Parents horrified at being charged £12 for cup of CRUSHED ICE at Disney show

FURIOUS parents have slammed the organisers of a live Disney show for trying to “rip them off” by charging £12 each for cups of crushed ice shaped like characters from Frozen.

Scores of hard-pressed mums and dads – who shelled out up to £50 per person to go to the Disney on Ice Silver Anniversary Celebration show – were left “disgusted” at the prices of the interval treats.

The show, which started touring the UK in March, sees Disney favourites Mickey and Minnie Mouse joined by characters from Frozen, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan.

After starting in Liverpool on March 16, the show has already toured Belfast and Birmingham before hitting London’s 12,500-capacity SSE Arena in Wembley last Wednesday.

The opening night in London, where ticket prices ranged from £22 to just over £50, was attended by TV star Denise van Outen, S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens and singer Michelle Heaton, among other celebs.

It finished its London tour on Sunday night to a packed house and now moves on to Cardiff, Glasgow and Leeds before finishing in Nottingham on May 15.

Show-goers, however, were left aghast when they went to buy treats for their little ones during the half-time interval – which included plastic cups shaped like Frozen character Olaf and filled with flavoured crushed ice.

Time after time parents queuing up to buy the Olaf cups turned away in horror after being told they cost a staggering £12.

Another blue plastic goblet with Frozen star Anna on it was on sale for £10 – and a bag of popcorn was on sale for £8.

Mum-of-one Joanne Benson, 38, of Harrow, north west London, said she could not believe her ears when she was told the cup of flavoured ice for daughter Sophie would cost her £12.

She said: “I asked the lady how much the crushed ice Olaf cup was and kind of expected maybe £3 or £4, but the woman said it was £12.

“I thought it was a joke and asked her again and she said £12 and I just went ‘Oh my God’ and she said ‘A lot of people have been saying that’.

“It is just unbelievable that they can even think about charging £12 for a piece of plastic filled with flavoured ice.”

Dad-of-three Simon Boyes, 39, of High Wycombe, Bucks, said he walked off in disgust after being told it would cost him £36 for three icy drinks for his kids.

He approached the concessions stand at the arena and asked for “thee Olafs” – one cherry, one strawberry and one raspberry – and was told it would set him back £36.

Speaking after the show, he said: “I couldn’t believe my ears – I asked again and they said £36.
“I refused to pay and just walked off – there was no way in the world I was paying the equivalent of three hours wages for ice which I can get free from my freezer.

“Whoever came up with the price must be living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Online reviews have also slammed the prices at the show, saying despite the show being ‘fantastic’, the prices were a rip off.

One reviewer said calling themselves Tazzy wrote: “The cost of the merchandise was ridiculous.
“A slush puppy in a cheap plastic Olaf Cup for £12 – really!!

“I felt sorry for parents who didn’t want to say no to the kids wanting something from the overpriced stalls that met you at every turn.”

A spokesman for Disney said the products, made by Feld Consumer Products an international concessions operation, were “unique” to the show and could not be bought anywhere else.

She said: “Our Feld Consumer Products merchandise items are unique to the production and cannot be purchased anywhere else so our guests are able to take a piece of the show home with them.

“All prices include all applicable sales and related taxes and every show has a wide array of products with a very wide range of prices to ensure there are items suitable for all of our customer’s budgets.
“In addition, all items come with unconditional two-year guarantee.

“In the unusual circumstance where a customer is not fully satisfied with an item, it is replaced or refunded promptly without question and without return or handling fees.”

A spokesman for the SSE Arena said the cost of all Disney-related merchandise was “nothing to do with them”.