Taking a toddler to Jiko

[BridetobeDisney]

Disclaimer: I understand I will get varied opinions on this topic because some of you do not have kids or feel that little ones should not be at signature restaurants.

However, this question is for those of you who took your toddler/baby to Jiko..How did it go?

I've been before but without our DS. I don't remember much because I had a terrible migraine. We sat at the prep area seating because we did not have reservations so I didn't even face the restaurant. We left pretty fast with my food in a to go box. I was so sick.

My point is I have no clue if it's ok to take DS. We don't have anyone to watch him and it's our anniversary so he will be going no matter what. I just want to know if we'll feel out of place. Will there be other children? What were your experiences?

I appreciate any opinions or advice...positive or negative. Thanks!!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

There are several babysitting services that will come to your room. For example, Fairy Godmothers (407) 969-9847 and toll free 877-611-4314 had all bonded, CPR Qualified, sitters who will come and also bring toys/games suitable for the age. I have never used them, but I know many people who have and they all liked them. Kinder Care is another that is well recommended.

If you want, they will take the child out of the room to be fed or other activities; you set the limitations.

I have dined in Jiko three times in the last two months, and most of the meals took over two hours. You would probably be much more comfortable leaving a 2yo with a sitter than trying to (a) rush through the meal, and (b) trying to keep the 2yo from disturbing other Guests who are there for a very nice dinner.

 

[plutolovr]

I haven't been there with little ones, but I've been several times. You would be best to take him early in the evening. We've been there later in the evenings and there have been children there, sometimes they're unruly, probably because they're tired by 9pm. Dinner can take several hours. We were once there for 3 1/2 hours one night and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of our meal. We had a wonderful waiter and he explained all the dishes and wines we were enjoying. We found it sad that some of the families with small children were seated, ate and left before we even had our entrees.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

We didn't eat there, but walked by on our way to Boma. It seemed a very quiet & calm environment. Almost like you need to talk in hushed tones. LOL I have a 3yo DS & there is no way I'd take him there. (1) Its expensive (2) He's really noisey & can't sit still for more than 15 minutes which would translate to an unenjoyable experience for mom. (3) And lastly & what you might hear the most, other people are paying a lot of $$$ for a chill dinner w/ the atmosphere. If you want African food, there is Boma & Tusker House. If you want romance, what about eating @ California Grill & doing it during the fireworks? Get there a little early & request a window seat. And say, to help keep the ittle one quiet. It would be romantic & fun for him. One of the most romantic moments happend while our DD was w/ us. We ate @ Ohana (but you could do Kona) & saw the water light parade (no biggie). Afterward, I wanted to go look around the grounds. We found ourselves on the beach. I looked over & saw the wedding pavilion @ GF. So, we took off our shoes, walked in the sand & headed over there. On the way, the MK fireworks started. It was amazing to see them reflect in the water. We were able to catch the monorail @ CR & head back to the buses. I'd love to know what you decide.

 

[buzz1fan]

I would like to hear also who has taken a baby or toddler. We are debating on taking our 2 and 5 yr old.

 

[Lynne M]

Other posters have raised an important point...it's a very long meal in a quiet room with absolutely nothing to keep a toddler occupied. Is your little one capable of sitting quietly for two hours? Would it be a miserable experience for him? If you don't think he can handle a meal of that length, will you be stressed out, rushing through your meal or taking him out of the restaurant from time to time?

To me, it doesn't sound like much fun for you or the kid. I'd go with CG. You have the view and the fireworks, and it's a much more bustling, noisy atmosphere. Or, consider the Fairy Godmothers' service.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

A bit off topic, but what is the min. age allowed in the daycare centers on property? I know I have it save somewhere, but can't find it. LOL

 

[dmaz]

We took our 3 kids 6, 2 and 9 mos to Jiko. We had not realized it was that fancy, we were staying at AKL. I can say that there were other kids there but I felt a bit out of place when the baby acted up. I don't know that I would do it again until the kids are a bit older.
We will be taking our kids to our anniversary dinner at Tutto Italia even though we could put them in the kids clubs now. They are all old, enough(4 and up). However, $100 for babysitting is a little hard to stomach.
I would go for a more kid friendly place - anything will be special as long as you are together.

 

[Rebelmom67]

I have taken my toddlers and they were absolutely fine. They were given a coloring book and crayons and the kid's menu is fabulous. Our dining experience lasted about 1 hour and 15 min. There were also SEVERAL diners there with kids.

Take your kids and don't worry. If it was not an appropriate place for them, there would be no kid's menu!

 

[BridetobeDisney]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick responses!

Yes, I knew about kids night out. Thank you. We don't want to use the babysitters because I just don't trust any stranger alone in a room with my child, especially since he's not old enough to tell us what happened or what they did. When he's old enough, we will use Simba's cubhouse since it's more than one adult and many kids. I'm glad the sitting service is available and I know Disney recommends them but I just don't trust strangers.

I canceled all my buffets because of the sicknesses going around. I canceled Boma for that night and got Jiko for 7:55. We honeymooned at AKL and we eat at Boma every year for our anniversary. Jiko still gives us the same feeling for our anniv. dinner. We're staying at AKL this year so that night we want to eat at the resort.

I'd love to eat at CG. Thanks for the idea! But we want to eat at Jiko since it's our anniv. and we eat at AKL every anniv. One year we did eat at Jiko for our anniv. That's the day I had the migraine.

One question...Why did it take so long? We don't drink, don't want appetizers or dessert. We just want an entree. We have a cake in the room for that night and zebra domes.

Will it take 2 hours to just get our entree? Is the service that slow?

One thing I forgot to mention, DS takes late afternoon naps then stays up until midnight. We usually eat around 8 and our ADR is at 7:55.

Sorry I forgot to add all that info. I'm sure it helps.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick responses!

Yes, I knew about kids night out. Thank you. We don't want to use the babysitters because I just don't trust any stranger alone in a room with my child, especially since he's not old enough to tell us what happened or what they did. When he's old enough, we will use Simba's cubhouse since it's more than one adult and many kids. I'm glad the sitting service is available and I know Disney recommends them but I just don't trust strangers.

I feel exactly the same way. And I'm not one of those crazy paranoid mommies. I wouldn't let me DD start preschool until she knew all the correct names for body parts. I had taken a criminal class in college & they said it is really difficult to prosacute someone if children use cuties names for personal parts. Sorry off topic. Just wanted to let you know that there are others out here that feel the same way. Have a great anniversary w/ your two favorite men.

 

[BlancheNeige]

Will it take 2 hours to just get our entree? Is the service that slow?

Ah, I believe that thet meant that it is a very calm, relaxing resteraunt where you want to linger over your food and have quiet conversation. In my opinion, use your comman sense before bringing your toddler! If your child is loud after sitting still for a while, Jiko is not the place to go. So just be considerate of the other guests. Hope this helps

 

[BridetobeDisney]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick responses!

Yes, I knew about kids night out. Thank you. We don't want to use the babysitters because I just don't trust any stranger alone in a room with my child, especially since he's not old enough to tell us what happened or what they did. When he's old enough, we will use Simba's cubhouse since it's more than one adult and many kids. I'm glad the sitting service is available and I know Disney recommends them but I just don't trust strangers.

I feel exactly the same way. And I'm not one of those crazy paranoid mommies. I wouldn't let me DD start preschool until she knew all the correct names for body parts. I had taken a criminal class in college & they said it is really difficult to prosacute someone if children use cuties names for personal parts. Sorry off topic. Just wanted to let you know that there are others out here that feel the same way. Have a great anniversary w/ your two favorite men.

It's good to know someone else feels that way too. My husband is a very laid back parent and I'm in the middle. He said no way would one adult we don't know be alone with our child. LOL I know people use them and I might consider it 5 years from now but he's still a baby and can't explain things to use very clearly. Also I would not feel comfortable with a stranger changing his diaper.

I completely agree about naming body parts. We name them the real parts too. I don't believe in cutsie names because he needs to know what they are really called.

 

[BridetobeDisney]

Ah, I believe that thet meant that it is a very calm, relaxing resteraunt where you want to linger over your food and have quiet conversation. In my opinion, use your comman sense before bringing your toddler! If your child is loud after sitting still for a while, Jiko is not the place to go. So just be considerate of the other guests. Hope this helps

OK yes, I understand now what they may have meant. Since portion sizes are not very large there, I do not see it taking very long for us to eat our meals. I'm close to pooh size. I eat my food fast and DH just gobbles food anyway. We don't linger. LOL Conversation is not for meal time! You can talk after you eat. Ha Ha. That's just us though.

 

[septbaby]

It seems the consenous is to not take a 2yo to Jiko. If you must go there with him go early.

Kids have a way of changing their parents lives, so not having an anniversary dinner at Jiko, might be one those changes. You do have a 3rd option if you are staying at AKL: order room service. If you are on the DP it will still cost 2TS per adult and the tip will be INCLUDED in those credits.

If you aren't staying at AKL I'd suggest Narcoossee's as an alternative place to celebrate. We took our 5yo there in 2007, ate late enough to catch both the Electric Water parade and Wishes. He loved them both, but really liked the parade. Narcoossee's was a very comfortable place for kids and adults. The food is excellent and service was by far the best we had on property, and we had good service throughout the trip.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I'm like you about baby sitter...I don't trust strangers to watch my son. We are in Disney and its a family vacation. We have taken our son at Nacroossee's, Citricos and Jiko when he was 2 and 3yrs old. He did great. We brought coloring books, stickers and a book. We talked to him about his day, what was his favorite things he saw and did and what will he like to do the next day...I feel if you keep talking to your child as an person, he would act and respond well. We have dinners around 6:30-7 b/c he still naps and an early dinner he is not up to it. He sit still at a restaurant (even for a 2 hour dinner). Jiko did not take 2 hours for us b/c we did not order appetizers but we did all have dessert. There were other children around and I think the ones do act out are around age 7-10 b/c the parents where not talking to them or just ignoring the behavior. On our first Disney trip (my son just turned 2) we were at Coral Reef and he did start acting up or having a meltdown...I took him to a quited area outside the restaurant and I asked him why he is acting that way...he said he wants to go back to the hotel and napped. I say make a reservation and see how your son is acting that day...if he is not having a good day you can always have Jiko as a Room service. When we at AKL last May, my husband likes his dinner in Jiko we make another reservation that week but the day we were going my son was tired and he wanted room service instead of going to a restaurant so we called Jiko and see if they would can have it as room service. As soon as my husband got off the phone someone came to our room with the menu and he called and they set up a our dinner for us in our balcony. Sorry so for a long response. Enjoy your vacation.

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

Our kids were past toddler age by the time we made it to Jiko, but we've been taking them to the "nice" WDW restaurants since they were 1.5, 3 and 5. We've found that meals with kids at the nice places are paced a little quicker than our meals at the same places w/o the kids (FF, AP, CG, YS, HBD).

My suggestion--go. Have fun. Eat as close as possible to when you'd eat dinner at home, so your child is on the same schedule as at home.

If you will be ordering appetizers, tell your server that you'd like your apps at the same time as the child's main course, and your main course when the child has dessert. Skip dessert for yourself, unless the child seems to be happy/content. Ask your server to bring your check with your last course (whether it's dessert or your entree'), so you're not hanging around waiting for the check after you're done eating.

 

[Kathymcbain]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick responses!

Yes, I knew about kids night out. Thank you. We don't want to use the babysitters because I just don't trust any stranger alone in a room with my child, especially since he's not old enough to tell us what happened or what they did. When he's old enough, we will use Simba's cubhouse since it's more than one adult and many kids. I'm glad the sitting service is available and I know Disney recommends them but I just don't trust strangers.

I canceled all my buffets because of the sicknesses going around. I canceled Boma for that night and got Jiko for 7:55. We honeymooned at AKL and we eat at Boma every year for our anniversary. Jiko still gives us the same feeling for our anniv. dinner. We're staying at AKL this year so that night we want to eat at the resort.

I'd love to eat at CG. Thanks for the idea! But we want to eat at Jiko since it's our anniv. and we eat at AKL every anniv. One year we did eat at Jiko for our anniv. That's the day I had the migraine.

One question...Why did it take so long? We don't drink, don't want appetizers or dessert. We just want an entree. We have a cake in the room for that night and zebra domes.

Will it take 2 hours to just get our entree? Is the service that slow?

One thing I forgot to mention, DS takes late afternoon naps then stays up until midnight. We usually eat around 8 and our ADR is at 7:55.

Sorry I forgot to add all that info. I'm sure it helps.

Really, only you know your toddler, so you know how he does when he has to sit for a longer period of time. I have a daughter who did great in restaurants from the time she was 9 months old and I took her to all kinds of nice places when she was little. Her little sister...not to much. I always ended up stressed so I waited until she got older.

I completely understand not wanting to use the babysitting services. I'm sure they are absolutely wonderful, my husband and I just don't leave our kids with people we don't know - it's just a personal preference. And, if you have a child that has any sort of attachment issues, leaving them with someone they never met could be a disaster, no matter how great that person is! I had a daughter like that, and leaving just wasn't worth it!

One thing I always did when I took my daughter to sit down restaurants when she was smaller was order her food before mine. I would order her dinner with my drinks and asked the server to put her order in right away. The kids meals usually take just a few minutes to prepare. Then, I'd order her a dessert to eat while we had our dinners. It gave her something to do while we went at a slower pace. If you want your son to have dessert with you back at the room, that might not work...

Another thing I still do with my kids is to bring some special toys that they only play with when we go out. I've done that since they were really little. I choose small, quiet items and keep them in a "restaurant" bag. One of their favorites when they were younger was actually a family photo album, they loved to look at all the pictures and they knew they only got to see it when we went out to eat. I have girls, so now I usually pack a few Little Pet Shop Toys, some small puzzles, stamps and little notebooks, etc. It keeps them busier than crayons and coloring pages and allows me to enjoy my dinner.

When we go to Disney, I think I'll prepare a whole new "restaurant" bag for the nights we go to the nicer restaurants - so the stuff is all new to them...then I know it will keep them busy!

Hope that helps!

 

[Colleen27]

One question...Why did it take so long? We don't drink, don't want appetizers or dessert. We just want an entree. We have a cake in the room for that night and zebra domes.

Will it take 2 hours to just get our entree? Is the service that slow?

Something I've found is that servers at Disney's signature restaurants are excellent about pacing meals to the guest's needs/wants. So if you go in wanting a leisurely meal, order some wine, order each course separately, and take your time, you might spend several hours while another guest in the same restaurant with the same server might order apps & entrees at the same time, not spend as much time lingering over wine or coffee after the meal, and be in and out in half the time.

We haven't tried Jiko yet, but have done several other signatures (Yachtsman, Artist Point, California Grill and Narcoosees) and wouldn't hestitate to return to any of them with a little one. On our next trip, we have dinners planned for every signature restaurant except Citricos and Yachtsman, and it will be our toddler's first trip.

 

[BridetobeDisney]

I want to thank you all again. You have all been a great help.

I love the ideas of bringing special toys for the restaurants. I think I will do that for all of our restaurants.

Kathymcbain-I love the photo album idea!! Thank you!

I'll order his food as soon as we sit down and his dessert with our entrees. Thanks a great idea. Thank you all for suggesting that.

Pooh&Ourhoney- thanks for the advice. I called in room dining as soon as I read your post. It is 2 TS points but you have to pay the extra surcharge. So I asked if I could just go down to Jiko and order and pick it up myself. They said yes. So I'm going to take your advice. If he is tired and cranky, we'll order and take it to our room! Thanks.