ride and do the night shows.

flyerjab11 days ago

We always make a point of going there to eat and shop at least once on our trips. We don’t have a lifestyle center near us so we really enjoy DS. And yes, there are several better dining choices than what can be found in many of the parks. We are AP holders that go down to WDW frequently now that our kids are older, so we don’t have to spend every day maximizing are time in the parks. DS just adds to the variety for us.

Comped11 days ago

It helps that Disney has put in genuine work to get major celebrity chefs to open up in Springs (since they don't really do that in the resorts or the parks). I eat there more than in the parks as a local no question.

UNCgolf11 days ago

We usually ate late. Like 9 PM after leaving the parks for the day. But I don't think it ever took us 45 minutes to get there either, thankfully. That said, it would be nice if they would offer bus service directly to Disney Springs from the parks. I understand why they don't do the reverse, and I'm sure that's why they don't offer parks to DS since it would essentially be one way trips, but still. CityWalk is definitely more convenient (unless you're at Epic).

Touchdown11 days ago

45 min to get there+60 min to eat+45 min to get back=2.5 hours of your day gone for TS, 2 hours for counter service. Too costly.

UNCgolf11 days ago

I look at Disney Springs as a dining place too, even though it has far more shopping than CityWalk. We ate dinner there almost every night on the last two trips -- some of the QS options at DS are better than many of the TS restaurants elsewhere on property.

UNCgolf11 days ago

I also think their chocolate chip cookies are terrible -- the point is the cookie with the chocolate chips as an accompaniment! I could just get a chocolate bar if that's what I wanted.

Touchdown11 days ago

City Walk isn’t really a shopping district in my mind, it’s a dining district and the place I grab a late meal after a day at Universal (that’s not in October.) I so rarely go to DS, it’s not that it’s bad, it’s that it’s so far away, buses are infrequent and it’s not worth the 90 min I would lose transporting myself there. I frequent the monorail, Bay Lake and Crescent Lake Resorts far more when I want a quick break from the parks because they are just that a quick break. I’m more likely to go to DS when I’m not going to the parks than when I’m doing the parks.

Disstevefan111 days ago

The art of shaving was one of the stupidest tenants they had, even stupider than the NBA experience. But I guess to Disney as the landlord, any tenant with MONEY is OK as long as they pay the rent on time.

Comped11 days ago

CityWalk has a really good theater, the one I've tended to go to over the last couple of months. But beyond that it does feel small, which it is, and somewhat lacking in stores compared to Springs. Springs is really my closest mall, so I might be biased, but It definitely has a better store selection. (Certainly I don't think that's up for debate, even if some have tried to claim that the Universal store is better than WOD.) WOD is a much smaller component of Springs' for retail than Universal's store is at CityWalk, and it's much better for it. And that's not even talking about restaurants, which can be a little more divisive depending on if you prefer name brand chains over more original concepts but Disney generally wins out there as well. Having read Buzz Price's original economic justification for CityWalk (which is seemingly more interested in the movie theater than than a good selection of stores), I think Universal may have built it too small and hasn't really kept up selections with the popularity of the resort overall. Once you been to the one real store they've had, especially as a local, unless you intend on eating or seeing the occasional movie you just don't go to CityWalk unlike Springs where there is legitimately enough to do for much more time. Function of size no doubt, but also a much different vision in terms of keeping people on property, one that we really can't say has turned out in Universal's favor in this regard.

danlb_200011 days ago

Gideon's extended queue? :)

Basil of Baker Street11 days ago

That's me as well. Just too much going on with those cookies. But as you say the theming is top notch which is refreshing.

flyerjab11 days ago

The coffee cake cookie and peanut butter cookie are good, but the other cookies have way too much stuff on them. I actually can’t stand the chocolate chip cookie. I like cookies where you can actually taste the cookie part of the cookie. But that’s just me. The theming is fantastic. And the peanut butter cold brew is absolutely fabulous!