OK,  I promised you on Saturday that I’d have a full, extensive review of the new BoardWalk Bakery for you soon…and here it is!!

Last Friday, I was up bright and early to be first in line for the grand re-opening of the brand new BoardWalk Bakery at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn! And while I wasn’t FIRST in line, I came pretty close. 🙂

Long a fan favorite, this tiny bakery needed a major overhaul in the space department, and we couldn’t wait to see what Imagineers had dreamed up.

We’ll start with atmosphere pics and lead into the goodies. If you want to dive right into the super sugary part, scroll to the bottom section called “What Did I Pick?”

Atmosphere

When looking for the BoardWalk Bakery, head down the steps from the hotel’s main lobby to the BoardWalk, and you can’t miss it.

I wasn’t disappointed to see that the bakery had tripled in size. This place really needed to be larger!

You can see that there are now two entrances to the bakery — one for those queuing up for food, and one for BoardWalk Inn and Villas guests who just need to refill their resort mugs. A great system!

And, of course, Hue G. Krazont is still the proprietor. 🙂

Time to head inside!! Guests who were there first thing received these snazzy celebration buttons. (Okay, they’re the regular celebration buttons with handwriting. But still.)

We are ecstatic to see a lot more room inside the bakery, even though most of it is reserved for the actual queue line.

The classy red walls and checkerboard floor along with wrought iron, brass, and dark wood accents give this spot a been-there-forever kind of classic feel. The schoolhouse lighting is another fun addition!

Note, however, that the display cases have multiplied by about four! They’re not kidding around with the focal point here!

If you do find yourself in that long queue line, at least the large windows make people watching on the BoardWalk an easy sport.

Soon you’ll get up to the bakery and dessert cases to make your selections. We’ve got LOTS more pics of these in our “Eats” Section of this review…so scroll down for the goodies!

After you’ve made your selections and check out, it’s time to collect beverages, condiments, plasticware, etc.

As for the beverage set up, you’ll find the standard players: fountain drinks, tea, hot cocoa, and coffee.

In the old space there was a much larger, built-in refrigerator for bottled drinks and grab and go snacks. Here, you’ll find this small selection.

You can pick up extra napkins, plates, and plastic ware at this station. (You may want to grab a stash of each, since your to-go order will be placed in boxes.)

I love the incredible new mosaic!

Flanking the beverage station is this handy location for condiments, located right next to the “bakery fountain” refill door.

Once you get your goodies, head over to the giant picture windows next to the main entrance to watch cast members as they create all of those incredible bakery and pastry items.

This is seriously, incredibly cool. More than just a show kitchen, you actually have a front row seat to watching the creation of all the pastry components. If there weren’t four theme parks close by, I would probably spend a fair amount of time just staring through this window.

And right there by the window, I even spied a pastry in mid creation!

And now, it’s time to see what made the cut, and what’s new.

Eats

Ah…the FOOD!!!!

While you’re in the queue line you’ll have plenty of time to spy the new menus. Gone are the tiny menu boards, replaced by these larger versions. You’ll find sandwiches on the left, soup, salad, and beverage options on the right, and the hot selections in the middle.

The choices have changed dramatically since our last review of the spot. All of the sandwich options are different. Sides options of cucumber salad or chips remain the same, however.

Breakfast choices have changed, too. Savory breakfast croissant sandwiches have been replaced by a biscuit sandwich. New additions include a breakfast Bread Bowl and a Quiche of the Day.

They’ve also added a new selection of salads.

As for the Disney Dining Plan, many BoardWalk Bakery items qualify. Pastries and desserts are pretty much all worth a snack credit, and there continue to be a few items which meet the criteria for a counter service credit.

But in addition to menu items, there’s a pretty impressive selection of both bakery and pastry items. Let’s get started with a peek into the bakery side o’ things, shall we?

Bakery Items

There are the standard offerings that you’d expect to see, like bagels, muffins, and danish. But there are also some real standouts, too.

This is breakfast pastry heaven, with an incredible array. The Almond Croissants come in a regular or multi-grain version, and looked mouth-wateringly good.

We also spied this new item, an Apple Tart.

The small loaves of Pull-Apart Brioche are a classic inclusion. More on these later!

And check out the Sticky Buns! I couldn’t wait to try these!

Pull yourself away from the bakery items, and you’re onto the dessert case next. Everything is really beautifully arranged here. I mean, completely gorgeous.

Dessert Items

Almost all of the treats have been given a makeover. While the old look was “old-fashioned bakery,” now the pastries have a sleek, more contemporary vibe.

This is something you don’t see often — a display of Celebration Cakes. Choose from Vanilla or Chocolate.

The next shelf is devoted to the BoardWalk’s famous assortment of Cupcakes. All of the options available were return players! It was nice to see some familiar faces. First up was the Coffee Mocha Cupcake.

The much-loved Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake was here, too.

Lovers of Oreos will be happy to see the Oreo Bon Bon Cupcake as well.

Tempting desserts hold the bottom shelf in the case. We’ll see a few of these up close in just a minute, but I wanted to give you the view through the case first. The Eclair and Lemon Meringue Tart were first up.

The Key Lime Tart replaces the Key Lime Pie, and I’m not really sad about that (although there still needs to be more crust!). And you can probably guess that I’m taking that Salted Caramel Ganache home.

The Fruit Tart and Cheesecake Brownie return, although they have both received sophisticated makeovers.

You’ll also find Cannoli and the Mickey Ganache Tart — although here, the tart is called a Mickey Oreo…for some unknown reason. It also comes in a “Minnie” version!

Continuing with updates, the Peanut Butter Bar Cake has lost the garnish and rosette of peanut butter frosting. Sigh. But right beside it is a treat that I can’t wait to try — the Peanut Butter, Banana, and Candied Bacon Pie!

The Blackberry Macaroon was completely gorgeous, and the Cream Puff beside it was actually garnished with a mini macaroon!

Now that you’ve gotten your tour of the sweets (eat dessert first!), let’s take a look at some of the new regular food items as well.

Savory Items

BoardWalk Bakery is more than just a sweets stop; they’ve got some serious eats here, too. And now, there’s even more to savor.

When you’d like something a little more substantial than pastry for breakfast, check out the warm breakfast options. The bakery will feature a Quiche of the Day selection. On opening day, it was chorizo sausage with tomatoes and pepper jack.

There’s also a Buttermilk Biscuit Egg Sandwich that comes with fruit and your choice of ham or bacon. We’re hearing great reviews of this one!

Another new item is the very hearty Bread Bowl with scrambled eggs and potatoes. A choice of ham or bacon and a side of fruit accompany this option as well.

Meatless sounds pretty enticing when you’re talking about this Focaccia Sandwich featuring fresh mozzarella, oven roasted tomatoes, arugula, and an herb aioli.

If you’re looking to splurge on a special treat, try the Maine Lobster, served on a split top roll with buttered chive mayo. (Thanks to my good friend Patricia Brown for sharing this great pic!)

Salad lovers will find some interesting options as well. This Iceberg Wedge with Nueske’s bacon, tomatoes, and a buttermilk blue cheese dressing sounds pretty fantastic as salads go!

The Baby Spinach Salad features pickled shallots, prosciutto, tomatoes, and a soft-boiled egg. Check out the little pipette of dressing/oil included!

Finally, the Mixed Greens Salad is topped with apples, dried cranberries, and goat cheese, and is accompanied by a pomegranate vinaigrette.

So What Did I Pick?

With a dizzying array of options, it was hard to narrow it down to just a few choices! But in the end, I chose nine too-good-to-pass up goodies to show you up close. Here’s my stash as I got ready to buckle down and review! 🙂

Let’s begin with the true winners — here’s one of my new very favorite desserts, the Salted Caramel Ganache.

What’s that? You just heard angels singing? Yeah, me too.

The soft, rich ganache covers a surprise layer of salted caramel beneath!! Who knew?!?

Thick, rich, salty, sweet goodness. You had better either have a) a giant glass of milk; or b) someone to share this with.

The soft caramel inside against the texture of the cookie crust is astounding. And the salt is the perfect foil for the flavors. Just look at that pic! Hubba hubba!!!

It’s clear that the BoardWalk Bakery got the memo that the sweet salty flavor combo is super hot right now.

Next up, the BoardWalk Bakery’s new signature item — a Peanut Butter, Banana, and Candied Bacon Pie — blew me away.

This one has a flavor profile very much like Pop Century’s King Cupcake — but without all that cake getting in the way!

It’s like a pie made purely of toppings! And the garnish of candied bacon here is right on.

Now, the peanut butter cream cheese filling that makes up the middle is out. of. this world. I clearly need to make a big bowl of it and just sit on the couch with it while I watch Price is Right.

Seriously; it’s like nothing you’ve ever tasted (unless you’re super, super lucky and you get peanut butter cream cheese stuff a LOT in your life…in which case I’d like to meet you and follow you around).

You might wonder where the banana comes in? Well, the little scoop of bright yellow on top is actually a rich banana cream.

Next up: the Brioche Pull-Apart. First off, this gets points for serious cuteness. That plate is actually a Disney-sized dinner plate, so the loaf is a very large portion. You could definitely share it between a couple of people and get a good portion.

The classic garnish of pearl sugar is really the only sweetness that you’ll encounter in these loaves; but they are quite rich, and the egg and butter really come through. I’d imagine this would be a great breakfast for a coffee lover with just a little jam.

The newly re-vamped Jersey Crumb Cake had this beautiful but simple crosshatch design on top, made from a drizzle of icing over the streusel.

This is crumb cake perfection, with almost half of the content of the cake being made up of the best part — the topping! The cinnamon-y flavor and moist, shortbready cake makes this one stand out.

The Eclair featured a different look than we’re used to. The pastry and cream felt more Italian to me for some reason. It was very cakey, versus pastry-like.

The cream inside was incredible, and definitely seemed to be house made. This is going to be an excellent option for eclair lovers…and I’m thinking we need an Eclair Throwdown between the BoardWalk Bakery and Les Halles very soon!

As we mentioned above, one of our DFB favorites, the Cheesecake Brownie, has received a sophisticated facelift.

But although it’s a tad fancier than it used to be, I’m happy to report that the delicious factor has remained the same.

In fact, it might even be a little better. The brownie seems to be a little more fudgy and moist than the old version. And the thick, rich cheesecake has just as much flavor as it did before.

The equal distribution between the two means you get both flavors as a “pow” in your mouth when you take a bite! Super sweet brownie accompanied by the tart creaminess of the cheesecake…dessert overload!

The Blackberry Macaroon was one of the most gorgeous desserts in the shop, so of course, we had to try it.

I love everything about it, from the lavender hue, to garnish of gold leaf. This dessert signals to me that the staff of the BoardWalk Bakery is serious about showing off just how talented they are (especially in the bad-for-macaroons climate of Orlando).

Don’t expect an excess of sweetness here, though — that blackberry filling is actually much more tart than you’d expect!

OK, I admit that I saved a few other favorites to share with you later on the blog; but rest assured that everything I tried was excellent.

After that marathon of eating I headed back over to the bakery to check out who else had been lucky enough to find this gem of a breakfast spot. By 8 am, there were already lines out the door — and you remember that looong queue line inside, too, right? So these folks were gonna be waiting a while. Apparently, the word was out. 🙂

This issue with this? If you ONLY want coffee and have to wait in such a long line…well…that would be a major bummer.

Overall

The new menu at the BoardWalk Bakery is, in a word, brilliant. It’s been clear for quite a long time that the bakery here can put together some serious showstoppers. But now, they’re taking a more sophisticated approach to the offerings in the retail space, and I am very impressed with what I see.

Our big beef with the old BoardWalk Bakery, however, remains — there was still zero seating inside. You still have to take your purchases outside to the boardwalk to dine. This isn’t the end of world…unless it’s raining…or super extra hot…or freezing cold. So be prepared.

The BoardWalk Bakery has garnered a large following of fans over the years, and I’m confident that fellow fans will appreciate the new items. And with a heartier offering of meal options, the spot also fills a counter service breakfast and lunch niche that has been sorely lacking for a while.

Now, if they would just put some tables somewhere…

Are you excited to try all the new BoardWalk Bakery offerings? Leave us a comment and let us know what’s on your must-have list!