Jiko and Cirque Du Soleil

[lbcrosby]

We are arriving on a Wednesday and staying at the Animal Kingdom. I thought we would leave our DS at the kid's club at the AKL and then my DH and I would eat at Jiko and head to Cirque Du Soleil for the 9:00 show. Some questions I have is approximately how long does it take to get to Cirque Du Soleil and how long is a typical meal at Jiko? Just trying to nail down all our meals this week. Six Months is coming up at the end of the week. Thanks for the help.

 

[disney queen]

a meal at jiko is not rushed. we have dined there many times and have at the very fastest been out in an hour and that might be pushing it! that would be w/out coffee and dessert. i am thinking if you want to really enjoy the dining experience and not be rushed to cirque du soleil, which is fabulous, then do these two on separate nights. travel time on wdw transportation is at least 20 minutes if not more(i would definitely allow 45 minutes travel). and then you will have to walk to the theatre from the bus stop. one idea to consider is have a meal before cirque and then dessert and/or coffee, nightcap afterwards. have a great trip.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Unless you are really lucky, I think 45 minutes using Disney transportation would be about right. I'd allow at least an hour, just to be safe and account for the walking time, etc. and to get seated at the show a few minutes before it starts!

 

[alldiz]

You might not want to combine them....

How old are your kids? they will likely be in the kids club
for like 5 hrs...

1&1/2hrs for jiko...
Cirque is 1&1/2 hrs....and they want you half hr ahead...

Thats 3 and 1/2 hrs before travel time....
Even if you took a taxi....a minimum 4hrs i would say...
Kerri

 

[jwfla422]

I can tell you from experience JIKO is a wonderful dining experience so don't miss out on that. As far as Cirque Du Soleil and haven't heard great things about it (unfortunately) from many people I know who have gone to see it. I've also heard it is very overpriced. I'd much rather spend an hr or 2 in PI and just stroll through some of the clubs. At least you don't have to worry about getting there at a specific time.

But if you have your heart set on it I agree it will be a long night and you will need to start early (not sure what time the kid's club opens), but I believe JIKO opens at 5:30 so you might want to grab an early ADR.

 

[TigerKat]

We're going to do JIKO & Cirque, but on separate nights. It's just that we don't like to be concerned throughout a wonderful meal about time constraints. On our cirque night we're going to Wolfgang Puck Cafe and on our JIKO night we want to stroll around the lodge. But if we didn't have time to do this, I would certainly pack them both into one night!

 

[pilferk]

We are arriving on a Wednesday and staying at the Animal Kingdom. I thought we would leave our DS at the kid's club at the AKL and then my DH and I would eat at Jiko and head to Cirque Du Soleil for the 9:00 show. Some questions I have is approximately how long does it take to get to Cirque Du Soleil and how long is a typical meal at Jiko? Just trying to nail down all our meals this week. Six Months is coming up at the end of the week. Thanks for the help.

Jiko's usually takes us about an hour and a half to 2 hours. We take our time, though, do apps, dinner/wine, and dessert, and linger over coffee/dessert/a nice South African port. It's so romantic, and the food is SOOO good, that we just don't want to "hurry" through the meal.

I would give yourself an hour to get to DTD, though it's far more likely to be 20 - 30 min. But just in case you "just" miss a bus, or run into some sort of "snarl"...better to be safe than sorry. If you get there early, there's plenty to walk around and check out....

 

[lbcrosby]

Thank you for all your suggestions. Our DS is 8 so he will not be disappointed at all if we are gone for five or six hours and leave him at the kids club. He usually gets upset when we show up as he gets enthralled in whatever he participates. It is good to know to allow an hour. I am still debating which way to go with Jiko or Whispering Canyon since my husband is pretty much a meat and potato type guy. I thought it would be nice to eat at the same place we were staying at before venturing out to Cirque so that is why I was leaning toward Jiko. I will probably go back and forth for a while. We do realize how expensive Cirque is as we have been to numerous performances of Cirque and have loved them all. We are not much into clubs and we have Wolfgang Puck here so we are picking a place that is different and unique to our home town. Whichever place we choose I am getting reservations at 5:30 which would allow us about two hours for dinner and still give us an hour and a half to get to Cirque.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[webray]

Jiko is going to take you a good two hours if you plan on enjoying a wonderful meal from start to finish. You are not rushed there / time between courses to relax, etc.

Cirque is outstanding...La Nouba is one of the best cirques we have seen so far (we are trying to work our way around to all of them). Well worth every penny they charge. Do try to arrive early.

Now, I would suggest the earliest seating time at Jiko..5:30pm, I believe..that would allow you plenty of time to enjoy your dinner. Then I would suggest a cab to downtown disney rather than a bus..after all it is a nice night for the two of you. You can be dropped right where you need to be and then if you have time, you can walk around a bit, or head into the theatre.

We have never used the kids clubs, but we have used Kids night out sitter service where they come right to your room to watch your children. It is fantastic. The kids can go to bed, you are rushed to meet any daycare time restraints.

 

[fla4fun]

Whatever you do, don't be late for Cirque. If you aren't there by a certain time (I don't remember if it's 30 or 60 minutes prior to the show) they will resell your seats to someone else. There's no waiting until the last minute for this show! If you do find yourselves running late, it might be worth taking a taxi instead of waiting for Disney transportation.

We usually go to the earliest Cirque show, and then do dinner, instead of the other way around. Since the Cirque show has a specific start and end time, we know we won't be late for our meal (and being late for the meal is not as much of a problem).

 

[pilferk]

Thank you for all your suggestions. Our DS is 8 so he will not be disappointed at all if we are gone for five or six hours and leave him at the kids club. He usually gets upset when we show up as he gets enthralled in whatever he participates. It is good to know to allow an hour. I am still debating which way to go with Jiko or Whispering Canyon since my husband is pretty much a meat and potato type guy. I thought it would be nice to eat at the same place we were staying at before venturing out to Cirque so that is why I was leaning toward Jiko. I will probably go back and forth for a while. We do realize how expensive Cirque is as we have been to numerous performances of Cirque and have loved them all. We are not much into clubs and we have Wolfgang Puck here so we are picking a place that is different and unique to our home town. Whichever place we choose I am getting reservations at 5:30 which would allow us about two hours for dinner and still give us an hour and a half to get to Cirque.

Thanks again for the input.

Honestly, for a "meat and potatoes" guy, I don't think there is a much better meal on property than the filet with mac and cheese.

That's one of the things we've come to love about Jiko's. You can be as adventurous or "safe" as desired. The reason I would choose Jiko's over WCC is simply the atmosphere. Getting out, just the two of you....sounds like a "date night". I'd take Jiko's over WCC, simply because it'll be easier to hear your hubby.

 

[lbcrosby]

Well it's booked. We are going to do Jiko at 5:30 and then Cirque at 9:00. We most likely will drive our own car over and park valet parking. Does anyone know how much it costs over there? We were told that gets you closer to Cirque then if you take the bus and my bet is it would be close to as much as paying for a taxi. However, I might be wrong. Those details we can work out later since booking the reservations was the most important part. Now I just have to save up the money for all these wonderful meals and shows we will have. Thank you for all your suggestions. We have heard everyone raving about the mac and cheese, which seems like something silly to rave about but we will see after we eat it. We might be the next ones to rave. I guess it brings us all back to our childhood.