Walt Disney World is losing yet another third-party dining option, as the once-popular Sprinkles Cupcakes abruptly closed all of its retail storefronts, including the one at Disney Springs. Here’s what we know about the demise of the sweets shop that fueled the cupcake craze and once drew lengthy lines at WDW.
Sprinkles Cupcakes announced it’s shutting down its company-owned bakeries nationwide, “after thoughtful consideration.” The chain called it a “very difficult decision to transition away from operating company-owned Sprinkles bakeries.” Sprinkles also operates a mail-order business and sells products at select retailers, such as Whole Foods, which is continuing at this time.
This marks the end of an era for the dessert empire that was once a viral sensation. Sprinkles was so popular that it became a staple at Disney Springs with the reimagining and expansion of Downtown Disney over a decade ago. Its closure has prompted a backlash from former and current employees, the latter of whom were given no notice before losing their jobs.
On social media, employees reported that they were only given one day of notice before losing their jobs. Others indicated that they learned the news through media rumors of the upcoming closure. Sprinkles has not indicated what, if anything, will be offered to workers at the now-shuttered locations.
Several social media reports suggest that “nothing” is the answer. That retail employees were notified yesterday that they no longer had jobs with just one day’s notice and no severance, with their stores closed permanently as of January 1, 2026. Some accused Sprinkles of acting deceitfully in not announcing the closure in advance so that the chain could retain employees through the busy holiday season before laying them off with no notice once that last rush subsided.
The Sprinkles storefront at Disney Springs is one such location that has abruptly ended operations, with a sign out front indicating that it’s not open today along with blacked out windows.
The webpage for Sprinkles at Disney Springs still exists, but lists “no times available” for today through March 2, 2026–as far out as the calendar goes. The official Sprinkles Cupcakes website likewise still exists, and has options for nationwide shipping, but navigating to the locations spits back a 404 page not found message.
Walt Disney World has not released a statement about the closure of Sprinkles. Obviously, given the abrupt nature of the closure, there is not yet a replacement tenant lined up. A very similar story played out with Big River Grille & Brewing Works at BoardWalk in January 2024, and that location is still vacant.
It should be easier to fill an empty storefront at Disney Springs given the higher foot traffic, but we still wouldn’t expect anything for a few months. It’s a relatively small shop and set up as a bakery, so the easy replacement/retrofit options are fairly limited. However, it has a great location and lovely outdoor seating area.
My “vote” would be for McConnell’s Ice Cream. I know there’s overlap with Salt & Straw, but that chain has become a bit tedious (even though several of its flavors are fantastic). McConnell’s is good ole fashioned decadent and delicious ice cream with zero gimmicks.
Sprinkles was founded in 2005 by Candace Nelson, opening its first location in Beverly Hills. The bakery chain opened its first store outside of California in 2007, in Dallas, Texas. Sprinkles expanded to several states across the U.S., including Florida, and opened more locations in California.
The brand made headlines in 2012 when it launched what it billed as the world’s first Cupcake ATM, a headline-grabbing gimmick that further fueled the nationwide cupcake craze. The Cupcake ATM allowed Sprinkles to sell cupcakes even after storefronts were closed, and could hold 400 cupcakes at a time. At the height of its popularity, the Cupcake ATM was restocked throughout the day to ensure freshness. The Cupcake ATM even sold dog-friendly cupcakes.
Shortly thereafter launching the Cupcake ATM, the company’s founder sold Sprinkles to a private equity firm.
In a post to Instagram, Nelson shared an emotional reaction to the “surreal” news, saying she didn’t think this was how the Sprinkles story would end even though she sold the business to a private equity group in 2014. “Even though I sold the company over a decade ago, I still have such a personal connection to it,” she said.
“This isn’t how I thought the story would go. I thought Sprinkles would keep growing and be around forever,” Nelson added. “I thought it was going to be my legacy.”
Sprinkles Cupcakes opened at Disney Springs nearly a decade ago, back on May 15, 2016. This was at the height of the chain’s popularity, and the sweets shop had daily operating hours from 10 a.m. to midnight. The Cupcake ATM was open daily from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Delivery was also available within a 100-mile radius via online and phone ordering.
I remember our first visit to Sprinkles Cupcakes back in May 2016. Even though it was not opening day, we still encountered a long line for the shop. That was a common occurrence back in the first few years that the chain was open. It was a similar story out at Disneyland, where another Sprinkles Cupcakes storefront around Christmas 2016.
I can’t recall encountering a line that extended outdoors at Sprinkles at any point since 2019. Maybe around the holidays?
Sprinkles Cupcakes was like the Gideon’s Bakehouse of its day. This isn’t to say that Gideon’s will suffer a similar fate in 5-10 years, just that it was once insanely popular and was the reason some tourists made the trip to Disney Springs.
I have other thoughts about Sprinkles Cupcakes, but will bite my tongue. “Don’t speak ill of the dead” and all that. I will say that Sarah was a fan of the chain at one point, liking it not for the trendiness but the quality and relatively clean ingredients used.
(Perhaps that’s my issue–I couldn’t care less what’s in a dessert. They exist as decadent indulgences, and if gnarly chemicals and other awful-for-me things are the best means to that end, so be it!)
The writing has probably been on the wall for a while for Sprinkles Cupcakes at Disney Springs. Its counterpart out at Disneyland closed over two years ago. High rent plus lower volume plus higher ingredient and labor costs isn’t exactly a winning recipe.
I don’t keep up with food trends well enough to point to a specific date or even year when the cupcake fad was played out, but it seems like the trend peaked within a year or two of Sprinkles opening at Disney Springs, and started dying down pre-COVID.
By that point, gimmicky doughnuts, oversized ice cream sundaes, hot chicken, gigantic cookies, artisanal scoop shops, and more had all displaced cupcakes as the hot ticket foods. Some of those other trends are still going strong, whereas others have likewise since faded out.
It’s sad to see the Sprinkles story end this way, but I can’t help wonder which other dining locations will suffer similar fates in the years to come. Both nationwide and, especially, at Walt Disney World. Everywhere, there’s the issue of higher labor and ingredient costs colliding with consumers who are feeling the squeeze of inflation and cutting the figurative fat from their consumption budgets.
But there’s another unique wrinkle to this at Walt Disney World, where there (anecdotally) appears to be far less discretionary spending on food. Guests have made Lightning Lanes their ‘non-negotiable’ and have cut spending on table service restaurants (as we’ve discussed at length, ADR availability is abundant) and more. We’ve theorized that this explains the Cutbacks to Coral Reef, and that more could loom on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Gideon’s Bakehouse is still going strong–to the point that it’s opening a second location at Walt Disney World–so perhaps it’s more about concepts that resonate with guests and quality products, and less a systemic issue. We still maintain that the better fix at Coral Reef would be to the menu, not the operating hours. But there are certainly other locations that strike us as vulnerable, no matter what changes are made.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of Sprinkles Cupcakes closing for good? Disappointed in the news, or were you “over” the cupcake craze? Surprised by the news or not? Any specific chains or concepts you’d like to see replace Sprinkles? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
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