ALLENTOWN, Pa.— On the rink at the PPL Center on Thursday afternoon, about a dozen professional ice skaters practiced for the night's opening Disney on Ice performance.
The touring Disney-licensed show features stunts performed in the air as well as on the ice and special effects such as snow and bubbles falling from the rafters.
This season's show is "Mickey's Search Party."
The production will perform seven shows at PPL Center: 7 p.m. today, Jan. 19; 11 a.m. an 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20; and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21.
Tickets available on the PPL Center's website.
Pennsylvanians in the cast
During the cast's practice session Thursday, two skaters turned a lot of heads — one of them, a man wearing a T-shirt, literally picked up a woman and spun her around on his head for more than 60 seconds.
They are William and Adriene Ott, from York, York County.
On the ice, they play Prince Eric and Ariel from "The Little Mermaid." In real life, they're married.
"Nothing makes me happier than coming out on to the ice, portraying Ariel and getting to see a little girl or boy dressed as Ariel in the audience, and making that connection with them. It's just — it never gets old. It's amazing. And I love it so much."Adriene Ott, Disney on Ice performer who plays Ariel from The Little Mermaid, with her real-life husband as Prince Eric
"We met on the ice, got engaged on the ice and got married on the ice," William Ott said.
They're from the same part of Pennsylvania and figure skated as a pair before joining Disney on Ice.
Adriene Ott jumped in and said ,"We actually got married in Pittsburgh," with a trouble-making tone.
"I don't know if your audience is gonna like that," she added with a laugh.
She also said that because they're so close to home when they perform in Allentown, they will have friends and family come to watch them.
"So there's, there's obviously things skating on the ice, there's people doing really cool tricks that they know and love from Disney on Ice — but one of the cool things is all the things that happen in the air, there's a lot of flying acts."William Ott, Disney Ice Performer who plays Prince Eric from "The Little Mermaid"
"It's great to play for any audience," she said. "But to be able to play for an audience at home is really special. We have a lot of family and friends coming this week.
"So we're excited to play for them — especially this show. This is by far our favorite show that we've been on. It has so many cool elements."
Some of those elements include "aerial" tricks, such as creating the illusion of the performer flying off of the ice and into the air of the stadium.
The flying acts, both Otts said, are parts of the show for which they are especially excited.
"So there's, there's obviously things skating on the ice, there's people doing really cool tricks that they know and love from Disney on Ice — but one of the cool things is all the things that happen in the air," William Ott said.
"There's a lot of flying acts, so people like Eric and Ariel, they go up in the air on what are called aerial straps. So we're just we're hanging on by our hands, and we go 35 feet up in the air.
"And we have a bunch of gymnasts doing, you know, all these cool flips and tumbles on a tumble track that actually makes it onto the ice."
Asked whether the costumes make it a challenge to do intricate skating tricks, the Otts agreed it's not really a big deal.
They said they've been skating for so long that, in their experience, it's just "another layer" and not much of a challenge or inhibiting factor.
Smiles light up
Every performer, manager and staff member of the touring show interviewed Thursday pointed to a clear favorite aspect of Disney on Ice: seeing people in the audience, usually children, who are over the moon happy to be there.
"Nothing makes me happier than coming out onto the ice, portraying Ariel and getting to see a little girl or boy dressed as Ariel in the audience, and making that connection with them," Adriene Ott said.
"It's just — it never gets old. It's amazing. And I love it so much."
She also said it's not a show that's only interesting for children.
"If there's any show to come to, Disney-on-Ice-wise, it's this one," she said. "It's really going to blow everyone away.
"Everyone thinks Disney on Ice is for kids — but everyone I know that comes to see the shows is like, 'I enjoyed that more than my kids did.'"
