In the 1950s, Walt Disney allowed Ice Capades to use stories, music, and costumes from Disney properties, but it wasn’t until this day in 1981 that Walt Disney’s World of Ice premiered, a joint effort between Disney and Feld Entertainment®, the largest provider of live family entertainment in the world, which put a new spin on Disney’s live entertainment. This led the way to the Disney on Ice touring shows that continue gliding strong today. Larry Billman, former Disney parks show writer/entertainment director, was assigned by Disney to coordinate with the Felds right from the start, and he told D23’s Scott Wolf, “The show began starring Olympic skaters but eventually realized that audiences really wanted to see “Disney” on Ice, rather than skating celebrities. Other touring shows, such as Smucker’s Stars on Ice now fill that category. When I worked for the Feld Organization and co-directed the show, I used to sit in various areas of the arena during performances to observe the audience and listen to what they were saying. I vividly remember sitting behind two mothers and their children and, when the serious Pair skating sequence began, one of the mothers said, ‘Oh, the kids don’t want to see skaters. They want to see Mickey.’ Kenneth Feld listened closely and now Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto are usually there, often to ‘hand-hold’ the audience through each version. It is hard to grasp that an ‘experiment’ in 1981 is now the King of the Touring Arena Shows, with multiple companies playing all over the world. It all started with a SKATING mouse.”
