It was produced by Feld Entertainment, who had previously worked on Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and Disney on Ice.
[2] Speaking of "Once Upon a December"'s translation to the stage, choreographer Sarah Kawahara said, "you enter into a kind of fantasy, magical quality, rather than thinking back on a time of terror...I was able to take [the film's] fantasy elements and make then come true".
[1] The Sun Sentinel deemed it "lavish",[1] while Daily News wrote it a "colorful adventure story".
[3] Harfort Courant suggested the audience would "revel in the lively explosions and menacing squadron of bats that spice the production".
[4] Meanwhile, St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that the historical story's brutality made it a strange fit for a children's ice show.