Last night I had the opportunity to bring my family to experience Disney On Ice presents Frozen in Bridgeport at the Webster Bank Arena. Mother Nature must have known this show was coming to town because we were frozen before we even stepped inside! We bundled up and hopped out of the car to be met with what my husband called, "Elsa's icy wind" blowing the previous days' snowfall up and around us. We hustled to the entrance where the Arena employees quickly shuffled everyone into the warm corridor. The looks on everyone else's faces when we got inside was the same - relieved to be inside and out of the cold. But the cold didn't seem to both anyone anyway, because a quick glance to my left revealed a mom walking away from a concession stand with three Olaf snow cones for her kids. We made our way to our seats, unbundled ourselves and got ready for the show. My girls had determined they, too, wanted snow cones so off I went to the concession stand and came back with Olaf mugs filled with rainbow colored ice. Bring on Elsa!
As with most Disney on Ice shows I've seen, Mickey and Minnie Mouse came out first for the opening number with special appearances by some fan favorite princesses (and their princes!) and characters from Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Lion King. Mickey's message was how they've all come together to prove that true love is the greatest power of all. My daughters were both surprised and excited to see these non-Frozen characters. My 5-year-old was fixated on Ariel ("Mommy, she must be cold in her bathing suit!") while my 8-year-old got a kick out of Timon and Pumbaa (I reminded her how she laughed so hard when Pumbaa came out on the ice when we saw the show a few years ago...she's still a fan!).
While I am intimately familiar with the story of Frozen (I have most songs memorized as well as several pieces of dialogue like many of you I'm sure!), seeing the story come alive on ice was refreshing and different. The characters were very true to the movie both in costume and voice (they performed to a pre-recorded track with the actual character voices and real dialog snippets from the movie) but adding the skating element made everything that was familiar to us seem brand new. The story unfolded more quickly than the movie with the producers including all of the pertinent scenes - most a bit truncated - but no one seemed to mind. From the special effects for Elsa's powers and making it snow inside over the ice to the big musical numbers like “Let it Go,” “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “Fixer Upper" - you and your kids will be more than impressed. The snow falling was a huge hit with my girls and I found myself singing along with the rest of the audience during "Let it Go".
All in all, Disney on Ice presents Frozen is a great show! Yes, it's cold out there this weekend...but don't let that bother you! Get your tickets and make your way down to Webster Bank Arena today or tomorrow to take your kids! They will love it. Just BUNDLE UP because the walk to the Arena from the parking lot or garage is cold. And be prepared to pay a bit more than you might expect for concessions. For example, snow cones were $12-$15 (which is a lot, but they do come in a collectible plastic character mug that you can re-use at home).
Remaining Show Times are:
Saturday, January 6th : 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 7th: 12:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m.
Tickets for Disney on Ice Presents Frozen start at $15 on select performances. All seats are reserved, and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com or in person at the Webster Bank Arena CLICK IT or TICKET Box Office. Restrictions and Fees may apply.
Publisher received complimentary tickets to enable this review. The opinions expressed within are her own.
