Disney on Ice

[Mel]

Judging by the amount of families willing to fork out $50-odd per kid, I'd say that DoI is crazily popluar! I thought HSM would be my nephews' last DoI this year, since he has now turned 9, but he's told me that even though HSM was 'cool' he still likes the 'other type of DoI' That's my boy!

[ajp]

Does that mean you didn't even buy the program?? The programs are great!

That's right.

Of all the DoI that we've been to, I think I've only ever bought 1 program. However, the programs for the stage shows, like Lion King and Beauty & the Beast we buy for sure.

[sandie]

Ok we went, we saw, we bought no merchandise!!!!!

I was stunned that parents paid $13 for a snow cone in a plastic cup or $13 for a small bucket of popcorn.

The kids loved it. It was ok as far as I am concerned - no need to rush back. A number of skaters tripped or stumbled and Simba dropped Nala on her head!!!!! Maybe they were having a bad skate day

Sandie

[calisota]

I was stunned that parents paid $13 for a snow cone in a plastic cup or $13 for a small bucket of popcorn.Sandie

[mushu mama]

I was stunned that parents paid $13 for a snow cone in a plastic cup or $13 for a small bucket of popcorn.

As a parent that had been talked into said snow cone a few years ago - I'm here to tell you, that you did the wise thing... cos it tasted so bad that I can't describe the flavour without going into moderate-able waters. ... heres a hint.... something to do with cats.

I'm really disappointed I missed out this year though...

Lisa

[KeithS]

A number of skaters tripped or stumbled and Simba dropped Nala on her head!!!!! Maybe they were having a bad skate day

Wow - that is pretty rare, I've only seen one fall in about 10 years of going! Maybe they can't get as many good overseas skaters anymore

Yep - merchandise has always been very expensive - I remember ranting about the cost last year - especially as the Sydney prices were higher than what was being charged in other parts of the country! grrrrrrr...

Did they have any fluffies Sandie??

[ajp]

Sounds like it was a bad skate day. We had no spills in our show and I reckon the tricks are getting more fancy. And I agree with the others. Staying away from the bad tasting expensive tidbits was very wise. Hence why we didn't venture anywhere near any of that sort of stuff.

[sandie]

Did they have any fluffies Sandie??

Peter Pan approx 25cm tall = $30

Photos with cardboard Mickey and Minnie = $20

thats was enough for me to steer the kids away - we did buy two $5 colouring books - I plan to steal them later to do paper piecings!

Sandie

[KeithS]

Yay - we went to Disney on Ice yesterday and it is time for me now to comment.

You may well remember my ongoing rant last year about the prices of fluffies etc. I paid $50 for Mr Ray and $44 for the Seagull (compared to $44 and $38 they were charging for the same items in the Brisbane shows the week before). Well, this year, there were no $50 fluffies, the most expensive being $40 for the Mickey and Minnies. We only bought one fluffy this year - an awesome Tick Tock for "just" $30- my cheapest DoI merchandise day - ever! And the great programs were just $10 this year. So merchandise wise - I thought it was a little better (last year was a complete rip...).

I'm still disappointed that I have to pay for a Disney on Ice bag to put stuff in - $1 isn't much, but when you consider they throw bags at you for nothing in the theme parks, and by carrying them around you are advertising for them - well I think it is a little cheap on their behalf.

So what about the show?
Was it me, or did it seem a little shorter this year? The first act seemed to go very quickly! So I opened up the program and...hey! wait a minute! We didn't see the Dalmatians caught in a net. And we didn't see Ariel dressed in the pink dining dress, and we didn't see Ariel in the Touring the Kingdom dress...what is going on here?

So I've done a little research - thanks to the internet.

So, did we get ripped off? Maybe just a little - but at the same time, we got a little extra - in the form of an additional segment.

You see, the version of this show that ran in the US went like this:
It opened with the Peter Pan segment for 33 minutes, then the Dalmations for 19 minutes, then Intermission, then Little Mermaid for 22 minutes (much longer than ours which was about 15) and then finished on Lilo & Stitch at 30 minutes.

So our show had the Lion King segment added - which meant they cut some sequences from the other stories (mainly LM and 101). The total US skate time was 99 minutes, which I think is about 10 minutes longer than what we had.

Anyway - the show itself wasn't too bad, although the loose theme of the "Amazing Journey" made it jump from one place to the next without any decent segue. I tend to like a more cohesive theme or a single movie production. Nemo last year was great, as was Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Adventures (Tarzan, Jungle Book & Lion King) and Snow White etc in previous years. Even next year's production has an encompassing common theme - Princess Wishes.

The Peter Pan section in this year's show was the standout - and I don't like Peter Pan! This production, with its flying effects and cast of pirates was terrific. The other sections were all good too, except I think we'd seen The Lion King routine in a previous DoI. It was good to see the Dalmatians out there, as they rarely get a spot (haha) in these productions.

So another year over - and we begin counting down to Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes in 2009!
http://www.disneyonice-asia.com/princesswishes/AUNZ/

[calisota]

I'm still disappointed that I have to pay for a Disney on Ice bag to put stuff in - $1 isn't much, but when you consider they throw bags at you for nothing in the theme parks, and by carrying them around you are advertising for them - well I think it is a little cheap on their behalf.

Any chance they are doing that to try and be ecologically responsible and get people to use less plastic bags?

Greg

[Mel]

We went on Thursday and I thought it was a little shorter than previous shows too. Ben loved it! He was most interested in the Fab Five and went a bit ballistic (in a good way) when Cruella De Ville was on for some reason. He only missed about 10 minutes of the show when he fell asleep about five minutes before intermission and woke up five minutes on the other side of it. I think my husband seeing Ben's reaction to the characters might just make our 2010 trip to Tokyo a reality

The merchandise: We steer clear of it. My husband was slightly tempted to get a Stitch cup - complete with foul tasting ice - but when he heard the price he almost had a coniption (always wanted to use that word!). Those light-sabrey-wandy things were $28 I'll be making sure I train my kids as well as I have the neice and nephew trained to avoid the merchandise .

[ajp]

I'll be making sure I train my kids as well as I have the neice and nephew trained to avoid the merchandise .

The best education you can give your kids Mel (and it helps you as well of course). However they need to learn that there are some exceptions, and that's when you're at a Disney park!

[KeithS]

Those light-sabrey-wandy things were $28

Wow - I never look at those sort of things so I never saw the price - $28 is very steep!

And as for education of the kids - yep, I should have taught Della years ago not to be enticed by those merchandise stands

[mushu mama]

So another year over - and we begin counting down to Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes in 2009!
http://www.disneyonice-asia.com/princesswishes/AUNZ/

Are you kidding me? I missed the 'Journey' one and only have princesses to look forward to?

Sheesh.... I will likely go... but princesses? Oh man.....

Lisa.

[sandie]

Sheesh.... I will likely go... but princesses? Oh man.....

You can sit it out with me - Keith will probably go five or six times anyway so Disney won't miss the revenue!!!!

Sandie