My husband and I were skeptical. You can’t blame us, really, because we had just watched some of our old favorite Disney movies. As adults, we were surprised to find that, while we still liked the songs and thought the characters were cute, most of the movies’ premises were designed for a different era.
Since I had minored in Women’s Studies in undergrad, I was well aware that Disney movies have been criticized, analyzed and judged as anti-feminist. But I figured that this would be one of those issues that you just shrug off when you have kids. Kind of like when you say you will never bribe you child with food (before you have kids) and five years later you find yourself grabbing yogurts off the shelves at Target just so you can look through the home decor section one more time.
Anyway, as we watched our old favorites, we began to feel quite disenchanted. Belle possibly had Stockholm Syndrome. Ariel literally gave up her voice—and her family—for a chance at a man she didn’t even know. Let’s not even start on Snow White.
We didn’t want to be complete Grinches on the issue, and we also wanted our toddler daughter to be able to enjoy Disney World and the movies as we had. So we gave Disney one more chance with the modern day hit “Frozen”.
We absolutely loved it. Frozen has become popular because it deviates from the “prince rescues lady” themes of the past, while managing to maintain the charm of Disney movies, their songs, and their characters. My husband immediately declared Elsa as the only princess attire and toys allowed in our house. We threw ourselves into the Frozen craze. We have Elsa dolls, Olaf puzzles and a Sven stuffed animal.
So this is how we ended up here. In a sea of sparkly tutus, giant Olaf snow cones, and massive chaos. A little girl to our right is having a complete meltdown.
In the front row of Frozen on Ice, my 22-month old daughter is clutching an overpriced flashing snowflake wand and watching the characters with a look of love she’d previously only bestowed upon Grandma and the ice cream truck driver.
But the show—it was amazing. It opened with a barrage of Mickey Mouse and friends skating around the arena. Along with her goldfish crackers, the performance was able to hold my toddler’s attention (and my husbands!) throughout. It followed the movie’s script very well, and my 2 year old daughter understood and was mesmerized. Both my husband and I were impressed with the professional level of the skaters and their costumes. The special effects were high-end as well. Then came intermission.
The bathroom line was incredibly long. This is because almost every little girl is wearing an elaborate tutu or full princess dress that must be dissembled before they can use the restroom. I wait patiently, but by the time I’m done in the restroom, I have to dash back to my seat since intermission has ended
Post-intermission, my daughter got a bit squirmy, but since she knew the Frozen story, she was drawn back in. To our surprise, we stayed all the way to the end with our two year old.
My advice: If you have the chance to catch this performance with your young family, this is one not to be missed.
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