The Ice Is Right

Mouse House Trivia: "The Lion King" story pitch was shorthanded as "Bambi in Africa Meets Hamlet." ... To Roar or Not to Roar, Bamlet?

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Blades up, kids.

Straight from Walt's vault come icons on ice.

"It's a unique show because it incorporates four different Disney properties into one show," says Nicole Feld, producer of "Disney on Ice Presents Worlds of Fantasy," skating through Vegas through Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

This time around the arena, the tales of Tinker Bell, "The Lion King," "The Little Mermaid" and "Cars" converge in a story that sends audiences into Tink's lush fantasy land of Pixie Hollow; travels to the fluorescent coral and clam shells of Ariel's aqua environs from "Mermaid"; visits the Saharan setting of "The Lion King," teeming with ostriches, zebras and giraffes; and zooms into the world of "Cars" with talking, leaping, facially expressive, boogie-to-the-music autos.

"Kids don't have the attention spans they used to," Feld says. "Now we've created more in less time. That's why four stories are so important. We can take certain liberties. We know they know the stories, so we can give them highlights."

Mouse House Trivia (courtesy of imdb.com): Walt originally named his signature character Mortimer Mouse. His wife objected. Good call, Mrs. D. ... In 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and the allied forces prepared to invade Europe with the invasion code name: "Mickey Mouse." Did that make it a Mickey Mouse operation? ... Walt claimed that Mickey and Minnie were never married onscreen. Makes you rethink that Disney wholesomeness thing, huh? ...

As always, brilliantly colored costumes and gowns, ornate sets, skate-based choreography, animated characters come to icy life and musical interludes such as "Kiss the Girl" and "Hakuna Matata" highlight a typical dazzle-the-senses Disney production.

"Mickey and Minnie have a little roadster, they go on a trip and their car breaks down, so the cars come out from Radiator Springs (from 'Cars'), trying to fix up their car, so it's really cute," Feld explains about the plot kick-starter that propels them on a journey through Disney's hit flicks.

"Mickey and Minnie have 100 percent recognition among kids, they just don't exist in stories the way they used to," Feld says. "Disney has done The Mickey Initiative, doing research and finding out that kids really felt Mickey is more of a mascot or a host or presenter, rather than a personality in their own right."

Mouse House Trivia: In "The Lion King," Pumbaa the Warthog was the first Disney character to let the flatulence fly. Couldn't they animate a can of Airwick? ... The line, "What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?" was improvised by voice actor Nathan Lane. Frank Marino was unavailable. ...

Gliding -- or motoring -- around the ice this time around may be the live show's most amusing creations to date:

"Cars" characters such as Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally, Flo and Ramone are outfitted with custom animatronics, including blinking eyes, rubber mouths speaking in sync with the soundtrack and hydraulic lifts bouncing to the beat.

"Everybody told me we couldn't do it," says Rick Papineau, Feld Entertainment's vice president of scenic elements, whose team built the personable road-huggers racing around the frozen highway, at about 85 percent of a normal car size.

"We combined existing technologies to get the look we wanted, so air operates the animatronics, everything has to be self-contained on the ice, it's not as if you can plug them in," he says.

"It's battery and wireless systems. There isn't a spare 2 inches for those drivers. With five of them running around out there, almost full-size, they come so close to each other that I cringe when I see it. But it does really well."

Mouse House Trivia: In "Cars," George Carlin voiced Filmore, a version of Al Sleet, his hippie-dippy weatherman who gave us the hippie dippy weather, man. ...

"At opening night, it was the fathers standing up and taking pictures of the cars," Papineau says. "Kids love them but parents thought they were the coolest things. I wanted to build one for myself, but it's a little expensive."

Mouse House Trivia: For cocky "Cars" character McQueen, animators were inspired by celebs including Kid Rock. Did that make Pam Anderson his pit stop? ... Scheduling conflicts caused "Star Trek" star Patrick Stewart to pass on the role of King Triton in "The Little Mermaid." He couldn't make it so. ... An urban legend is that Tinker Bell was based on Marilyn Monroe. Absolutely untrue -- you know, it's that Disney wholesomeness thing.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.