As I mentioned last week, we went to Disney on Ice: Princess Classics on Saturday. And since I really don't feel like doing anything at work today
surfweb
I'll post some pics and a mini-review.
Our traveling party was the four of us, plus one of Madison's friends and her parents, who we were meeting at a restaurant in Downtown Milwaukee prior to the show. The hardest part was trying to convey to my kids that that the show was at night. Every few minutes during the day, they would ask if it was time to go yet. Finally, we got them dressed. And what's a Disney related trip if you don't get to dress up?
We at Buca di Beppo, which was great because it was so loud in there that no one cared how loud our kids were.
After dinner we drove the mile or so to the arena. Milwaukee has two big sports arenas - the US Cellular Arena (where we were going) and the Bradley Center (where the Bucks and other big sports teams play). The problem is, they are literally back to back. And with the Bucks playing the Pacers next door, plus all of the Disney on Ice crowd, traffic and parking were a nightmare. But after 20 minutes waiting in line and $15, I was parked in the structure across the street.
Our seats weren't too bad, but getting pictures was pretty difficult. The arena was dark, but each performer had multiple spotlights on them, so a lot of the pictures came out washed out and over exposed. I'll post some of them that were OK
The "stage" before the show.
I thought they did a nice job of using the same castle stage for all of the Princesses. It had just enough themeing, and they were able to change it just enough to make it fit the architecture of any Disney castle.
The show started with Tinkerbell skating around 7 court footmen, each with an icon of a Disney princess (A spinning wheel for Aurora, a lamp for Jasmine, etc). She was joined by Mickey and Minnie, who talked to us for a few minutes about dreams and what not.
Here's Evan enjoying his $10 popcorn. You can see Madison and her friends sharing the $11 cotton candy. They were later joined by sno-cones in a Mickey head cup ($10) and a Cinderella cup ($8). I wish I was making that up.
Each Princess was given about 10-15 minutes or so for their portion of the show, performing to 2 or 3 songs from their movie. None of the pictures of Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel or Mulan turned out very well, as I was still fiddling with the settings on the camera. They had a large cast of supporting skaters, and as with all Disney shows, the choreography, lighting, effects, and storytelling was top notch.
Finally, I hit on some decent settings on the camera (shutter priority exposure mode, 1/20 second, f/5.6 on my Canon XTi with 17-55mm kit lens). And yes, that is Sleepy taking a nap on the table.
I was a bit confused at how several of the stories were left. Aurora was sleeping after pricking the spinning wheel, Ariel was carried off stage by Prince Eric after the battle with Ursla, and Snow White was lying in the class coffin. I was beginning the think the theme of the show was "Maybe dreams don't always come true". But they they tied it all together right before intermission. Prince Philip kissed Aurora to wake her up, Snow White's Prince kissed her, Ariel was changed back into a human so she could be with Eric, etc. All of them were joined by Mulan and Captain Li Shang, Belle and her prince (in human form), Jasmine and Aladdin for a big song and dance number to close out the first half.
At intermission, Evan wanted to come with me to the bathroom until he caught site of a "tractor" on the ice. He went back to his seat and I'm told he watched the Zamboni as intensely as he has ever done anything in his life.
The second half opened with none other than our own Goofy, trying to find the castle to deliver a glass slipper to. Tinkerbell showed him the way, and we were set for the entire Cinderella story.
I missed the entire ball room scene because while Evan was intently focused on the Zamboni, he was ignoring the fact that he had to "go". He mentioned this to me as Cinderella is getting her fancy dancin' dress. One good thing though - no lines in the bathroom!
They made a big deal about trying to find the maiden that fit the glass slipper - even going into the audience to try it on a few people!
Finally, they found Cinderella and put the glass slipper on her. This part was really cool, as they had a little sparkly boot that snapped around her stake and let her keep skating.
The grand finale was all of the Princesses and their Princes (Including Mickey and Minnie) dressed in special white & gold outfits. Unfortunately, all of the photos of this were drastically over exposed.
So like I said, it was a good show. The kids loved it. The skating was very good. Jasmine almost got her neck snapped when Aladdin did some kind of spin with her, but recovered in time to catch her.
And I'm sure when another of the traveling Disney on Ice shows come to Milwaukee, I'll pack up the family, take out another loan, and enjoy that show too!
I'm thinking that we are heading for a Ice Age rather than Global Warming
We might have a couple more major ones it's only the beginning of Feb
