As you make your way around the park at Disney’s Hollywood Studios you’ve probably noticed a gigantic dinosaur hanging around Echo Lake. Yeah, she’s kinda hard to miss (especially when she’s dressed in a festive ‘fit). But, what most folks don’t realize is Dinosaur Gertie is more than just a lovely photo op — she’s also a treasure trove of treats!

While visiting the park on a sunny day, we desperately needed an ice-cold treat and knew JUST where to turn to satisfy our craving!

If you’ve not yet had the pleasure to make Gertie’s acquaintance in person, you’re in for quite a treat (pun intended)! She’s a pro when it comes to some fabulous selfies around Echo Lake but you’ll want to make sure to catch her good side, too, because there’s more than meets the eye to this gal (beyond towering literally stories above you)!

Yes, Gertie’s been a staple in the park for decades and even featured in one of last year’s holiday treats during Disney Jollywood Nights, but you won’t have to be so exclusive to pick up a cool treat from Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction any other day. On Gertie’s side you’ll find a walk up window where a Cast Member will serve you frozen treats and ice cream to your heart’s content. Just tell ’em Gertie sent you over!

Atmosphere

Oh, hey — you made it! How was that loop around the lake for ya? Pretty tiring we bet! Well, you’ve come to the right place. The beauty of this restaurant is that it’s more of a permanent snack kiosk than a true quick service restaurant. Here, you’re able to walk right up, place your order, and have it made and served to you right before your very eyes!

To the left side of the entrance you’ll find a small sign with the post hours for the day — you’ll want to pay close attention to these because this gal isn’t a fan of being open the full park day (a dinosaur needs her beauty rest, ya know?).

To the right of the stand, you’ll also find a small set up where you can grab utensils and napkins (trust us when we say you’re gonna wanna keep those handy for later)…

… and just to the side of where you order (if you’re brave enough to venture over) you could learn a few things about Gertie’s history and how she came to claim Echo Lake as her home.

Yes, there really isn’t much to this little spot beyond that but that’s the beauty of it all! As for seating, you really don’t need any here because everything has a great walkability score BUTTTT if you’re really needing to sit for a spell there are a few nearby juts of concrete near the greenery or its just a short walk over to the patio tables and chairs near the side of For The First Time In Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration and Mickey and Minnie Vacation Fun Animated Shorts.

Menu

Just like the restaurant atmosphere here, the menu is going to be fairly short and sweet! Here you’ll find a few ice cream treat options like soft-serve in a waffle cone and those beloved Mickey ice cream bars.

So while you might not have a ton of choices to choose from, you will get some variety in flavors of soft-serve ice cream which makes narrowing down your choices so much easier to be honest!

Eats

Alright, so now that we’ve got our choices laid out before us, we’d say it’s time to dig in! We started off with a waffle cone!

This treat is served with your choice of either vanilla, chocolate, or swirl soft-serve ice cream in a crisp waffle cone for $6.29. In terms of taste, you’re truly getting exactly what you’re bargaining for with this delicious treat. We chose to go with chocolate soft-serve for this visit!

The creamy soft-serve ice cream is the basic variety you’ll find throughout the Disney World parks. You’ll want to make sure you’re ready to eat it quickly because it doesn’t stand much of a chance before it’s completely melted in the Florida sun. The cone itself is thin and crisp with a light cinnamon aftertaste. It breaks off easily when you bite into it.

The next treat we chose might be one of the most iconic Disney World treats of all time. The Nestlé Premium Mickey Ice-Cream Bar was next on our line up for $6.29 as well.

This little pre-packaged treat is made of vanilla ice cream coated in a milk chocolate hard shell and served on a popsicle stick.

While this truly is a memorable snack for its shape. and it would take a LOT for vanilla ice cream and milk chocolate not to be a iconic combination, that’s really all it has going for it. Don’t get us wrong, Mickey-shaped anything tastes amazing. You’ll play a game of roulette each time you pick one up (especially if you’re looking to snap some cute pics with it), because you can’t see if the chocolate is cracked in it before you’re ready to take pictures of it out of the wrapper. But its melting score holds up much better against the likes of the soft-serve in the waffle cone.

This is the snack everyone wants to get while at Disney World, but most of the time ends up forgetting to grab one since you can find them all over Disney World’s parks, hotels, and Disney Springs, or passing on it due to the weather and humidity. However, if you do happen to remember, you’ll find yourself scrambling to eat quickly instead of savoring it as a real treat because it can get melty!

Overall

All in all, this is just a solid stop. It’s not one that we’re going to recommend you have to stop by every visit (especially since its hours can be pretty hit or miss), but it’s one that when it’s open its a sigh of relief for the reliable treat to cool off with!

It’s a pretty convenient location that’s easy to spot, and Gertie the dinosaur is an icon herself. However, we do wish they had more remarkable treats to offer at this location — so if you’re really looking for something special, we recommend stopping by for limited-time treats and seasonal offerings near the holidays. Even if you find yourself nearby and the restaurant is closed, you can always take a selfie with a larger-than-life dino, and we think that’s quite the achievement in and of itself.

Nosh or Not?

Hop on by Gertie’s stomping grounds if…

• You’re aching for a classic treat! If the thought of a Mickey ice-cream bar makes you giddy with excitement, why not have the perfect backdrop for that inevitable pic you’re going to take of it!?
• Ice cream is the only thing that will curb your craving in the moment. This place is ALL about the ice cream. Soft-serve, bars, frozen treats — it’s all here!
• You’re looking to score some bragging rights. What better way to impress your friends and family than a picture with Gertie AND a snack break? We’ll wait while you mull that over for a bit.

We think you should march to the beat of your own drum if…

• You’re not about a basic ice cream treat. We get it, not all ice cream is created equal. If you’re all about jazzing up your soft serve with toppings and sauces, who are we to talk you out of it? You just won’t find that sort of thing here.
• You’ve already met your trip quota of Mickey ice-cream bars. You just might split a seam if you try to pack in one more Mickey ice cream bar. And while the realization of that hurts, it’s probably not as bad as your stomach right now at the thought of adding one more to the tally.
• The menu here looks almost extinct to you. It’s like it’s in the name or something, huh? Yeah, there’s just not a whole lot going on here other than an old-reliable treat to grab and keep going.

We’re constantly eating our way around Disney World (and updating our reviews while we’re at it)! Be sure you’re following along with us for all the latest news, updates, reviews, and more right here at DFB!

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Do you make a stop to see Gertie at Echo Lake when you’re visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Tell us if your favorite way to catch a pic with this park icon in the comments below!