appalled with Disney after attending Disney on ice!!

[stayinbed]

anyone else feel the same? the production was nice enough but the ridiculous price of popcorn and cotton candy, the amount of toxic sweets, and the stands pushing cheap plastic toys at 13 pounds were just disheartening! sometimes i feel Disney is too americanised for me, but this was the jewel in the crown

Last year when we went to Incredibles on Ie we stopped in at Sainsburys on the way (v close to the O2) and bought some pick and mix and some popcorn. I just completely refuse to spend that kind of money on drinks and snacks there.
I am hoping Nemo is good as we are going on Thursday.

either way, i hope you enjoyed it mingming. just on principle i will not go again to any disney event if i can help it

i can;t believe that you are suprised that disney is so americanised !!

of course they have a captive audience and are going to sell overpriced souvenirs .. you don;t have to buy them

DH took the DCs to see Nemo in Ice, they shared a tub of popcorn and that was it..

Cat are you sure that the stuff is sold by the venue and not Disney themselves? I thought that Disney hired the venue and then sold their products themselves inside - nothing to do with the venue at all.

we ewnt and saw cbeebies live last year and it was the same. oh and thomas live too. (though taht one we didn't have to pay for, thanks MNHQ!! )
so not just disney i'm afraid.

Agree, how on earth can Disney be Americanised????

It's American.

The stuff isn't sold by the venue, I used to work for the NIA. Disney on Ice used to be run by a company called Feld Entertainments, they are the ones who sell all the crap. But it isn;t confined to Disney, all touring type shows do it. I've been to Noddy, Gruffalo, Angelina Ballerina & Hi-5 and they were all the same.

Sweets etc are the venue.

All the big shows for children (not just Disney ones IME) are MO very expensive when it comes to merchandise, food and drinks. We never bother - we always take our own stuff.

Disney do there own food stuff too.

First trick bring up children to not expect and demand sweets and merchandise when at a show.

Second trick take your own supplies of food and drink and Get your own merchandise before hand, keep it in bag and give to child when you are there (if you want to do that sort of thing).

We went to HSM on ice, we went to the shopping centre before hand and I got DD a cheerleader outfit from the teddy stuffing shop for her favourite bear, not too bad price OK not HSM but DD didn't care.

ExH bought some candy floss with a cheapo crap hat attached, but then that is his sort of style .

That is exactly why we have stopped going.

I first took the dd's to the Princess on ice one in 2006 and was shocked at how much things cost, but the dd's had some spending money so brought a toy each. Dd2 got a bag for £7 which the handle broke on 2 days later.

When we went again last year to the Incredibles one, I had already pre warned all 3 dc that I couldn't buy them anything as it was too expensive. Both dd's were fine and understood perfectly, but all Ds could see was lots of people having x y z and me not getting him anything and it spoilt the whole thing.

The bag that dd2 had brought the previous year had also gone up by £2.

It's all very well saying you can buy food before hand, which we do, but when you are sat behind a child who's parents bought 2 cuddly toys, 3 t'shirts and several other bits and bobs it is hard for little children especially to not want the same.

We stick to non disney theatre shows now where usually there is only a programme available and my kids have 1 between them.

It's not just Disney. All the theme parks are just as bad. Concerts, pantomimes and theatre productions aimed at children, they're all the same. You Just Have To Say No. Or have a limit - £5 on crap. If the stuff costs more it's tough.

As you can imagine - my kids hate me

I only go if I get the show for free because I can't justify spending that much on a show really.

As for buying the merchandise, my kids are in on the secret that the stuff there costs twice as much and is not as good quality, DD gives me the knowing look when she sees people buying the crap and knows I have twice as much goodis in my bag for munching and will get better quality gifts elsewhere, she thinks she is oh so mature for getting this .

DD is just told no, regardless on other children around us, including if we are actually with people buying stuff. She knows not to bother asking TBH now, lol. She certainly doesn't seem hard done by or bothered by it. She just loves the shows.