In an era of live-action Disney reboots of the same old love stories, two traveling skaters who met and fell in love while performing for Disney On Ice give us an original love story that fans deserve.
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Picture this: When classic Disney stories collide, the titular character from Aladdin and the prince from Snow White meet and fall in love. Now that’s what we call a fairytale story, and it’s based on actual events.
James Robart-Morgan and Nick Fernandez are long-time professional skaters who met while traveling with Disney On Ice. Robart-Morgan, originally from Canada, plays Prince Florian, while Fernandez is an Australian who plays Aladdin in their current touring show, Let’s Celebrate. The couple spoke with the Times of San Diego to share their experience as a couple on the road.
“We live and work together, and spend holidays and birthdays far from home, so we have to build a home together on the road,” said Robart-Morgan.
The fact that these two skaters from different parts of the globe found each other is pretty magical. According to Disney On Ice, the touring ice shows is the largest employer of professional figure skaters in the world, representing 48 countries over the past 40 years. On any given performance, there are more than fifty skaters who are part of the cast. The stars and skates aligned when these two performers met.
But how does the couple deal with being openly gay while touring through different parts of the country?
“Traveling as a gay couple can be tricky as well,” said Fernandez. “Acceptance levels are different in different places, so we sometimes have to change our behavior to accommodate where we’re traveling. But even with 10,000 people in the audience, we can always find each other on the ice.”
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If Disney wants to create an original love story instead of hashing out the same old remakes, then Robart-Morgan’s and Fernandez’s story might be the one. After all, they seem to have found their happy ending that some only dream of.
Catch Robart-Morgan and Fernandez when they skate into your town during the Let’s Celebrate tour.
Which Disney characters would you like to see fall in love? Let Inside The Magic know in the comments.