What is up with parking downtown? I arrived at Blue Cross Arena at 6:15 p.m. for the 7 p.m. "Disney on Ice" show. I figured 45 minutes gave me more than enough time to park, get my ticket, and find my seat, but the lines for the Civic Center garage were jammed in all directions. People ingoring the traffic lights, moving into and blocking the intersections even on red lights, caused most of it. Maybe it was the garage collecting payment up front and having only two ways in. The only traffic control I saw was in front of the arena, which did little to help the bottlenecks at the intersections surrounding the garage. I saw road rage. I think kids heard words from their parents they may never have heard before. I didn't get to my seat until 20 minutes after and there were still long lines of cars waiting to park.

The show had already begun, but I was glad to be greeted by Little Nemo and Dorie, complete with the Ellen DeGeneres-voice soundtrack. The first half (or quarter, I don't know how much I missed) went by quickly with medleys of Disney favorites. The costumes were tastefully sparkly, not over-the-top or disco-esque. The all-green suits for the toy soldiers from Toy Story were freakily realistic. And when the castle background opened like a Cinderella playhouse, the whole Small World skated out in blue and silver magic.

During intermission I bought a popcorn and lemonade. When they told me it would be the outrageous amount of $14 ($6 for the popcorn and $8 for the lemonade) my friend asked the hawker if it was hard to say that amount with a straight face. He didn't get it. Am I just crazy to think that $8 for a lemonade is highway robbery!?!

The second half didn't pass as fast as the first, regardless that I had missed some of it. The pieces were longer and more drawn out and The Incredibles bordered on boring. Thank goodness it started snowing for Mulan.

Some cautions for little kids. The Beast is really big and scary even to me. When the finale fireworks began with a BOOM! I jumped out of my seat. All in all it was fun and I'm still impressed with how they can skate with those bulky costumes on.