The Cable Car Bake Shop has reopened on Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland Paris. With the reopening, the interior has been refreshed, the backstory changed, and the menu updated.
Cable Car Bake Shop History & Backstory
The Cable Car Bake Shop is inspired by San Francisco, which was a popular European tourist destination in the late 1980s. Disney Imagineer Eddie Sotto and his creative team used the “painted ladies” style, which uses three or more colors to enhance the architectural details of a building, in the design of Cable Car Bake Shop.
Imagineers aimed to keep Cable Car Bake Shop a simple, warm, and fun space inspired by the San Francisco cable car system. Imagineer Connie Holtz lived in the San Francisco area during development and collected memorabilia from the city and the cable car system to use in the Cable Car Bake Shop.
The new backstory of Cable Car Bake Shop was shared by Walt Disney Imagineering on Instagram:
Our Disney Imagineers took the opportunity to revisit this classic location, enriching the place with a new storyline of a family-owned bakery, renowned for its delicious treats and friendly atmosphere. The cable car, which is synonymous with San Francisco, is still present throughout but with a new twist as the walls are now adorned with new graphics and photographs of this family who has one motto: “Putting a little kindness in everything we bake!” When tasked about creating these new set elements, Disney Imagineers made sure to be as authentic as possible by dressing up for the occasion with turn-of-the-century costumes, truly living up to our purpose: bringing our characters and stories to life.
Cable Car Bake Shop Refurbishment
The Cable Car Bake Shop has two entrances: one on Main Street and the other through Discovery Arcade.
The quick-service location’s new sponsor is Kiri, so the menu has changed to include Kiri products.
The wallpaper and paint scheme of the entrance area has been updated.
The counters are now white, light blue, and dark blue instead of white and shades of pink. There is still some pink on the moulding.
The wallpaper is blue and white stripes.
Menu boards hang over confection cases.
Next to the main entrance are the new backstory photos, graphics, and a “We put a little kindness in everything we bake!” embroidered piece.
The Kiri family pictured is named for the sponsor. A photograph of them is labeled San Francisco, 1899.
This graphic reads, “A pastry treat, or two, or three? Come share some in our Ba-Kiri!”
This clipping features the family’s “Home-made recipe for kindness” including ingredients such as patience, benevolence, and a drop of generosity.
The black-and-white grand opening photo shared by Walt Disney Imagineering is framed on the wall.
Another graphic features a little boy with Kiri Pastries “for the discerning gourmet dressed in knee pants suits.”
Another new graphic across the restaurant features the “kindness” motto again.
This larger piece features families with an actual cable car, presumably the original Cable Car Bake Shop.
The coat hanger on the wall here is made from pieces of an original cable car rail.
Other real memorabilia in Cable Car Bake Shop includes photos, blueprints, a cable car bell, and a large map of San Francisco.
There’s a vintage-inspired stove in one corner.
The dining area has remained the same after the refurbishment.
Though the bakery is inspired by San Francisco, the upside-down fly fans in the dining area are based on those that Imagineers researched in a real New York City café.
The thin dining area resembles a cable car. It has a tiled floor, stained glass lamps, and booths lining the space.
Cable Car Bake Shop Menu
Available for purchase at the Cable Car Bake Shop are a variety of pastries and drinks.
There are hot coffees and teas.
In addition to the more special pastries, there are standard croissants and pain au chocolat (a.k.a. chocolate croissants).
If you aren’t in the mood for a sweet treat, the Mickey-shaped sandwiches with pretzel bread are still available.
There’s a vegetable sandwich and a ham sandwich, both now topped with Kiri cream cheese.
We tried some of the new Kiri products, many of which are named after San Francisco locations like Lombard St. and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Cheese & Kiri Quiche – 6.5€
Unfortunately, we didn’t start strong with the quiche. It had a chalky texture instead of a creamy one.
The flavor was bland with just a bit of a hard cheese taste at the end. It was bad.
Lombard St. Cupcake – 4.3€
Lemon cupcake, whipped Kiri cream cheese
This cupcake was solid enough that we were able to unwrap it with no issue, which is almost unheard of for Disney Parks cupcakes. It was also easy to cut through.
The cupcake’s consistency reminds us of cornbread. The filling has a delicious key lime flavor.
The key lime taste combined with the whipped cream cheese is an odd combination, but it’s still a fine cupcake. Fans of key lime pie will probably like it.
Golden Gate Cheesecake – 5€
This cheesecake is better than most quick-service theme park cheesecakes. It’s heavy, filling, and rich.
It is almost one-third graham cracker crust, which could be a pro or a con depending on your cheesecake preferences, but we enjoyed it. All in all, this is a good treat.
Cable Car Carrot Cake – 4€
This carrot cake is soft, making it easy to cut and bite. The Kiri cream cheese is thankfully sweet without being overwhelming.
It’s no carrot cake cookie, but it’s still good and is more like a traditional carrot cake.
We prefer this over the cheesecake.
Presidio Muffin – 3.8€
Dark chocolate chunks
The muffin was also easy to unwrap. We were a little worried, seeing no dark chocolate chunks sticking out of the muffin, but there were plenty inside.
It has the flavor profile of a pre-wrapped convenience store muffin, but it’s fresher. It’s a simple, decent breakfast option.
Eclair Tartlet – 5€
Sweet tartlet, caramel chocolate and caramelized pecan nuts, whipped Kiri cream cheese
We saved the best for last. The eclair tartlet is a more complex treat with an almost marzipan flavor. The caramel tastes homemade and the chocolate is good.
It tastes like a butter tart and is a surprisingly high-quality pastry for a quick-service bakery, especially compared to some of the other basic items found here.
This is excellent and absolutely the best pastry at Cable Car Bake Shop. We would come back time and again to eat it.
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