Disney on Ice Adventure

If you ask Annika what she wants to be when she grown up, she'll tell you "an ice skater ballerina." When I saw a billboard for the Disney on Ice show, I knew she needed to go. To quote one of my favorite movies (Real Genius), it was a moral imperative. (I also invited my mom to go just for added fun.)

To keep the anticipation from being too much for Annika, I didn't tell her about the show when I got the tickets, opting to wait until the day of the performance to spring it on her. This morning, I surprised Annika with the announcement that we were going to the Disney on Ice show today. She was thrilled ... and then asked for me to unpause her TV show. ::sigh::

We left in PLENTY of time to get to the arena a good 20 minutes before the show was supposed to begin. I didn't take the gridlock we'd experience the last 0.4 mile of the journey into consideration when deciding when to leave the house. Eventually, I pulled what I'm guessing was an illegal UI-turn, freed us from the parking log of a street, circumvented the traffic, and parked. We then stood in a ridiculously long line to get in the arena and got into our seats about 2 minutes after the show began.

All of that was beyond worth it to see the look of pure wonder and elation on Annika's face throughout the entire show. Saying she loved the performance would completely underestimate her response to the experience. She sat on the edge of her seat with her eyes the size of saucers the entire time. She even waved at the performers as they skated by waving. Beyond adorable!

The show focused on telling the stories of three princesses: Tiana, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. The athleticism of the ice skaters was incredible. I think most of the adults in the audience were just as enthralled as the little kids because of having an appreciation for the skaters' abilities (not to mention core strength!). The costumes were just as wonderful as the skating. I found it interesting that the skaters lip synced to the various movies' voice actors; the familiarity of the voices definitely helped with character consistency.

I highly recommend this show if you have a Disney fan!Annika is already asking to go back to the rink so we can watch the show again. :)

Tiana and Charlotte in the opening "Princess and the Frog" number

Tiana and the waiters in the "I'm Almost There" number

Tiana as a frog with Louis the crocodile

Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen

The show wouldn't have been complete with Minnie and Mickey

Cinderella and the evil stepmother and stepsisters

Cinderella's mouse friend

Cinderella in her carriage on the way to the ball

Cinderella and Prince Charming

Flynn Rider stealing the crown in the Rapunzel opening number

Flynn and Rapunzel performing one of many impressive aerial stunts

Rapunzel and Maximus the horse
(I think the horse costume was one of best of the show)

Rapunzel and Flynn in their finale
(talk about incredible strength!)

Mickey and Minnie during the show's finale

Finale fireworks