High School Musical Disney On Ice

Disney on Ice was at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver this last weekend. Our Granddaughter Kaia enjoys ice skating with her daddy and after seeing the Incredibles on Ice and then the Princesses on Ice, she really seemed to ‘get it’ about skating and has done very well.

We all enjoyed the last two years of the Disney shows, which had tons of props, fabulous costumes, great story lines and good skating. This years “High School Musical” was a lot different.

From the very, very long introduction where an extremely boring video of clip of the new ‘High School Musical 3′ was showcased along with cheerleading lessons, through a lame story line of a rich, spoiled society girl who learns a lesson, to the ‘young love’ story, we found nothing to get excited about. Kaia started following along with the cheerleading but quickly gave up as the moves were so complicated this Grandma was totally out of her league, never mind a 6 year old!

Usually anything Disney is dazzling and exciting but not this time… There were a few really cool props, like the basketball which glowed in the dark and floated through the air right into the hoop while the skaters played a basketball game, the cute little golf cart all dressed up and ummmmmmmmm…. I can’t even come up with a 3rd exciting prop. Mostly there were lockers, desks and a bare ice skating rink.

If it wasn’t for the cute little pianist and her exuberance and the typically dramatic Drama Teacher, the show wouldn’t be worth mentioning – from an adult point of view. The young ‘tweens’ seemed to enjoy the cheerleaders and sang along with the songs, but if you hadn’t seen the movie and knew who the characters were it was not exciting.

Kaia stood the entire time, enthralled during most of the show, but I noticed a few yawns and her attention wandered to the audience which was putting on a very cute show with little kids dancing and waving their pompoms!

Our friend John clapped long and loud when it was over – I think he was very glad to go home!

I asked Kaia on the way home if she wanted to go again next year – and her answer was an enthusiastic ‘YES’ so that’s the important outcome. As long as she continues to enjoy the shows I will take her.

As a matter of fact, I hope that in 20 years Kaia will still remember our yearly tradition and perhaps take me – even if she has to push me in a wheelchair! And perhaps I’ll have a little nap as she drives us home.