Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop

Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop sits in the Marketplace end of Disney Springs, and it’s exactly what the name promises: a proper old-school soda fountain bolted onto a chocolate shop. You walk in past glass cases of squares and bars (free sample square at the door — yes, really), and the back half is a counter-and-stool operation churning out hot fudge sundaes, banana splits, and thick milkshakes built on Ghirardelli’s own chocolate. It’s not a meal, it’s a destination dessert, and it leans gloriously over-the-top.

The move here is splitting. Portions are enormous and chocolate-dense — the kind of thing that defeats a single person halfway through. That’s not a knock; it’s the whole strategy. A $25-ish sundae stops being a splurge when three people are digging into it, and everybody walks out happy instead of one person walking out queasy. The vibe is bright, busy, a little chaotic at peak — counter seating, a few tables, and a line that ebbs and flows with the lunch and post-dinner rush.

It’s a snack stop, full stop. Nobody’s reserving a table here, and you shouldn’t try to make it one. But for a hot-Florida-afternoon reset or an end-of-night sugar finale, it’s one of the most reliable sweet spots in the Marketplace — and the chocolate is genuinely good, not just theme-park filler.

This is for the sweet tooth who wants the real thing, not a Mickey-shaped afterthought — and it’s best treated as a shared event, not a solo indulgence. If you’re a couple or a small group willing to split one massive sundae, it’s a near-perfect Disney Springs pit stop. If you’re hunting for a quiet sit-down or a quick grab-and-go, look elsewhere; this is a stand-in-line, dig-in-together kind of place.