Interviews and photos: Disney on Ice at the Oklahoma State Fair means family fun for skater, fans

An abbreviated version of this story appears in Saturday's The Oklahoman.

Family affair: For many, Disney on Ice is an Oklahoma State Fair tradition

Prettily posed between statues of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, cousins Tatum Richey and Hunter Mathena happily compared gloves.

After all, it isn’t every day that a couple of 3-year-olds get to wear the chic elbow-length accessories.

“They check out each other a lot, anyway, even without costumes,” said Nichole Mathena, of Yukon, smiling as she watched as her daughter, Hunter, dressed as Minnie House, admired the yellow skirt of her niece’s Belle costume Thursday night at Jim Norick State Fair Arena.

“She’s just excited to come and experience it because … she loves Disney. We do a lot with the two of them together.”

For three decades, the Oklahoma State Fair has hosted Disney on Ice for just that purpose: bringing families together at the fair. The Mouse House's icy extravaganza has been a state fair staple since 1987, when “Walt Disney's Snow White on Ice, featuring Mickey Mouse” glided into the annual fall festival.

“That’s really what the fair’s all about, making memories. It’s generational, so you came as a child with your parents, now you’ve grown up, you’ve had your own kids, you bring your kids to the fair. And if there’s a way to anchor your trip to the fair with a trip to Disney, what better way?" said Oklahoma State Fair spokesman Scott Munz.

“You see grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters. There can be as many as three generations at any given time.”

Girls’ night

Olivia Lewis, of Oklahoma City, her daughter, Emmy Palomino, 4 ½, and her mom, Pam Urquia, were among the multi-generational families who flocked into State Fair Arena for the opening night of this year’s “Disney on Ice” show, “Dare to Dream.” Dressed as Rapuzel, Emmy couldn’t stop jumping up and down in excitement as she held her grandmother’s hand in the concession stand line before the show.

Along with a portion of Rapunzel’s adventures from the 2010 Disney animated hit “Tangled,” “Dare to Dream” features Belle from 1991’s beloved “Beauty and the Beast,” Cinderella from the 1950 Mouse House classic and Anna and Elsa from the 2013 record-smasher “Frozen.” Hosted by Mickey and Minne Mouse, the show features the Disney on Ice debut of Moana and Maui from the 2016 blockbuster “Moana.”

While she matched her Rapunzel costume with adorably short and perky pigtails, Emmy said the “Tangled” princess is her favorite because of her long, magical hair. The girl said she also admires Rapunzel’s pet chameleon, Pascal.

“I’m a Disney fanatic, and I turned her into a Disney fanatic. She knows every song. We’ve watched every Disney movie,” Emmy’s mother said. “I went when I was pregnant with her and then every year after. My mom bought me our first tickets, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to go; it’s for kids.' And then I went, and I loved it. … And even if I didn’t have kids I would probably go.”

Lately, mother, daughter and grandmother have turned attending Disney on Ice into girls’ night.

“It’s girls only now. We done kicked Daddy out,” Olivia Lewis said with a grin.

Family tradition

Jennifer Payne can’t help but think of her father when she recalls attending Disney on Ice shows at the Oklahoma State Fair.

“I remember coming to the state fair when I was 4 years old and seeing ‘Peter Pan’ and it was my very first Disney on Ice show. I still have the program from it. And some of the people in that program, I have worked with. They have been in the company that long,” Payne said with a laugh.

The Ada native has been skating with Disney on Ice for 10 years, but this is the first time that a company she's performed with has traveled to her home state. She said nine Disney on Ice companies tour the globe at any given time.

Since the Oklahoma State Fair has become a traditional launching point for the Disney on Ice autumn tour, Payne said she has relished spending the last couple of weeks back in her home state.

“To be able to go home on my days off or just pop out and have lunch with one of my friends that lives in the city while I’m here … that has been such a unique experience for me, because sometimes I’m in Japan during rehearsals or Scotland or some far-off place,” she said. “To be here, this is the arena that I auditioned with Disney on Ice in all those years ago, so that has been such a special, life-coming-full-circle moment for me.”

When she was growing up, her father, Bob Payne, would regularly drive her from Ada to Edmond so that she could train at Arctic Edge Ice Arena. Her dad and stepmom, Theresa, were planning to come to see her skate Friday night.

“My dad, God bless him, he spent hours and hours and hours and thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to drive me to and from and to pay for skating. He would work at the rink. He would drive the Zamboni, and he would play the skaters’ music when we were practicing our programs to offset the cost of ice time,” Payne recalled.

“And we would move to Edmond in the summers Monday through Friday and then on the weekends we would go home to be with my mom and my sister. It took a lot of dedication on the part of my family. … I feel thankful and proud that I have taken that and made it into a career.”

When “Disney on Ice presents Dare to Dream” moves to the Tulsa State Fair Sept. 27-30, Payne said she plans to stay with her mom and stepdad, Susan and Bob Willis, at their house in Claremore, instead in a hotel per usual.

Between her OKC and Tulsa fair stops, the skater said she is expecting almost 225 family members, former coaches, classmates and teachers, friends and grown-ups whom she used to babysit to come and see her perform in the “Dare to Dream” ensemble.

“I knew it was a lot of people, but when I sat down and counted it up, I could not believe it. I just feel so supported and so loved, and it’s really fun for me to be able to show these people that I’ve know my whole life what I’ve been doing the last decade – because they haven’t seen it,” she said. “For some of them, it is their first time at Disney on Ice … and I hope that it starts a tradition for their family.”

Making memories

Tacie and Jeff Dreessen, of Mustang, were among the first-timers at Thursday’s opening night performance. Like many other parents, they brought their daughter, Kayden, 5, and son, Daniel, 3, to the show in full costume: Their son was decked out in the spiffy suit of Mickey Mouse, while their daughter was dressed as the perennially popular Princess Ariel.

“She’s a mermaid. I like mermaids. I like swimming – and I don’t need floaties,” Kayden said, adding that she picked out a colorful, light-up snowflake scepter as a souvenir since she’s also a fan of the ice Queen Elsa.

Tacie Dreessen said the costumes and tickets were surprise early birthday presents from her in-laws, Gari and Daniel Dreessen, to the children.

“The kids love Disney. All Disney pretty much,” she said. “We’re excited to watch them. They only found this afternoon that they were coming.”

While cousins Hunter and Tatum happily posed for photos together, their grandmother, Donna Richey, admired the Minnie and Belle costumes she got for them. Along with her granddaughters, she attended the open-night show with her husband, daughter, son and daughter-in-law, making it a big family occasion that was about to get even bigger.

“OK, let’s go shop, girls,” the grandma said. “We did that the other day for the dresses and we had so much fun. It’s all a lot of fun.”

GOING ON

“Disney on Ice presents Dare to Dream” at the Oklahoma State Fair

When: 11:30 a.m., 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday; 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Monday; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Jim Norick State Fair Arena.

Tickets and information: 948-6800 or www.okstatefair.com.

-BAM