I promised this on air a few weeks ago and am finally realizing my dream, reviewing the Gideon's cookie. For those of you who don't know, Gideon's Bakehouse is a Central Florida bakery that recently opened up an outpost at Disney Springs. Their locally famous half-pound cookie immediately garnered wait times of over four hours on weekends and they haven't relented. I decided it was high time I saw what all the fuss was about.
I preface this with a disclaimer. I'm not a food critic, and I don't pretend to be one. It's kind of annoying to hear all these bloggers and vloggers review disney food items at Disney. Just because they have a camera and internet access they think they're food critics. I'm just relaying my experience to you in case you're interested.
First, I have to thank my friend who got to Disney Springs before I did on Sunday and put us in the virtual queue. After their standby line goes beyond about an hour, they start up the virtual queue. This enables guests to digitally reserve a spot in line while browsing around Disney Springs until their designated time arrives (think of it like a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance, only the reward for waiting is a lot better than any Star Wars attraction. I mean I guess I've never ridden it).
After our four hour (yes, four hours. It tends to be shorter during the weekdays) wait was over we got a text and headed to the check-in. From there it was a five minute wait to get inside. They handed us some menus so we could make our decisions while in the line.
The interior is really cool. It has a "Haunted Mansion meets Nightmare Before Christmas" vibe. There's tons of glimmering "candles" hanging from the ceiling, no windows, walls lined with books, distressed fixtures, and smoke coming right up out of the counters lit by glowing red light.
They had several cookie flavors to choose from including traditional chocolate chip, peanut butter crunch, and cookies & cream. I chose the triple chocolate chip cookie. For a drink I had the Ginger Snap cold brew coffee, while my friend ordered the Peanut Butter cold brew coffee.
Guys, this stuff is good. REAL GOOD. The cookie was so heavy and so dense. It was almost like a piece of fudge, or German chocolate cake. It was covered in chocolate chips and a sprinkling of sea salt. We both agreed our cold brew coffees were the best coffees we had ever had in our lives. I usually order a coffee and head right for the cream and sweetener station, not this time. It's made perfectly as it is. Just take the coffee and walk away.
So that's it! They're life-changingly good cookies and show-stopping coffees. I can now see why people are waiting for these cookies. I probably wouldn't stand for an hour in their standby line to get these again, but if i can get this in a virtual queue or a quick wait, i'll stop there every time. Also, the cookie is so dense and heavy, it took me three days to eat it.
Thanks!