Theme Park Scope

I would like to formally announce that my October budget has already been spent…

…and it happened on October 1st, at approximately the exact moment Gideon’s Bakehouse posted its Spookhouse menu.

Gideon’s Spookhouse is back at both Disney Springs and the original East End Market location, and this year is a big one: it’s the 10th anniversary of the bakery’s October tradition. That’s ten years of the same tradition, a unique dessert every single weekend in October, which, when you do the math, adds up to 40 different limited desserts over the past decade. Forty. I don’t even have forty things I’m consistently good at.

Let’s break down everything on this year’s menu, because there is a lot.

The Cookies

The Frankenstein Lives. A cookie that stitches together a mix of chocolates, crushed Double Stuf Oreos, and M&M’s, topped with M&M’s placed carefully by hand so that every cookie gets the full rainbow of colors. It’s close to half a pound of Halloween-candy-bag energy in one cookie, and it’s easily one of Gideon’s most popular limited editions of the whole year.

The Bride of Frankenstein. Her companion cookie, built in the same giant mold but swapping in white chocolate, Golden Oreos, and M&M’s instead. If Frankenstein is the chaotic, loaded-down option, the Bride is the slightly more elegant counterpart, and yes, I’m absolutely going to get both and call it research.

Both cookies are available every single day of October at both locations, which is a genuinely nice change from the days when you had to build an entire schedule around a specific cookie being available on a specific date.

The Cake Slices

For anyone who prefers their Halloween dessert with a fork instead of a bag, Gideon’s is also offering cake versions of both monsters, on a rotating schedule worth writing down.

Frankenstein Cake Slices are available Wednesdays and Saturdays. Bride of Frankenstein Cake Slices are available Sundays and Thursdays.

If you’re a cookies-and-cream fan, the Disney by Mark team called the Frankenstein cake one of their favorite Gideon’s cake slices of all time, with thick cookie chunks that pair really well with the M&M’s. I take that as a personal dare.

The Drink

Cookies and Cream Nitro Cold Brew. Made with ground coffee beans, oat milk, scratch-made chocolate sauce, and crushed Cookies and Cream, this is a limited October-only offering. Some sources indicate it’s exclusive to the Disney Springs location this month, so if you’re heading to East End Market specifically, it’s worth double-checking before you make the trip. expecting a cold brew to go with your cookie.

The Weekly Mystery Desserts

This is the part of the celebration I keep thinking about: Gideon’s is teasing a never-before-seen dessert dropping every single weekend in October. No spoilers yet, no hints beyond “it’ll be new,” which means the only reasonable strategy is to just keep showing up and hope your timing lines up with a drop.

The Merchandise

Because it wouldn’t be a Gideon’s celebration without something to collect, there are also merch drops and new collectible menus scheduled for October 1, 8, 15, and 22. The first drop includes a ceramic pumpkin candle limited to just 500, the Three Little Ones Morsels, a Spookhouse Cat limited T-shirt, and a Loungefly mini backpack from the 10th anniversary collection. A small number of Loungefly Last Rites bag charms are also making a return, for anyone who missed them the first time around.

A Quick Note on Limits

Gideon’s usually caps how many cookies you can grab per transaction, but for this month only, however, recent reports suggest the limit has been bumped up to nine instead of eight. If you’ve ever stood in that line doing quiet mental math about how many cookies you can justify, that extra one is either a gift or a dangerous temptation depending on your relationship with self-restraint.

There’s also a bit of mystery surrounding the bakery’s own anniversary. Gideon’s has hinted that a major project, in development for much of 2026, will be revealed as part of the 10th anniversary celebration at the original East End Market shop, though they haven’t said what it is yet. I will be refreshing their social media accordingly.

If you’re planning a Disney Springs trip anytime in October, build a Gideon’s stop into it on purpose rather than hoping you’ll have time to squeeze one in. Between the daily cookies, the rotating cake schedule, and a brand-new dessert dropping every weekend, you could easily visit three separate times this month and never repeat an order.

We’ll keep tracking each weekend’s mystery dessert as it drops, so check back with Theme Park Scope for what shows up next.