Ever since Disneyland reopened in April, we’ve been scouring the entire resort looking for all the changes, refurbishments and new offerings that were produced during its COVID closure. Some things have been very obvious like the new queue lines for Peter Pan’s Flight and Storybook Canal Boats.

Others, like the refurb of Snow White and the addition of Avengers Campus have drawn big crowds. And some we’re sure are small enough that maybe we haven’t noticed them yet. One of these almost slipped past us..

On our last visit to the parks, on a slow stroll through New Orleans Square, we notice that the merchandise shop just past Blue Bayou Restaurant is closed and hanging in the windows are signs that say, “Something NEW is Cooking!” and “GUMBO is the Spice of Life.”

Our last picture that we took of the area pre-COVID shows the shop and some of its merchandise in the windows. Now that’s all gone and only white drapes hang in the windows.

Of course in Disney fashion you can’t see inside to know exactly what’s going on but we think it’s pretty clear: New Orleans Square is getting a new Gumbo shop. And all we can say is, it’s about time!

We’ve always loved the Gumbo from French Market and the Blue Bayou so it would be nice to finally have a shop that serves a few different Gumbo recipes like meat, vegan and seafood (we’re assuming). No details have been officially released by Disney on it yet.

The shop is number 35 in New Orleans Square and is right in-between the Blue Bayou Restaurant and Club 33’s Court of Angels. The shop probably won’t offer table service as there wasn’t much room before. We imagine it will be a quick service location with an emphasis on Mobile Ordering. Of course Disney may be magically clearing space somewhere to provide some seating.