SINGAPORE — A day after organisers said the event would go on as planned, the Disney On Ice presents Live Your Dreams show has been cancelled, the event’s official venue partner Singapore Sports Hub stated on its website on Friday (March 6).

The cancellation of the show, which was scheduled to run from March 12 to March 22 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, was due to the rising global threat of Covid-19, the statement on the website said. Patrons will get a refund, organisers said.

“Due to the growing global threat of the novel coronavirus, the public health concerns associated with it and increased travel restrictions in the region, the upcoming performances of Disney On Ice presents Live Your Dreams… have been cancelled,” it wrote.

On Wednesday, Sports Hub told TODAY that the show would go on as planned with precautionary measures such as temperature checks at access points, increased frequency of cleaning of the venue and making hand sanitisers widely available.

A spokesperson for the organiser of Disney On Ice, Feld Entertainment had also confirmed on Thursday that the show had been scheduled to go on as planned but that ticket buyers could either exchange or refund their tickets.

On Friday, when TODAY sent an email seeking information about the cancellation, an auto-generated email reply from the ticket promoter of the show, ApacTix, stated that all patrons who have purchased tickets through Sports Hub Tix or ApacTix will get a full refund subject to the refund procedure.

For those who paid with a credit card, refunds will be automatically credited to the same credit card used for the transaction and will take 14 business days to be processed.

Others who paid in cash or Nets are advised to proceed to the Singapore Sports Hub Box Office at Kallang Wave Mall with their physical tickets and photo identification between March 9 and 22 this year for a cash refund.

The cancellation of the show came after local ticket buyers took to the event’s Facebook page to demand that the event should be cancelled and that refunds be given.

Some parents who spent hundreds on the tickets told TODAY on Wednesday that they were not planning to go for the show due to concerns about Covid-19.

Marketing professional Ms Fiona Ng, who is in her 30s, who had bought four tickets to the show costing S$376, said on Friday that it was a responsible decision by the organisers to cancel the show.

“I am relieved that Disney and the organisers have the social conscience to cancel the Disney On Ice performance in Singapore as ticket holders are mainly families with young children, given the current Dorscon Orange here,” she said. The Government raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) level from Yellow to Orange on Feb 7.

“We are not out of the woods where Covid-19 is concerned so such decisions will help limit further clusters.”

She added that she thinks the show was cancelled partly due to the mounting pressure from parents on social media calling for it to be cancelled.

“Disney is a big brand globally and I don’t think they want any backlash on its reputation,” she said.

Another ticket buyer, a 41-year-old administrative worker who wants to be known only as Madam Teo, said that it would help to control the spread of Covid-19.

“It’s good because I’ve seen some parents comment on Facebook saying that they want to still go for the show with a mask while taking other health precautions,” she said. “But this might not be enough to prevent the spread of the (virus).”