REVIEW: Move Over Gideon’s, Summer House on the Lake Offers Some of the Best Cookies at Walt Disney World and We Tried 8 of Them

Shannen Ace

REVIEW: Move Over Gideon’s, Summer House on the Lake Offers Some of the Best Cookies at Walt Disney World and We Tried 8 of Them

Summer House on the Lake has opened at Disney Springs and in addition to a table-service restaurant, it houses a cookie bar, where guests can purchase baked goods, drinks, and merchandise.

Summer House on the Lake Cookie Bar

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Guests can visit The Cookie Bar through this entrance at Summer House on the Lake.

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Guests who are dining in can also order dessert from The Cookie Bar.

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The cookies and other baked goods may vary day by day.

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All of the cookies available are laid out on display at the nearby counter.

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Merchandise is housed in shelving units to the right of the counter.

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There’s a cushioned bench with small round tabletops for sitting with your cookies.

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This wall art reads:

Summer House

Sit back and unwind to a time and place where the warm sun hits your face and you haven’t a care in the world. Dips in the lake, running in the grass, lightning bugs, and the smell of fresh-baked cookies. Welcome to an endless summer…

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Summer House-branded merchandise includes T-shirts, bucket hats, mugs, and tumblers.

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There are a variety of options available.

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Bottles of Summer House Rosé are also available.

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There are also clear 20-ounch tumblers available for purchase. The restaurant’s wordmark is printed in green and yellow.

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The drinks available at The Cookie Bar include cocktails, zero-proof cocktails, coffee, and tea.

Cookies

Sea Salt Chocolate Chip – $4.95

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This is a soft, doughy cookie and it’s better than it looks. The sea salt taste is prevalent.

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The chocolate is rich. We think this is a great cookie.

Peanut Butter – $4.95

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There’s a divot in the center of this cookie that holds peanut brittle.

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This has the right size and consistency for a peanut butter cookie. It’s soft without being completely undercooked. It’s a winner for us.

Oatmeal Scotchie – $4.95

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This is loaded with butterscotch, making for a very sweet cookie. It’s brittle, but it works well with the gooey butterscotch.

Birthday Cake – $4.95

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This one was more like a hard sugar cookie — emphasis on the “sugar.”

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We think this one is just too much.

Krispy Chocolate Chip – $5.45

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This is the most visually interesting cookie of the group. The marshmallows on top are rice crispy treats, hence the cookie’s name.

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It’s the same rich chocolate and doughy cookie as the sea salt cookie. The rice crispy treats are the softest and fluffiest we’ve ever had.

Fudge Bomb – $5.45

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This has a thick layer of fudge icing on top.

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It’s good, but basic.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip – $4.95

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Being gluten-free, this isn’t as soft and doughy as the other chocolate chip options.

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We think this one might be vegan, as it tastes like bitter dark chocolate, but it’s only listed as gluten-free. Some like it, some don’t.

Vegan Snickerdoodle – $4.95

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This is covered in cinnamon — it might be too much for some. The cookie is soft and not too chewy.

Lakeside Lemonade – $6 (Zero-Proof)

Strawberry, lemonade

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The Lakeside Lemonade is available with the dessert menu or at The Cookie Bar — it’s not on the regular drinks menu. It’s a strawberry lemonade that tastes like real strawberries. We enjoyed it!

Overall

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The Peanut Butter cookie was probably our favorite, followed closely by the Krispy Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip cookies. We also loved the Oatmeal Scotchie and Vegan Snickerdoodle. The Fudge Bomb and Birthday Cake were our least favorites. There are plenty of other cookies on the menu that we didn’t try, plus bars and pies that we’ll try another day.

It’s hard to compare these to Gideon’s Bakehouse cookies, as they are very different. They lack the visual novelty of Gideon’s but taste just as good. The Cookie Bar will be a good place to go if you don’t want to wait in line at Gideon’s.

Stay tuned for our video review, and check out our lunch and dinner menu review here.

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