In the past year I have been regularly taking my two uncles (known as The Boys) out for events and adventures.

These have ranged from trips to concerts, lunch out, clothes shopping and more.

As neither of them have capacity, it is difficult to try and arrange days out with their input, as they will pretty much say yes to anything, not even understanding what it is they are saying yes to!

However, they do have favourite bands, musicians, films and foods.

All I have to do is take the small snippets of daily information and process that into what I think may be of interest to them.

In the past year we have gone to see 1960’s themed theatre shows, cinema evenings, live concerts and most recently, Disney on Ice!

So, how did that come about?

At Andre Rieu 2024

Well, Diverus is particularly mad about Disney films. He started out with quite a small collection, maybe 4 or 5 films and over the past couple of months I have managed to get a haul of films from eBay for a couple of quid.

His collection has grown to over 35 films and there are certainly a couple of favourites he has, that are played 8 or 9 times a week.

In fact, I think one, The Princess and the Frog has been played 4 times in one day, which is some kind of record for him!

Albert doesn’t mind Disney films, but I wouldn’t say they are his favourite.

What they both love, is Ice Skating!

Ready for the Night Out

Every Sunday night, you will find them sat in front of the TV watching “Dancing on Ice” and the delight on their faces is really something to see.

The very first episode had some half time entertainment, Mickey Mouse and friends advertising their arena tour of “Disney on Ice”.

A lightbulb went off just like in a cartoon and I immediately got on my phone and started looking at the tour dates and locations. It was actually taking place in just a few weeks, so a lot of tickets were already sold out.

However, I carried on looking and came across some fabulous seats, in the third row from the front!

Priced at just £40 a ticket, I snapped them up and started planning the visit.

Time for Dinner and Drinks

Wembley Arena was about an hour and a half from home, or of course we could get the train and tube. I had to bear in mind that although I am now more mobile, my Uncle Albert is unable to walk any kind of distance due to having COPD and Emphysema.

When you add a wheelchair into the mix, as I am more than aware, it makes things a lot harder. I had never been to Wembley in my wheelchair so I had no scope of reference.

It seemed a lot easier to make the drive, and park somewhere local.

I googled parking at Wembley Arena, and most of the pre-bookable multi-storey car parks were already sold out.

Coming across a website that advertised parking of all kinds, there was a pub close by called The Green Man which had spaces available and was decently priced; £18 which covered us from 1300 until midnight.

It was literally a five minute walk (although down a steep hill) from Wembley Arena and the London Designer Outlet which we had a good walk around, checking out the shops on offer.

Popping in to the M&S Outlet I found a lovely wool funnel neck coat for Albert before going into Ben Sherman and finding a lovely navy Pea coat for Diverus.

Ready For the Off

Whilst we bimbled about in Ben Sherman, I came across some different coloured Harrington jackets which would be perfect lightweight coats for the upcoming spring/summer.

Also I spotted a couple of lovely pique shirts, one navy and one burgundy. These matched the Harrington jackets perfectly.

All paid up we headed further into the shopping area before coming across several places we could eat, such as Zizzi and Five Guys.

At the end of the row of places was a lovely looking pub called The White Horse and I decided that it could be a lovely place for some lunch/early dinner.

We managed to find a table and had a look at the food on offer. I went for a Chicken and Ham pie, with mash, peas and gravy. Albert had fish and chips and Diverus went for a cheeseburger and chips.

Happy Birthday!

It didn’t take too long to arrive and we all tucked in.

I have to say, it was absolutely delicious; lots of meat in the pie and a delicious gravy to pour all over the creamy mash. The peas, sadly, are not to my taste so they got left on the plate.

The dessert menu looked great, but time was ticking on and we needed to get across the street to the Arena to take our seats for the evening performance.

My Uncles still didn’t know what they were going to see, and all the Disney merchandise hadn’t really given them a clue.

The tickets were in row three at rinkside. This meant we had excellent views of the ice and hopefully get to see all the characters and the figure skating expertise from them all.

The Mouse Himself!

We had about a 30 minute wait before the show started which was good as it allowed us to relax after the meal and get comfortable.

Eventually notification came through that it was five minutes to the start so we settled in for what we were about to see.

Firstly were two overly-excitable teenage wannabe’s who were going to be the comperes for the evening. Don’t get me wrong; they did a great job, but were that kind of “American, in your face, children’s television presenters” that seem like they have been fed lots of sweeties and fizzy pop.

You know the people that I mean, the super happy, excited and gung-ho kind of presenter that makes a lot of adults start to grind their teeth due to so much sugar overload.

Mickey!

Oh well, they wouldn’t be on the ice for too long, hopefully!

Anyway, the first performers came on who were the ensemble cast, in costumes that didn’t point to any one Disney film. Bright T-shirts, knee length socks, shorts and little mini skirts.

Then it started to get exciting when the star of the show, Mickey Mouse skated out onto the ice!

It wasn’t too long before he was joined by Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy, alongside a team of cheerleaders. They did a bit of dancing and talking before it went into the first film based performance.

The Cute Couple

Woody, Buzz and Jessie came out before lots more of the Toy Story guys joined them; Rex the Dinosaur, Hamm the Pig, green soldiers, and lots of the chorus dressed as cowboys and girls.

I absolutely loved Rex and Hamm. They were quite large costumes and I was amazed at how anyone could skate and perform in one!

The next performance was one of my absolute favourites; Moana.

I adore the film and am not ashamed to say I get quite emotional when I watch it.

Couldn’t get much closer

This was no different when watching the ice skating performance. Moana skated like she was floating over water, and the songs just caught me right in the feels.

During the performance there was a huge silk ray who was her Grandmother, who Moana followed on the ice. She then mounted her boat and it sailed across the arena! I was transfixed, I won’t lie.

Of course, it got even better when Maui came out, tattooed, long hair and that demi-god bod. When he started singing “You’re Welcome” the kids in the arena went wild, joining in.

Toy Story

It was a great success and you could feel the happiness from the seats flowing over the rink. It really was a special moment.

Mickey and Pals came out again before a performance from a few of the Disney Princesses; Merida (from Brave) was first, before Tiana (Princess and the Frog) then it was the turn of Cinderella and her handsome Prince.

Snow White came out and did a wonderful routine on her own. It was short, but very sweet and the cheers were loud around the arena.

Ariel came next and looped her hand through a long rope which lifted into the sky and was twirled around by Prince Eric. She must been 20 feet in the air, spinning like a top! I have to say I was very impressed by it all.

Buzz

After Ariel it was Belle who did a solo routine which was absolutely beautiful. It made me quite emotional, and I glanced over at my Uncles were grinning like happy children. The delight on their faces was so joyful to see.

Mulan made an appearance with some origami style kites which was very skillful and artistic. Several skaters came out with a huge golden Chinese dragon which I thought very beautiful.

Aladdin and Princess Jasmine came and did a very romantic routine to “A whole new World” which was both technically difficult and absolutely fantastic.

Minnie Magic

The final act in this section was from Tangled and featured Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Two golden silks came down from the roof and both were whisked up into the air performing beautiful balletic movements whilst spinning and flying over the arena.

I have to say, I though this was absolutely magical. I am not ashamed to admit that I may have shed a tear or two. It was utterly beautiful, romantic, skilled and dangerous all at once.

All the Princesses and their beau’s came out for a final skate around the ice, which finished off that part of the show perfectly.

The Sorcerors Apprentice

There was a short interval of around 20 minutes so I took a wander down to the concession stands and purchased some little pots of ice cream for us all. It didn’t take too long, and soon we were tucking in, waiting for the second half.

It started off with the star of the show, Mickey Mouse in his Magician’s Apprentice outfit; blue wizard hat and red robe decorated with silver stars. It wasn’t too long before a line of broomsticks came out onto the ice and it went slightly dark. You could see that the brooms were made with a glow in the dark material, which made them stand out even more.

It was very cool, indeed.

The next performance was probably one of my very favourites of the whole night; Finding Nemo.

More Mickey

Dory swam out, before being joined by Marlin. It got even better when Mr Ray, their teacher came out along with all of Nemo’s classmates, Pearl the little pink octopus, Tad the Butterfly fish and Sheldon the seahorse.

Then of course, out came Nemo!

There were also shells and cute spotted crabs. A huge Octopus was the centrepiece which was amazing to see move over the ice, it was so cleverly done.

Bubbles floated down from the ceiling and all the children were loving it. To be fair, so were my Uncles.

The Gang

After Nemo, we were treated to one of the most popular sections, and the one where all the children in the audience completely lost their minds….

Frozen.

I have to say it. Frozen is NOT one of my chosen Disney favourites. In fact, I am a little bit sick of hearing it.

However, when you could hear all the voices of the children ringing out across the arena, it was pretty emotional!

Encanto Enchanted All

Again, the performance was stunning. The skating was out of this world and when the snow started falling down from the top of the arena, it was very magical.

The final full performance was a slightly newer film and one I DO love; Encanto.

Mirabel came on first and it wasn’t long before all the family including Abuela Amela, Luisa, Felix, Isabela and of course, Bruno!

It was a fabulous, and I found myself singing along, really getting into it.

Bruno!

The finale came right after, with Mickey and the Gang all coming onto the Ice, before all of the characters in the show came out for their bows and applause.

It really had been a magical event and both the boys were smiling broadly.

We took the steep hill back to the car park and drove home, all singing along to some of our favourite Disney songs.

In His New Coat

A rousing success all round!

Till next time (and next adventure)

SPSG xxx