Review: DISNEY ON ICE presents PRINCESSES and HEROES (United Center)

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Over the past two years, my girls have been pretty lucky in that we’ve seen Disney On Ice four times. Each time the folks at Feld Entertainment bring the tour back through Chicago, it’s a different show, and we’ve seen ROCKIN’ EVER AFTER, 100 YEARS OF MAGIC, LET’S CELEBRATE! and now, PRINCESSES & HEROES. While LET’S CELEBRATE! is still holding it’s ground as my favorite (the seasonality of it just hits my sweet spot), PRINCESSES & HEROES may well be the most traditional of the bunch in terms of Disney lore, really capturing the imaginations of the younger crowd by bringing to life some familiar scenes from the likes of ALADDIN, SNOW WHITE, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE PRINCESS & THE FROG, SLEEPING BEAUTY, TANGLED and CINDERELLA in a big show. And it is a BIG show.

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“Before dreaming up this edition of Disney On Ice, we reflected on what makes Disney’s princesses and heroes so special. It didn’t take long to realize that every princess had one thing in common: each embarked on an adventure to find their heart’s fondest wish, and through believing, they come true. We wanted to share that inspirational message with our audiences by celebrating the stories of these enchanting princesses and their heroic princes.”Kenneth Feld, Producer

With ten major scenes broken into two acts separated by a brief intermission, PRINCESSES & HEROES follows the Disney On Ice Formula, with each scene tied together by the magic of Tinker Bell, who has no shortage of pixie dust and some fine helpers in Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. The massive production features 52 characters, has 750 costume pieces and is hauled from city to city in 13 full-size semi trailers.

2014 rockfatherapproved For my girls, I think THE LITTLE MERMAID and SNOW WHITE sequences may have been the highlights, though they’d give a resounding “Rock Daughter-Approved!” to the entire show. Completely exhausted and asleep by the time we made it home, this particular Disney On Ice experience was notable for us since it’s the first time we’ve taken the girls into the city proper on a school night. Rock and roll!

Bonus: The infamous snow cone mugs were back, and the girls chose King Mickey Mouse as their chalice of choice. We brought two of them home.

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The big question from everyone I’ve spoken to recently has to do with a couple of famous residents of Arendelle, and while Elsa and Anna do not appear here, Disney On Ice presents FROZEN just had it’s debut in Florida this month, and will visit the Chicago area in January of 2015 for a run of dates at both United Center and the Allstate Arena.