Disney on Ice - Worlds of Enchantment Review

A few weeks ago, we were invited to see the new Disney on Ice Worlds of Enchantment show at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham.

Both of my children have always been massive Disney fans and with the show falling on my son's birthday, the answer was an easy yes, so we headed there after some birthday tea.

I love watching shows at the arena and on an unseasonably warm day it was nice to be inside in the cool.

The show itself is preceded by a Fit to Dance show to get the audience warmed up, for me the All-American preppiness of the dancers was a bit much, but the kids loved it.

The show starts with Toy Story 3 and the awesome green army soldiers, marching in sync. It was a really lively way to start the show and had us all smiling from the start.

Moving onto the main act, we were transported through the Toy Story gang's ill-fated trip to Sunnyside Daycare where we meet Lotso Bear and Stretch the Octopus, the romance blossoms between Barbie and Ken and we were treated to some fun skating between the lovebirds.

Afterwards we were taken Under the Sea with Ariel and her friends, the bright colours of the fish and underwater scenes were really breathtaking and my daughters face lit up when Ariel came on. We follow the story of Ursula stealing Ariel's voice and the journey of love that follows in order for her to speak and sing again.

After the break we were treated to what for my son and daughter, was the highlight of the evening. Having both recently gotten back into the 'Cars' world, my daughter even bought her plush Lightning McQueen with her.

The life size cars drove and skidded around on the ice, and featured all our favourite characters including Mater, Sally, Flo and Ramone. It was a really fun part of the show and to see the cars in all their glory was quite spectacular.

The finale was probably the highlight for most of the crowd in the arena, and told the story of the hit movie, Frozen. With all our favourite songs and lots of snow and special effects, it was a really wonderful performance and we all enjoyed dancing and singing along.

With Mickey and the gang there too, it was a truly full-on Disney experience and well worth the money if you have a Disney fan in your house.

The only downside to these events are the extras which can soon add up, with lots of spinning lightsticks, ice cups and bags of popcorn thrown into the mix, it could get expensive if you aren't careful. But what price a little family fun!

We were given tickets to this performance in return for this review, all words and opinions are my own.

Marvel Universe Live

This week saw the opening of the Marvel Universe Live here in Nottingham, we were invited along to see what was sure to be a spectacular event, including some of my children's favourite super heroes and super villains.

We were first invited to meet a few of the stars in the VIP lounge, they taught the children a few moves and chatted to them about the show. The children also got to have a go at lifting Thor's hammer, it turns out it's not so heavy after all, with my 5 and 8 year old managing it no problem.

When it was time to go and take our seats we headed through the throng of parents and their super hero children, so many Iron Mans, Thors and Spidermen in one room.

The show itself started with a bang and was pretty much like that from start to finish, with plenty of pyrotechnics, fireworks and lots of lights, lasers and smoke. For my son it was a little too loud and he spent most of it with his hands over his ears, he's never been a fan of loud noises though and to be honest it made me jump.

With lots of stunt bikes, cars, flying and fighting it was hard to know where to look and there was action in every direction.

The story is based on the battle over the Cosmic Cube, shattered into many pieces by Thor and scattered across the world, the super heroes task is to recover the pieces before they fall into the wrong hands.

With some of our favourite super heroes including Iron Man, Spiderman, Wolverine, Captain America and Black Widow we were certain that good would conquer evil. However, with some devilishly bad villains it was a close call, with the likes of Green Goblin, Loki, Dr Octopus and Red Skull, the pieces of the Cosmic Cube were dangerously close to being used for evil.

My daughter loved that there were plenty of female super heroes for her to watch, including Storm, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow as well as Cat Woman representing the villains. Although to be quite honest she was desperate to get her hand on her own hammer.

The Marvel Universe Live show is currently touring the UK and then onto the rest of Europe, so if you have some super hero fans then this is definitely a must see.

NB: We were given free tickets to see the show however were not obligated to write about it. It was a great show and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. All words and opinions are my own.

Disney on Ice - Magical Ice Festival Review

Last week, we went to see the magic that is Disney on Ice. It's the first time we have taken the children to see anything on ice and it won't be the last, the magic, speed and atmosphere was just amazing and we all had a fantastic time.

Starting off with The Little Mermaid, the songs and theatrics dazzled, with Ariel spinning from a rope in the centre of the ice. I had forgotten how moving the songs from The Little Mermaid are and I have to admit I had a tear in my eye as I sang along to the songs (sorry to anyone next to me)

Next up was Rapunzle from Tangled, we love this film, it is beautifully sweet and the characters they chose to use had something for everyone, including my seven year old son. It wasn't completely princess related and with Maximus the horse and the the pub thugs playing a huge part it really was great fun.

After the break, we went on to Beauty and the Beast, a beautiful classic which I was looking forward to, with some wonderful characters including Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Pots it was sure to be a visual delight and we weren't disappointed.

I expected the children to be a little scared of the Beast but they weren't, instead with the excitement of the ice skating they were in awe.

And finally, on to the moment we had all been waiting for, you could almost feel the anticipation for this part of the show, especially with so many Anna's and Elsa's in the audience.

Frozen was as exciting as I'd hoped it would be, with my daughter not quite sure where to put herself with all the excitement, Elsa's ice skating skills were brilliant and it was amazing that just one person on the ice could bring such magic.

The much loved Olaf brought the biggest cheer of the evening as well as some colour and magic to the ice, absolutely brilliant!

Sven and Kristoff were so lovely, quite how the ice skaters inside managed to make Sven act so real is beyond me, but they were great.

Now that we know both children love something like this, we will definitely be back to watch another, I was worried that the dark arena would be a little scary for my four year old daughter and when she'd seen other pictures she said the same but in the end it was fine.

My daughter said that she like 'everything' apart from the part with Prince Hans was about to kill Elsa, which I think is fair.

My one gripe about the show was the cost of the merchandise, £8 for a small Disney bag and some popcorn is a little much, but it's the same wherever you go so was expected.

There is still time to see this magical show as it is playing at Leeds First Direct Arena from 13-17th May, for more information check out the Disney website.

NB: We were given tickets to attend the show, all pictures and words are my own.