One chilly, windy December afternoon, all three of us (my
wife, my son and I) were suffering from cabin fever after being home fighting
off pneumonia for several days. How to cure the cabin fever? Well, we
did buy these tickets to Disney on Ice a couple of months ago. We shouldn’t
let them go to waste now, should we?
Off we went to the show, braving the cold, the parking and the relentlessly
cheerful vendors. The concession stand sold glow (various light-up paraphernalia),
including a Peter Pan light-up sword and a purple Tinker Bell spinning
light toy, as well as programs, hats, and other overpriced (excuse me,
Disney-priced) merchandise. Another stand across the way sold sno-cone
cups with character lids, and strolling vendors sold glow, character cups,
and cotton candy with Dalmatian hats on top (outside the plastic, of course).
The show started almost exactly as scheduled, and opened with a London-themed
chorus number featuring “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
The chorus was later joined by Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy,
who set up the thin underlying plot that they were going on vacation.
Then, Minnie started telling the group the story of Peter Pan as the story
began to unfold behind her on the ice.
Peter Pan and the Darling children fly from the elevated stage to the
center of the ice. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The Peter Pan segment, longest in the show at 33 minutes, featured
a bit of flying (using a set of four flying rigs to fly Peter, Wendy,
John and Michael), a bit of low-level pyrotechnics, a wonderful pirate
ship set piece, a very interesting Tick-Tock skating costume as a prelude
to a large inflatable crocodile and—oh, yeah—quite a bit of
skating.
An inventive costume is worn by Tick-Tock the crocodile. Photo by Mark
Goldhaber.
An interesting number featured Peter skating a duet with his shadow as
he tried to catch it. A later number featured Wendy skating to “Your
Mother and Mine.” The longest number by far was a pirate production
number featuring music ranging from an instrumental version of “What
Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?” to a full-fledged major choral
rendition of “With Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal” from
The Pirates of Penzance (better known as the original source of
the tune adapted to “Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here”).
Peter Pan skates a duet with his shadow. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
While for the most part sticking to a condensed version of the movie’s
narrative, the show did take a couple of liberties. For example, instead
of a bomb, Captain Hook tried to kill Peter with poison (the disposal
of which leads to a small squib explosion on the ice). Also Peter met
Mr. and Mrs. Darling before a final skating number.
After a short transition scene with the Mickey and friends, we returned
to London for a 101 Dalmatians sequence. At about one-third the
length of the Pan segment, there was just enough time for a scene with
Cruella and her thugs Horace and Jasper, a solo routine by Cruella and
a production number in which all 101 dalmatians thwarted Cruella’s plot.
The pirate production number includes Gilbert and Sullivan’s “With
Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal.” Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The big production number was particularly impressive, as 26 dalmatian
skaters came out with an extra dalmatian attached to each shoulder, followed
a minute or so later by 3 skaters with 3 additional dalmatians on each
shoulder, with Pongo and Perdita joining them at the end. It was quite
remarkable how they maneuvered those 3-wide and 7-wide costumes around
and between each other. The 3-wide dalmatians even managed to pull off
a rotating-star formation, which impressed even me since the costumes
had to be terribly difficult to skate in.
The Dalmatian finale features 3-dog and 7-dog costumes. Photo by Mark
Goldhaber.
And then, 52 minutes in, it was time for the race to the restrooms. The
19-minute intermission gave everyone a chance to get their kids to the
bathroom, make another stop at the concession stands, and get back into
their seats to be hounded by the roving vendors again.
The second act began with a reintroduction by Mickey and friends, now
in beach attire. The two-minute intro was just long enough to segue into
the Little Mermaid segment which, while slightly longer than the
Dalmatian segment, gave just a bit more of the movie’s plot.
Mickey and the gang, in tropical attire, introduce the Little Mermaid
segment. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The sequence opened with Sebastian’s concert for Triton featuring Ariel’s
sisters and introducing the fact that Ariel is missing. Ariel skated with
Flounder to “Part of Your World,” and then there was a big production
number to “Under the Sea” with nicely done fish costumes.
Ariel then met up with Ursula, giving up her voice and transforming from
mermaid into human under Ursula’s spell. (Two skaters inventively costumed
as Ursula’s eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, tore away her mer-fin bottom, leaving
her with legs.) A brief interaction with Prince Eric, followed by a reasonably
nice pairs routine, led us straight to the final confrontation between
Eric and Ursula, which featured an inflatable Ursula and a burst of pyro
from Eric’s spear. There was a quick wedding scene, and then the sequence
quickly wrapped up and went right into the Lilo & Stitch segment.
Sea stars and jellyfish are some of the costumed characters in the “Under
the Sea” production number. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
At a half-hour in length, the sequence had enough time to hit many of
the themes from the movie. It opened with Lilo going out to look for Pudge,
the fish who controls the weather, and then taking some pictures of the
audience with an instant camera (and then giving the photos to those she
took the pictures of, which was a nice touch), while her hula class was
practicing their lesson to “He Mele No Lilo,” finishing with
Lilo crashing into the practice just in time to knock her classmates over.
Lilo takes photos of the “tourists” sitting in the front row.
Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
We also got to see Stitch’s spaceship crash through the magic of pyrotechnics,
and see him “get run over by a truck” in the dark. A lot of
time was spent on Lilo and Nani’s conflict over their roles and relationship,
on Stitch’s adoption, and the events at the Grand Council’s headquarters
that led to Jumba and Pleakley heading to Earth to try to capture Stitch.
Along the way, Lilo had a solo routine, Nani and David skated a pas de
deux, and there was an inventive Ugly Duckling production number.
Of course, a happy ending is required, so the Grand Councilwoman left
Stitch in Lilo’s protective care and celebration ensued.
The opening “He Mele No Lilo” number includes a nicely choreographed
ice skating hula. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
In the big finale, Stitch got to use the flying rig, floating above the
skaters on a surfboard while “playing” a guitar. Lilo, Stitch,
Nani and David were joined by Mickey and friends for the pyrotechnic-laced
last minutes. All told, the second act ran 47 minutes, for a total of
99 minutes of show time, 118 minutes including the intermission.
Stitch flies over the skaters on a surfboard while jamming on guitar.
Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
While the show did not feature Olympic-caliber skating, that’s not what
the audience was there to see. The kids were there to see their favorite
characters and the parents were there to see their kids enjoy themselves
and try to have fun, too. In fact, all three of us did have a good time
at the show. While there were a number of missed jumps and other elements
(including a head-banger spin that was off—but not badly enough for
an actual head banging) and the routines were pleasant but not impressive,
it really didn’t detract much from the show itself.
Mickey and friends join the Stitch cast for the big finale. Photo by Mark
Goldhaber.
My 6-year-old son loved the show. He really liked watching the skating,
but when asked after the show about his favorite part, he enthusiastically
responded that it was the fireworks. After a couple of days, he decided
that he was more impressed with the flying rigs and how the characters
flew over the ice. Overall, the show was definitely a hit with him, though.
The set design includes a pirate ship that separates into three parts.
Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The show featured quite a bit of theatrical smoke (which heavily covered
the ice-level VIP seats), as well as a reasonable amount of mixed pyrotechnics.
As with all live Disney performances, the music was quite loud.
Set design included a raised stage above the curtain through which most
skaters entered, the aforementioned pirate ship, Lilo’s bedroom, and some
smaller pieces. Costumes ranged from Disney-standard characters to the
inventive Tick-Tock and some great sea-creature costumes for the Little
Mermaid production numbers. The lighting, while mostly good, suffered
terribly from the shadows of the rigging when focused on the elevated
stage.
The lighting design fails to avoid shadows from the rigging when lighting
the elevated stage. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
Another nice touch was the fact that—at the front corners of the
ice rink—there were small rock-like props that the characters sat
on periodically, giving guests in the VIP seats a close encounter with
the skaters.
Some of the characters made good use of the “rock outcroppings”
at the corners of the ice rink. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
If you’re looking for Olympic-caliber skating, go see one of the other
tours around the country. But if you’re looking for nice, enjoyable Disney-themed
fun, this Disney on Ice show fills the bill nicely.
…But bring your wallet.
