Disney on Ice/on Broadway

[Big Disney Fan]

Actually, though, my original question was what were some of the oldest ice shows out there? I think it got started around 1979 or so...

[gardener14]

Irvin and Kenneth Feld, owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, purchased The Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice in 1980. In 1981 they morphed these shows into Walt Disney's World On Ice under an agreement with the Walt Disney Company. Early shows were produced under either this title or the Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom On Ice title. Later the names were simplified to one title for all shows - Disney On Ice.

Early shows featured greater competitive skaters than do current shows. Linda Fratianne and Rosalyn Sumners were stars during the early years of the Disney Ice shows. The earliest shows were a hodge podge of Disney characters and music with perhaps a loose theme, much in the vein of the Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice Shows but with a Disney overlay. Within a few years, shows featured complete stories such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and later, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Pixar films such as Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. These story based shows have continued to alternate with shows featuring a collection of characters and stories but with at least an attempt at a tight theme such as Jungle Adventure, Mickey's Birthday, 100 Years of Disney, Disneyland Adventure with the Incredibles, or the newest edition, Disney Princess Wishes.

A brief search of Ebay for old show programs will give one a general idea of what the early shows offered.

The show editions vary in quality considerably if viewed as figure skating exhibitions (Disney Princess Classics and Pocahontas come to mind as strong skating shows while Disneyland Adventure with the Incredibles is one of the weakest) but they are all great spectacles if you are simply a Disney fan without expectations for great skating. Unfortunately the emphasis on true skating talent that was demonstrated in the earliest editions has mostly been lost, and now the emphasis is more on impressing children with Disney characters along with spectacular sets, costumes, and effects, although occasional editions feature decent skating and ensemble choreography.

[Disney Duster]

I'm surprised no one on here has seen or even it heard of "Disney's The Little Mermaid on Ice"! I saw it in 5th grade, I believe, in Philadelphia. It was so awesome! It started out with Mickey, Minnie, and Donald in nautical ship captain outfits, introducing the show in a silly, fun way. Then, there were some great acrobatics on Eric's ship. When they took us under the sea, amazingly designed sea creatures like stingrays and jellyfish skated in (some "swam" on their bellies)! There of course were lots of bubbles blown, and then they did the concert where Ariel is missing.

When we met Ariel, two men dressed like sea-nery (barnacles and such) held her up and moved her body in a swimming motion. Flounder was a huge fish, and then there was the even huger shark! I don't remember if Ursula came out to spy on Ariel, but I think she did. I don't think Ariel was able to climb onto Eric's ship either, but there were lots of pyrotechnics and he was lowered on to the ice "unconcious".

Then, their was the show-stopping (DUH!) number "Under the Sea", and I think that the fish that rubs Flounder on her fin in the movie (the green one with the pink conch on her head) shot confetti out of her head at one point... Then it was intermission, and I got a personal Pizza Hut pan pizza to eat that they were selling as a concession. Upon return, it was Ariel's father destroying Ariel's grotto with lots of gold pyrotechnics.

Next up, my favorite part! Ursula's lair came out in every bit on the ice, and I remember seeing her cauldron, and there were even skaters dressed as the green, wormy poor unfortunate souls! Flotsam and Jetsam even had their glowing yellow eyes! Then, when Ursula took Ariel's voice, she pulled out a huge gold nautilus shell with smoke coming out of it. Ariel's transformation consisted of pulling her into the air on a wire, with her tail becoming legs before our very eyes! The huge, gold program with raised artwork shows her tail unraveling as the method.

Ariel wore ballet slippers as a human, probably to go with the whole "I don't know how to walk" thing. "Les Poissons" had three comic chefs, with lots of acrobatics and slap-stick! "Kiss the Girl" was fantastic, my mom's favorite part, and what she considered the most beautiful. Then Ursula became Vanessa, and my Dad noted Vanessa was a particuliarly good skater.

At the wedding crash, Vanessa's costume was ripped away to reveal her black tentacles underneath, and her wig and veil were taken off to reveal white hair again. King Triton signed the contract floating down from a wire, and then a huge, inflatable, scary-looking Ursula came out, with Eric on a moving ship to kill Ursula in what my dad said was his favorite part!

The whole thing was spectaculiar, with so much attention to detail and closeness to the film's original scenery and costumes. Backgrounds straight from the film appeared on a large screen at the top of the rink. So that was it, and I also remember getting the coloring book with huge pictures. If you go to one of these Ice shows, get the huge programs to remember the event! I actually had to use it to remember a lot of details in writing this!

[Jasmine1022]

Then it was intermission, and I got a personal Pizza Hut pan pizza to eat that they were selling as a concession.

i love how you remember this so vividly!!

it sounds like a great show and a great day. i hope it was!

[bradhig]

What is the show about? retelling the princess's stories? I usually don't go see these things. but this sounds interesting.

[gardener14]

I saw this show recently, and I enjoyed it very much. Despite the title, Princess Wishes, the show included a good dose of male characters and "masculine" aspects of storylines, as if to please the entire crowd, not just the little girls in the audience. The show is a collection of story segments from Aladdin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Transitions between each segment are softened by Tinkerbell waving her wand and skating around the ice and by occasional introductions by Mickey and the gang.

As I mentioned, a good part of the show features non-princess characters which I thought was a very good move. Aladdin is more of the star of that segment than Jasmine. Sebastion is heavily focused upon in the Little Mermaid segment as are the sailers and the Fathoms Below song. Sleeping Beauty's segment is dominated by Prince Phillip fighting Maleficent. There are plenty of princesses, but the show is very well rounded for all viewers.

There were some great special effects, especially in the second half, and more pyro was used than I've ever seen in a Disney On Ice show.

I was pleased that the show featured more figure skating than in some other Disney On Ice show. I was especially disappointed in the lack of skating featured in the Disneyland Adventure starring The Incredibles edition that I last saw. Princess Wishes was not a disappointment in that regard, and the audience of primarily non-skating fans seemed to react positively and appreciate the skaters' talents and abilitites.

The show was great, so much so that I hardly noticed the short length until I looked at my watch on the way out. The show was only one hour and 45 minutes long (including intermission). That is fifteen minutes shorter than the standard two hours Disney On Ice used to be, but it coincides with the length of the new Disney Live shows which are also one hour and 45 minutes. It also follows Feld Entertainment's recent comments that their shows would be shortened to accomodate modern tastes in entertainment (a poor excuse to save money if you ask me). I noticed that Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is also now barely over two hours when it used to be a standard 2 hours and 30 minutes long.

Having seen most of the Disney On Ice Shows over the past 20 years, Princess Wishes was one of the better ones, and I recommend it to anyone, not just little girls as the commercials imply.

[bradhig]

Did you see Anastasia on ice? There used to be an Anastasia fansite with photos from it but its gone now.

[gardener14]

Yeah! Anastasia On Ice was one of my favorite Feld ice shows. Perhaps it was the best in my opinion...at least it stands out in my memory very strongly though I cannot remember many specific details. I remember there was more music and skating and less talking and wasting time as in some other editions, and there was still a strong storyline. Pocahontas was another favorite for much the same reason. Disneyland Adventure with the Incredibles was probably my least favorite for the opposite reasons...too much talking and wasting time and not enough music and skating.

[UmbrellaFish]

Did you see Anastasia on ice? There used to be an Anastasia fansite with photos from it but its gone now.

Hmm... Cool. I never knew that there was an Anastasia on Ice. I always thought it would be a good Broadway play, too.

[rs_milo_whatever]

i've only seen 3 disney on ice, "three jungle adventures", mickey and minnies vacation, and "adventure in magical kingdom" its in the order in which i saw them and the one i liked the best to the least.... princess wishes is coming, probably won't go to that one, i love the merchandise they sell, it will only be pricess stuff, also no excuse on going

[supertalies]

in holland they also have the disney on ice shows
i've seen: three jungle adventures, mickey and minnies vacation, beauty and the beast, princess classics, 100 years of magic and toy story
yes, i'm a big disney fan (and i have nice parents )

[bruno_wbt]

I've seen: "Aladdin on ice", "Beauty and the Beast on ice", "100 years of Magic on ice".....


... and tomorrow I'm going to the "Disney Princess on ice" show!!!!
Can't wait!!!

[rs_milo_whatever]

do you guys know which ones are playing at disneyworld???

[miklc]

Hi there I thought I would create this thread for people to discuss the "Disney on Ice" shows, which I love very much! I searched UD and couldn't find any threads dedicated to DOI much to my suprise! Anyway I'm really getting into the spirit of it as I'm going to see "Disney on Ice Presents: Princess Wishes" on Friday! I go to see DOI every year and have done for at least the last 10 years (I'm 18 btw, so I've got lots of nice childhood memories of going to see the shows), my first ever show was "Pocahontas on Ice". Has anyone else seen Princess Wishes, and if so what did you think? Is it much different to the Princess Classics show which I seen three years ago? I know the 2nd Act of that show was dedicated to Cinderella, and I've heard that the 2nd Act of Wishes is dedicated to Ariel is that true? Can anyone tell me what type of merchandise to expect? I was very suprised to find out about a brand new show titled "Disney On Ice: Celebrations!", which has a whole host of popular characters including Tiana star of The Princess and the Frog! I can't wait till this comes to the UK!

I'm not sure how to post pictures on UD, but here's a link to the poster for the Celebrations show

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3424/381 ... 7c06d7.jpg

[Cordy_Biddle]

I have seen many, many of the Disney on Ice shows. "Princess Classics" I'm quite certain, very similar to the newest "Princess Wishes" show, except that the stories are now linked by the Tinker Bell character (presumably to help capatalise on her separate "Fairies" franchise).

Probably my fave was "Beauty and the Beast", which I saw in 1995 and when it toured a second time in 2002. The first one I ever saw was 1986, the Donald Duck Birthday show. Don't remember much of that one, as I was only five at the time.

[halfbreed3614]

I used to work foe Disney On Ice on Monsters Inc. I actually have a pro shot copy of the show on DVD if anyone is interested. Let me know.

[CampbellzSoup]

This is something I would defintily take my kids to see.

[miklc]

I have seen many, many of the Disney on Ice shows. "Princess Classics" I'm quite certain, very similar to the newest "Princess Wishes" show, except that the stories are now linked by the Tinker Bell character (presumably to help capatalise on her separate "Fairies" franchise).

Probably my fave was "Beauty and the Beast", which I saw in 1995 and when it toured a second time in 2002. The first one I ever saw was 1986, the Donald Duck Birthday show. Don't remember much of that one, as I was only five at the time.

Oh yes I've noticed that Tinkerbell will be making a "guest apperance" as it were. I went to see Beauty and the Beast as few years back, and it was very good from what I remember. I would love it if they brought The Little Mermaid to the UK, rather than it being a segment of the show

[DisneyJedi]

Let's see..... I saw both Beauty and the Beast in the 90s and Toy Story nine years ago. They were brilliant.

[miklc]

Let's see..... I saw both Beauty and the Beast in the 90s and Toy Story nine years ago. They were brilliant.

Oh yer I seen Toy Story and Toy Story 2 several years ago, which were pretty impressive from what I can remember. Finding Nemo was last year which was really good, though I prefer it when they're based on the classics so I'm excited for Princess Wishes tomorrow! I can't wait to find out what's coming in 2010! Does anyone have any new about the new Celebrations show which features Tiana? I would love to see any photos if people can provide links to any I wish I owned programs from all the shows I've been too, but I only started getting them a few years back