Are you asking about favorite shows, attractions, and restaurants at Downtown Disney or at all of Walt Disney World?
You mentioned you were thinking about seeing the circus. Do you mean Cirque Du Soleil: La Nouba. If so, you're in for a real treat. It's literally the most amazing, breathtaking show I've ever seen. I see it every summer now and it just gets more exciting each time. Wait until you see the young girls with the chinese yo-yos. WOW!
Now, the best show AND attraction at Downtown Disney is Cirque du Soleil: La Nouba. It's hard for me to say what restaurant at Downtown Disey is the best because I've only dined at a couple of them. I absolutely loved Bongos Cuban Cafe. They served an awesome Cuban sandwich! But I hated Fulton's Crab House. It's gorgeous restaurant and the location is great, but the food and service was just about horrible. In fact, we were almost late for Cirque du Soleil because it took so long for us to get our food. The whole meal started out great. The waitress was very personal and talktive - asked us where we were from and told us about where she was from, she was very friendly, but not that weird friendly that makes you feel awkward, like they're being really fake. She brought out crackers and the restaurant's signature crab boursin, which was pretty good, but nothing like my grandmother's original boursin. My boyfriend loved his salad and my clam chowder was okay, quite bland. My boyfriend ordered the Alaskan King Crab legs for his entree and I ordered the pan-seared scallops. It took two full hours after the time we recieved our appetizers to get our entrees. I had to keep reminding our waitress that we were going to be late for the show. Finally, our food came out. My scallops were awful! They were raw in the center! I'm pretty sure they burned the first batch because pan-seared scallops do not take long at all, and my boyfriend's crab legs were cold, so they must've been sitting out while they cooked more scallops, and, of course, they came out uncooked because they were rushing to get them out. This nearly ruined the night for me, I was so stressed out. I couldn't find our waitress who had our cards ("Keys to the World") and I couldn't find the manager. Finally the waitress came out and was like, "oh, you don't want dessert?" Hello?! I told her so many times that we were going to be late. Of course we didn't have time to have dessert! Anyway, I'm getting way too carried away. The Earl of Sandwich has great subs and salads for a decent price and the Wolf Gang Puck Cafe seems to be quite popular.
When my boyfriend and I go to Walt Disney World we always spend one day at each park and one day at Downtown Disney. We start off by checking out all the shops. We like the Lego Store with the giant Lego figures, the Disney Christmas store, the Disney pet store, the Once Upon a Toy Store, the memorabilia store, the candy stores, and I really love the Disney scrapbook store. We always eat at Bongos Cuban Cafe. I love it so much - the Cuban Sandwich and flan are just so delicious, and it's a really pretty restaurant, too. After we have lunch at Bongos, we go across the way to the AMC 24 Theater Complex to see a movie. The seating arrangement and seats make it a very comfortable, fun experience. After that we usually go to DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park if we have time because we try to go back to our room before the show to change into nicer clothes and have dinner if we're not eating at a restaurant at Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is beautiful and lots of fun at night when everything's lit up, so we try to just walk around and look at everything before and after Cirque du Soleil.
Now, for all of Walt Disney World, there's four must-see shows on my list - IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth at EPCOT (fireworks,) Wishes Nighttime Spectacular at the Magic Kingdom (fireworks,) and Fantasmic! and Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. My must-see attractions are Expedition Everest and DINOSAUR at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park; Spaceship Earth, Soarin', and Test Track at EPCOT; the Carousel of Progress, the Haunted Mansion, and Mickey's Philhar Magic at the Magic Kingdom; and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at Disney-MGM Studios. My favorite restaurants are the Rainforest Cafe at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park, the Coral Reef Restaurant and Le Cellier Steakhouse at EPCOT, Tony's Town Square Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom, and Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano.
Sorry, I know, I give really long answers.