Making memories in the Florida cold!

Gaylord Palms Resort's ICE! Christmas Around the World

It’s not too often Florida kids get to play in freezing cold temperatures and throw snow balls. Even though we’ve had some bitterly cold temperatures lately, it’s nothing like the nine-degree temperatures in Orlando at Gaylord Palms Resort’s ICE! This year the theme is Christmas Around the World.  

The Tubbs Family at ICE! 

Recently my family was invited to experience ICE! It is in its fifteenth season and is self-guided walk through experience of a winter wonderland, where two million pounds of colorful ice has been carved into larger-than-life ice sculptures by some of the finest artisans from Harbin, China. This year the sculptures represent holiday scenes from various nations including a two-story ice sculpture with slides visitors can go down.  There’s also ice sculptures of the traditional Santa’s North Pole and a beautiful nativity scene created with crystal clear ice. The nativity is my favorite part because it brings in the true meaning of Christmas.

Graci and Randi inside ICE!

Kadi, Graci and Randi at the nativity.

My two daughters Randi (13) and Graci (11) are Florida girls, so feeling the freezing cold temperatures and seeing ice sculptures isn’t something they experience too often.  Even though their teeth were chattering at times, they loved it!

They could only stand the freezing temperatures for about a half an hour, still it was plenty of time to see everything and go down the slides, which probably was their favorite part.  It truly is fascinating looking at the details in the sculptures.  

The slides made of ice inside ICE!

Besides ICE! the resort has a bunch of other things you can do and see while you are there, and you don’t have to be a guest of the hotel to enjoy all the festivities. You can just come for the day. Most of the activities you need to purchase a ticket for, but there are some that are free.

The North Pole made of ice.

Right outside of ICE! is what they call Alpine Village. This is where you can do photos with Santa, meet Mrs. Claus. who does a half hour interactive show and sing-a-long, have hot chocolate or other desserts, make a gingerbread houses or shop for holiday items.     

There’s also an area for snow tubing. This was a favorite of my two girls. They kept getting in line to race each other down the tubing hill which is covered in real snow. My husband and I enjoyed racing each other too. There are eight-lanes of tubing, so it wasn’t too long of a wait. They also enjoyed throwing snowballs at the interactive targets trying to hit a bulls-eye to make it snow.

The post office where kids get
their postcards stamped.

Randi got her postcard stamped.

And if kids have their wish list ready, they can enjoy for free the Reindeer Express Post Office. This is where they fill out a postcard and enter a special facility to submit their postcard and receive a stamp on their card as a special keepsake.

The beautiful tree inside the atrium of
Gaylord Palms Resort Orlando

On the other side of the resort is the beautiful atrium, decorated with millions of lights and includes a six-story Christmas tree. At night there are several 12-minute shows of dancing lights to holiday songs. It’s called the Joyful Atrium Light Show. This is free to view along with the daily performances of the Cirque Dreams Unwrapped, which is a 25-minute show performed in the atrium featuring incredible performers who do amazing acts on stage and in the air. You won’t want to miss seeing this show. 

Cirque Dreams Unwrapped

Seats are free to this, so you will want to get there early. You can also purchase VIP seats if you want or and tickets for the dessert party on the fourth floor where you can eat and view the show. The talent in this show is phenomenal! Sunday through Friday, there are two shows 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday there are three shows, 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

They also have the Sounds of the Season Concert Series, which are on several days during the festivities. You do need to purchase a ticket for this and the ticket includes admission to ICE! (tickets start at $29.99 and include ticket to ICE!)

Graci with the United States Tree.

While you are in the atrium make sure you walk the Christmas Tree Trail, where you can look at with nine Christmas trees decorated honoring the culture and traditions of various countries. My favorite is the United States tree decorated with US flags.

Hanging with Snoopy!

If you are there in the morning you and your kids can enjoy breakfast with Charlie Brown & Friends. We enjoyed the wonderful buffet and taking pictures with the peanuts gang! ($23 for kids and $34 for adults)

What I love about being in Florida is one minute the girls were outside swimming in the pool and sliding down the water slides and the next minute they were in jackets bundled up seeing the ice sculptures and throwing snow balls. Only in Florida!!

The girls were on this
slide earlier in the day.

Tips if you plan on going. Make sure you bring gloves and wear winter clothes for ICE! they give you a huge jacket to wear, but it’s still cold. This holiday experience goes until January 7, 2018. There are lots deals you can look for online. Before you go it’s a good idea to know what you want to do, so you can purchase your tickets in advance. You can purchase at the door, but you will pay a little more. You can also get discounts by combining some of the activities. There’s even a Florida resident discount which saves you $4 on your ticket to ICE! Use code FLR17. Adults are $28.99 online and kids $14.99 for ICE! You do have to pay for parking which is $22. For more information go to www.ChristmasAtGaylordpalms.com or call 407-586-4423. 

We were able to get our photo with the
awesome cast of Cirque Dreams Unwrapped.