Disney on Ice

By K.J. Cardinal

Spontaneity struck the Cardinal household yesterday as Angie conjured up the brilliant idea to go to Disney on Ice at The Garden.

A quick visit to TicketMaster.com and off we went into the city.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect out of Anna. I guess I was thinking that the conversation would go something like this...

Daddy: Look Anna! Who's That?
Anna: Mickey Mouse!
Daddy: Who else do you see?
Anna: I see Goofy. I see Minnie Mouse. I see Pluto. I see Donald Duck. I see Daisy Duck. I see....
I think you get my gist. She would just be a little chatterbox and not stop talking.

Well, I was completely wrong.

When we first walked into The Garden, we bought her this Mickey Mouse glow-in-the-dark globe thing (pictured at right). We had to remortgage our house to buy it, but Anna's excitement was well worth it. And, she calls it her "magic wand", so it's rather priceless.

The show was just getting started, so we scurried in to sit down. When Anna first laid her eyes on the ice, she did say "Look, Mickey Mouse!"

But for the "first act" of the show (probably 30 minutes or so), Anna sat there in complete silence, eyes WIDE open and I swear she didn't blink once. She was just in sheer amazement... and completely neglecting her "magic wand."

I was trying to crack her, get her to smile, get her to clap, get her to dance. But nothing. She was in a staring competition with the ice and no chance I was going to distract her.

At the intermission, Anna had some chocolate milk and cookies and kept saying "Mickey, come back? Mickey, come back?" So, it's clear that her silence didn't mean that she wasn't enjoying herself... in fact, quite the opposite.

The second and final act started and Anna had transformed. She was bouncing up and down on my lap, clapping her hands, pointing out all the characters and reacting the way we had actually anticipated from the beginning.

It was so great. Unfortunately it was too dark to get video on my iPhone, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

After the show we headed over to The Fours for Anna's first trip to the Cardinal staple. We had a quick dinner and then headed home.

Perhaps the best part of the day though was when we got in the car and Anna wanted to call Sammy, who was home sick recovering from the chicken pox. Here's how the conversation went...

Anna: Hi Sammy.
Sammy: Hi Anna. Did you have fun?
Anna: Yeah! I saw Mickey Mouse. I saw Goofy. I saw Minnie Mouse. I saw Pluto. I saw Donald Duck. I saw Tigger (which was a complete lie). I saw Princess. I saw...
She probably rambled on for a good five minutes. Glad to see that Anna was back to her chatty self.

It was a rather pricey day, but well worth it just to see Anna have so much fun. At least this morning when Anna woke up she said, "Oh no! I lost my magic wand!"

"Don't worry," I reassured her, "it's in your hand." Right where it was when she fell asleep.