I grew up in a Disney-loving family. I had many positive experiences as a kid in Disney World and always enjoyed the animated movie musicals. One of the biggest joys of motherhood is sharing your favorite childhood things with your kids-- so when it comes to the Mouse-- I couldn't wait to introduce my toddler to all things Disney!
My sister was the first one to spot tickets for Disney on Ice. Truth be told, we wouldn't have felt weird to go just as adults, but now-- having a child in tow, it was a no-brainer. We splurged for second row seats (not bad when only buying two tickets since my son could sit on my lap and didn't need one) at the showing in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
We really weren't sure what to wear. It was an unseasonably warm day and I really didn't want us to freeze. We all had sweatshirts and I squeeze other long sleeve shirts into our diaper bag for all of us-- turns out we didn't need them. I actually took my sweater off---but I think it's wise to at least bring a hoodie in case you get cold. We were all also in long pants. I watched the show in jeans and a t-shirt with my little guy in my lap and was fine-- but I had a sweater and back up hoodie just in case! My little nugget was fine in his long sleeve t-shirt.
Driving to Atlantic City is pretty easy from where we are. Just a hop onto the parkway and then the exit for the Atlantic City Expressway. We were hoping my little guy would sleep on the way down--he didn't. Lucky for us, a tired bub doesn't always mean a cranky bub and he stayed in good spirits the whole day.
Once you are in the city, Boardwalk Hall was easy to locate using our GPS. We ended up parking in the deck across the street which is $5 cheaper than the Boardwalk Hall parking deck under the building. It was a beautiful day and we didn't mind the extra steps to get over to the boardwalk.
Boardwalk Hall is a great venue-- and while it can fit large audiences, I suspect that you can see pretty well from anywhere in the venue. We were happy to have floor seats right next to the action though. We figured it would help my toddler get excited about the show and pay good attention. Turns out, we were right.
Having iconic Disney characters skate feet away from us was magical for EVERYONE. My son was GLUED to the ice. Not a peep out of him for all of Act 1. The music and story were familiar-- we saw Frozen and Encanto. Before and after the stories, you are greeted by Mickey and his friends so you get to see those iconic characters as well. In our show, Frozen was Act 1, and Encanto was Act 2.
The skating is fabulous but what my sister and I were even more impressed with were the costumes! Their designer expertly crafted these familiar characters-- even transforming skates to look like sandals for some Encanto characters! As a theatre gal, I also enjoyed how well the skaters displayed character specific body language and movement choices. You could tell everyone was well-studied on their role. The lip-syncing they do in these shows is always a bit weird but they do such a great job crafting the whole world that you can still sink into the story and enjoy.
During intermission, we got up to walk around the upper level where concessions and merchandise booths are. The lines for everything got long really fast so I suggest sending a member of your party as quickly as possible if your group is looking for snacks. We bought a cuddly Olaf to join us for Act 2.
10 minutes into Act 2, even with the bright happy colors and music of Encanto, my toddler fell asleep and slept thru the remainder of the show. I still enjoyed it, as did my sister, and still felt that the price of admission was worth it for us even though the little boy of honor only saw half the show.
We would absolutely do something like this again. As he gets older, I think we could save the money and sit further back, but for these little years, being so close that Goofy actually waves at YOU is really something special. I love the details of Disney magic, the skill necessary for each and every skater and the whole experience. The only bummer about the whole thing was a few days after we returned home, my dog ate Olaf's face. Not bad for our first Disney on Ice with a toddler!