Theme Park Scope

The Cake Bake Shop at Disney’s BoardWalk has built its reputation on elaborate, upscale desserts, so it’s not exactly shocking that its holiday programming leans just as extravagant.

This year’s Dinner with Santa Claus is back, and it’s every bit as much of a splurge as you’d expect.

The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers, on Disney’s BoardWalk, is bringing back its Dinner with Santa Claus experience for the 2026 holiday season. The genuinely notable part: the price is holding flat from last year, at $200 per adult and $150 per child. In an era where basically everything at Disney World creeps up in price annually, a restaurant experience that didn’t get more expensive is worth calling out on its own.

That said, “held flat” doesn’t mean “cheap.” Those figures are base prices before a mandatory 24% gratuity, Florida sales tax, and additional booking fees get layered on. Once everything’s added, a single adult ticket runs closer to $269 out the door, and a reservation for one adult and one child can climb past $450 total.

For that price, guests get a genuinely elaborate three-course holiday dinner:

• To start: Sparkling holiday Champagne and cocktails (up to three beverages included per guest, including alcoholic options for adults)
• First course: An elegant hors d’oeuvre
• Main course: A holiday-themed entrée
• Dessert: A seasonal dessert built around the restaurant’s signature cake styling

Beyond the meal itself, the experience includes a private meet-and-greet with Santa Claus, a digital Disney PhotoPass photo download, and a keepsake holiday gift to take home.

Here’s a comparison worth sitting with: Walt Disney World already offers well-regarded character dining experiences like Breakfast à la Art with Mickey & Friends at Topolino’s Terrace (around $59 per adult) and Story Book Dining with Snow White at Artist Point (around $67 per adult). Booking both of those experiences combined still costs less than a single adult ticket to Cake Bake’s Dinner with Santa Claus before fees are even added, and meaningfully less once the full out-the-door total is factored in. That doesn’t necessarily make the Santa dinner a bad experience, but it does make clear this is priced as a luxury add-on rather than a standard character dining option.

This announcement is landing at a moment when some fans have been vocal about Disney trimming back complimentary holiday touches at the resorts this year, which has made a headline-grabbing $200 Santa experience an easy target for criticism online. Whether that criticism is entirely fair is a matter of perspective — Cake Bake has always positioned itself as an upscale, limited-capacity dining spot rather than a budget option, and this event is clearly built for guests who specifically want a private, low-crowd Santa experience and are willing to pay for that exclusivity.

If a crowd-free, sit-down Santa experience with a genuinely nice three-course meal sounds worth the splurge, reservations are open now, and based on how quickly this event has filled up in past years, booking sooner rather than later is a smart move if you’re set on attending.

We’ll keep an eye on how quickly this event sells out and share updates on any additional dates Disney adds, so check back with Theme Park Scope for the latest.