DISNEY ON ICE - Mickey & Friends Skate ‘Round The World

Once upon a time father and son showmen Irvin and Kenneth Feld had two companies of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Broadway‘s “Barnum,” and the Siegfried & Roy magic show “Beyond Belief” in Las Vegas. But they wanted more. In 1979 they added two of the three great American ice shows, “Ice Follies” and “Holiday On Ice” to their show business empire and, with a nod to great grandfather Barnum, created “Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice Combined Shows.” They traveled to a faraway kingdom called Disney Corporation to request using some of Uncle Walt’s famed characters to enliven their ice shows but were turned down. Heading for the door an impromptu suggestion did the trick: “How about an ice show all about Disney characters,” they said, “for huge family audiences in giant arenas?” Bye bye “Ice Follies” and “Holiday On Ice.”
 

“Walt Disney’s World On Ice” premiered in 1981. Each succeeding year has brought a new elaborate production to celebrate, say, the 50th Birthday of Mickey Mouse, or to spectacularly tell the timeless Snow White, Cinderella, and Pinocchio stories on skates. The Feld’s brilliant spur-of-the-moment idea has worked like magic. Families stream through the turnstiles, children of all ages squeal with delight at the enchanting sight of their old friends Pocahontas, Woody & Buzz, and The Little Mermaid swirling and dancing live on skates to favorite songs. Everyone leaves smiling….clutching bulging bags of expensive Disney On Ice souvenirs. Kenneth Feld is surely also smiling at the great success he has so skillfully continued for the sprawling Feld empire since Irvin passed away in 1984.
Strong skating is a top ingredient in his Disney ice productions but Feld is not battling other producers for any of those expensive gold medal champions. He’s selling beloved Disney stories dramatized with great theatricality on a stage of ice and continues the global strategy pioneered by “Holiday On Ice” over half a century ago.  Numerous units simultaneously delight new generations of kids in Knoxville, Rio, Prague, Cairo, and Tokyo with the beauty, thrills, speed, and wonder of ice skating, brilliantly combined this time around with the universal appeal of internationally beloved Disney characters and stories.