Disney on Ice: Disneyland Adventure

My almost three year old little boy loves Mickey Mouse with a passion. Everyday he watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel, holding his stuffed Mickey Mouse to his chest. I happened to be browsing around on Ticketmaster's website one of those days and noticed that Disney On Ice was coming to your area. I went back and forth with myself on whether or not my son was old enough to understand and enjoy the show yet. He isn't known for sitting in his seat very well at restaurants (Which is why we barely ever eat out, and when we do, we leave if he refuses to sit down and starts to run around.) and he only made it through about ten minutes of Disney's Cars when we tried to take him to his first movie theatre almost a year ago. I finally decided that since it was Mickey Mouse, it was worth a try. The tickets were $40 a piece. We bought three.

The show itself was at The Cow Palace in San Francisco. I made the mistake of getting us there over an hour and a half early. They do not let you in until an hour before the show starts. For that almost forty minutes we dragged my son in and out of the souvenir area. He didn't want to sit down, he didn't want to walk, he didn't want to do anything but go in and see Mickey Mouse. The prices of souvenirs, like at most Ice Shows, we're outrageous. $12.00 for a Snow Cone, $7.00 for a small popcorn and almost $20.00 for a flimsy Mickey Mouse Ears hat. Being the suckers that we are, we spent money on all of the above, plus two sodas and Cotton Candy. My son really wanted one of those toys that spin around and flash lights, but those were about $20.00 as well and looked way to big for my son to grip. My husband and I grimaced later each time the vendor walked by with them, asking if we wanted one.

When we finally were able to go into the arena, I was surprised at how great our seats were. We were in the first row of elevated seats directly behind the two rows of Ice Seats. We had an awesome view. The staff at the arena were very nice to us. They entertained our son and gave us a free refill when he accidentally spilled the popcorn. When we entered the arena, each child under the age of 12 was given a rubber Incredibles wristband. There were two little arrow buttons on the band that you pushed and they would light up.

When the show began, we had a hard time getting my son to sit down. He was very excited when Mickey and Minnie came out. He kept pointing and smiling. His face lit up.

The plot of the show was that the Incredibles family wanted to have a nice family vacation at Disneyland. They pile into their car and head on their way. They are greeted by Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the whole gang. The Incredible family spends a lot of time riding various rides such as Pirates Of The Caribbean, Space Mountain, The Tea Cups and Disney's Haunted Mansion. It was neat seeing how they seemed to make these rides come alive on the ice. Mr. Incredible spent a lot of time accidentally breaking the rides.

As The Incredibles make their way to Main Street for the big parade, Mickey and Minnie are kidnapped by the evil Syndrome, who is now a more evil robot clone of his former self. It is up to the Incredibles to suit up and save the day.

The show itself was probably about an hour and a half to two hours, including a ten to fifteen minute intermission. I thought the show itself was pretty cute, and I loved seeing the rides come to life and how they tossed random characters into the show like Balou the bear from The Jungle Book, Buzz Light-year and Alice In Wonderland.

Unfortunately, my son only seemed entertained when Mickey And Minnie were on, which was not as often as The Incredibles, who he is not as familiar with. I think it was hard for him to tell the difference between the Incredibles and regular people when they were not in their super suits. During intermission, my son lost his Incredibles wristband and they had no more to give out. He was devastated and kept asking me where it was. I felt really bad, because I knew that during the finale of the show they would be using them for audience participation. (You know, help us save the day, press the buttons on your wristband.) And of course they did, and he was sad he didn't have it. Other than that, we had a really good time. Two thumbs up!