Review of Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes

It was a tradition in my husband's family to go and see Disney on Ice each year. When his parents moved away, we stopped going to Disney on Ice, until this year when we heard it was going to be "Princess Wishes." Since we have a little 3-yr-old girl, who, of course likes Princesses, my husband and I knew right away we'd be going this year.

The regular price of admission for Disney on Ice in Denver was $15 per person, but we used a coupon in the Entertainment Book to make each of our tickets half off. Besides buying the tickets, the only other money we spent for Disney on Ice was to buy Deluxe Nachos for us to share at $6 since we got hungry and weren't allowed to bring any food or drinks into the show. Parking was free, which was unexpected and quite a blessing.

*A good tip for not spending extravagant amounts of money on a Disney souvenir is to visit the Disney store before going to Disney on Ice, that way your child will already have one of those light-up, whirly toys, or whatever it is they will want, and you'll save money.

This year Disney on Ice was held at the Denver Coliseum, located off of I 70 and I 25. I was rather surprised to be going to the Coliseum, since the Coliseum is, of course, used for rodeos and is overall just not the nicest place. It's not bad for a rodeo, but it doesn't seem appropriate to host something that involves "Disney" or "Princess," words both suggesting royalty and quality.

The last time we went to Disney on Ice in Denver was in 2003, and it was held in a very nice arena, jam-packed full with people. This year the Denver Coliseum wasn't even close to being filled-up, which may be why it was moved to the Coliseum. "Princess Wishes" seems much more slanted towards little girls then towards both boys and girls, which automatically decreases the size of the audience; still I thought it felt wrong for a Disney on Ice production to be at the Denver Coliseum.

As for "Princess Wishes," I thought it was good, but not what my husband nor I expected. We expected fewer non-Princess characters and more of the Princesses. The show opened with Tinker Bell (who everyone knows is not a Princess) waving to us all and skating around. Mickey and Minnie came out soon thereafter, and our daughter really enjoyed seeing them, which I was glad about because they are not Princesses either! Their voices sounded just like the voices on Playhouse Disney's "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."

The first Princess story presented, if I recall correctly, was Jasmine's. But the first song or two weren't focused on Jasmine, but instead on Aladdin and Abu. Don't worry, my daughter enjoyed that quite well too, but I thought there'd be more of a focus on the Princesses and less on the other also wonderful characters.

Next, I believe, was Ariel's Princess story, which started out with lots and lots of sailors. My husband and I exchanged glances trying to figure out which Princess story this could be. And it hasn't been all that long since I'd last seen The Little Mermaid.

Cinderella, Queen of all the Disney Princesses, was either the last or second-to-last Princess to appear. She came out in her beautiful carriage. Princesses Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and Mulan also performed, each with their own Prince. I started to wonder if each Princess and Prince were the same skaters just changing outfits, but at the end I knew they weren't as all 7 Princesses and Princes skated together.

I was quite disappointed about two different things at "Princess Wishes." The first was with the performance of "Be Our Guest" as many skating forks, knives, and spoons came out with Lumiere but no dishes or Cogsworth Clock. Even the Beast himself didn't appear. "Be Our Guest" is one of my very favorite Disney songs and the extra characters being there could have made it so much more impacting, since characters were a big part of the performances. It seemed wrong to bring out some main Disney characters but not all.

The second disappointment was that the Sleeping Beauty scene was horribly scary for my daughter. I always thought Disney's Sleeping Beauty was scary when I was little, too, but I didn't imagine it'd be represented this way for "Princess Wishes." When the witch came out alone in her glowing gown of green, pink and black for a good length of time, my daughter told me she wanted to go home. Then, following the witch was a huge fire-breathing dragon that we had to cover her eyes for! He was nightmare-ish! This all took place towards the end of "Princess Wishes," and I wondered if that would be how my daughter would remember her first Disney on Ice experience. At least Sleeping Beauty was saved in the end, but not nearly soon enough!

The first half of "Princess Wishes" was more exciting for my daughter than the second half. She squealed a lot, gave many smiles and hugs. It was a special, enjoyable time, although it didn't quite meet our expectations for a Disney production.