Tips for experiencing Ice! at Gaylord Hotels this Christmas season

One in every of my household’s favourite vacation traditions is visiting Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. With its magnificent glass atriums, lush landscaping that magically brings the outside in and limitless actions and eating places, it is stunning any time of 12 months, however particularly so through the holidays.

However it’s not only a Nashville factor. There are 4 different Gaylord resorts throughout the nation in Kissimmee, Florida; Aurora, Colorado; Grapevine, Texas; and Nationwide Harbor, Maryland. Collectively, they collectively mild up the vacation season with greater than 7 million Christmas lights (that is 295 miles of lights in case you stretch them out end-to-end), 110,000 toes of garland, 600 Christmas timber and 30,000 poinsettias.

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That is an entire lot of Christmas, however that is not even the primary attraction. The accommodations additionally show life-size, walk-through winter wonderlands utilizing 36,000 blocks of ice (that is 12 million kilos), therefore the title of Gaylord’s flagship vacation occasion — Ice!

In the event you plan so as to add Gaylord Inns’ Ice! to your lineup of vacation traditions, this is all the things you might want to know earlier than you ho, ho, go, together with discover reductions for 2024.

Every property’s Ice! occasion is exclusive

This 12 months, Gaylord Ice! is coming to 6 properties throughout the U.S. — all 5 Gaylord Resorts, plus, for the primary time, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Nation Resort & Spa. Every property invitations friends to expertise immersive (and chilly!) walk-through shows centered round varied common Christmas movies. Whereas every show is totally different, all of them have one factor in widespread — they’re made out of hundreds of blocks of ice coloured and carved by world-renowned specialists into vacation masterpieces that may delight friends of all ages.

Throughout all six properties, skilled ice carvers from Harbin, China (which is dwelling to the most important ice and snow pageant on this planet), journey to the U.S. to rework these 12 million kilos of ice into whimsical and surprisingly practical vacation shows which are typically upward of 30 toes tall. The spotlight of the occasion for teenagers — and children at coronary heart, like myself — is crusing down a frosty slide manufactured from ice. There’s additionally a shorter slide designed for teenagers too small or frightened for the full-size slides.

This 12 months’s Ice! themes are:

• Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center: “The Polar Specific,” Nov. 22, 2024, via Jan. 1, 2025
• Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center: “Frosty the Snowman,” Nov. 8, 2024, via Jan. 4, 2025
• Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center: “Elf,” Nov. 15, 2024, via Jan. 4, 2025
• Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center: “Rudolph the Crimson-Nosed Reindeer,” Nov. 15, 2024, via Jan. 5, 2025
• Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center: “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Nov. 15, 2024, via Dec. 28, 2024
• JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Nov. 23, 2024, via Jan. 5, 2025

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Guide early and search for reductions

Some Ice! actions, like character breakfasts and visits to the carved ice shows, have timed entry reservations. The sooner you buy your tickets, the higher likelihood you may have of getting the precise date and time you might be hoping for. That is particularly vital to do in case you plan to go to on or round a vacation or on weekends when the occasion is even busier than regular.

Reserving early additionally opens up extra alternatives for reductions on Ice! and the opposite actions at Gaylord properties. For a restricted time, it can save you on tickets and trip packages as Gaylord Resorts celebrates the launch of Ice! tickets for 2024, however you’ll be able to anticipate extra reductions round Black Friday. You should definitely observe Gaylord Inns on social media to remain present on out there reductions.

Gaylord Rockies — Aurora, Colorado

• Save as much as 20% with the Festive Favorites Pack. You may get entry to Ice! that includes “The Polar Specific,” the Mistletoe Scavenger Hunt and the Elf Coaching Academy.
• Save as much as 30% with the Vacation Deluxe Pack. Consists of all the things within the Festive Favorites Pack, plus entry to the Gingerbread Adorning Nook and Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions.
• Save as much as 50% with the Final HoliDAY Cross. Consists of all the things within the Vacation Deluxe Pack, plus Tier 2 seating at Cirque: Frost.

See all Gaylord Rockies offers

Gaylord Opryland — Nashville, Tennessee

• Save as much as 20% with the Festive Favorites Pack. You may get entry to Ice! that includes “Frosty the Snowman,” Snowman Scramble Scavenger Hunt and ice tubing.
• Save as much as 30% with the Vacation Deluxe Pack. Consists of all the things within the Festive Favorites Pack, plus ice skating, the Gingerbread Adorning Nook and scorching cocoa.
• Save as much as 50% with the Final HoliDAY Cross. Consists of all the things within the Vacation Deluxe Pack, plus the Snowball Construct & Blast.

See all Gaylord Opryland offers

Gaylord Palms — Kissimmee, Florida

• Save as much as 20% with the Festive Favorites Pack. You may get entry to Ice! that includes “Elf,” TwElf Days of Christmas Scavenger Hunt and Snow Circulation Mountain ice tubing.
• Save as much as 30% with the Vacation Deluxe Pack. Consists of all the things within the Festive Favorites Pack, plus Snowball Construct & Blast and the Gingerbread Adorning Nook.
• Save as much as 50% with the Final HoliDAY Cross. Consists of all the things within the Vacation Deluxe Pack, plus Elf Coaching Academy, Mrs. Claus’ Christmas traditions and Cirque: Spirit of Christmas.

See all Gaylord Palms offers

Gaylord Texan — Grapevine, Texas

• Save as much as 20% with the Festive Favorites Pack. You may get entry to Ice! that includes “Rudolph the Crimson-Nosed Reindeer,” Reindeer Video games Scavenger Hunt that includes Rudolph and the Misfit Toys and Snow Circulation Mountain tubing.
• Save as much as 30% with the Vacation Deluxe Pack. Consists of all the things within the Festive Favorites Pack, plus the Gingerbread Adorning Nook and Snowball Construct & Blast.
• Save as much as 50% with the Final HoliDAY Cross. Consists of all the things within the Vacation Deluxe Pack, plus ice-skating and the Christmas Carousel.

See all Gaylord Texan offers

Gaylord Nationwide — Nationwide Harbor, Maryland

• Save as much as 20% with the Festive Favorites Pack. You may get entry to Ice! that includes “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Merry Snoopy Christmas Scavenger Hunt and Snow Circulation Mountain tubing.
• Save as much as 30% with the Vacation Deluxe Pack. Consists of all the things within the Festive Favorites Pack, plus entry to the Gingerbread Adorning Nook and Mrs. Claus’ Christmas traditions.
• Save as much as 50% with the Final HoliDAY Cross. Consists of all the things within the Vacation Deluxe Pack, plus Snowball Construct & Blast and fountain-level seating at Cirque: Spirit of Christmas.

See all Gaylord National offers

JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Nation — San Antonio, Texas

• Save as much as 20% with the Festive Favorites Pack. You may get entry to Ice! that includes “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” ice tubing and The Grinch’s Fantastic Terrible Concept Scavenger Hunt.
• Save as much as 30% with the Vacation Deluxe Pack. Consists of all the things within the Festive Favorites Pack, plus Snowball Construct & Blast and Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions.
• Save as much as 50% with the Final HoliDAY Cross. Consists of all the things within the Vacation Deluxe Pack, plus entry to the Gingerbread Adorning Nook.

See all JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country offers

There are plenty of festive actions

The splendor of Ice! could also be what will get you thru Gaylord’s door, however the walk-through shows are hardly the one factor you are able to do whenever you go to a Gaylord Resort through the vacation season; there are sufficient actions to maintain your loved ones entertained for a full day or a whole weekend.

The choices differ barely from property to property, however you may discover experiences like snow tubing, holiday-themed scavenger hunts, gingerbread adorning, ice skating, ice bumper automobiles, family-friendly escape rooms, horse-drawn sleigh rides, images with Santa, vacation character breakfasts and extra.

After a number of years of visiting, our favourite actions are the Ice! walk-through, ice skating (they’ve pushchairs that you should use to stability and assist younger children), the scavenger hunt and the ice bumper automobiles.

Most actions require an advance ticket buy, however throughout my household’s final go to to Gaylord Opryland, we spent as a lot time strolling via the atriums and marveling on the dazzling decor and dozens of Christmas timber (which you are able to do at no cost) as we did constructing snowballs and sliding down the tubing hill.

Costume appropriately

Spoiler alert: Ice! is chilly. Very chilly. 9 levels Fahrenheit, to be actual. The type people at Gaylord will offer you one of many beautiful blue parkas pictured above, however you may additionally need to ensure you are sporting closed-toe footwear, pants and gloves so you’ll be able to comfortably benefit from the expertise.

The jackets have hoods, however you might also need to deliver a hat to retain some much-needed physique warmth. When you have them, deliver touchscreen-friendly gloves, as a result of there are photograph alternatives round each nook, and frozen fingers do not take the most effective photos.

If you’re additionally planning on tubing or ice skating throughout your go to, you may be completely happy you packed your cold-weather gear, even when the temperatures outdoors are hotter than they’re inside. In the event you occur to overlook a hat and gloves, you should purchase them on the resort.

Construct in some downtime

After a number of vacation visits to Gaylord Ice!, we have realized a couple of issues that affect how we plan our itinerary.

There’s a lot to try this we packed nearly each out there second of our first go to with the above-mentioned actions. When our youngest son was too exhausted to swim on the indoor water park and fell asleep in his stroller, I knew we must always most likely reduce on actions or add one other night time to our keep.

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It is also value mentioning that the sheer dimension of most Gaylord resorts means a lot of journey time between your room and no matter enjoyable exercise you might be headed to, so it could possibly begin to really feel such as you by no means cease to relaxation except you deliberately construct in some downtime.

On our subsequent go to, we scheduled solely two to a few day by day actions. We left time in between to return to our resort room for a snack or, after visiting the Ice! walk-through, for snuggling in our beds to heat up.

Even in case you aren’t staying in a single day and are solely visiting for the day, I might advocate selecting just a few actions as a substitute of attempting to do all of it. A part of the enjoyable of being at a Gaylord resort is exploring the outlets, eateries and gardens that span the beautiful glass atriums — you need to go away loads of time for spontaneous wandering while you’re there.

If you’re staying on-site, I like to recommend taking an hour or so after you test in to do a lap across the resort and get the lay of the land. It’s going to assist ease the stress of attempting to make it to any actions with scheduled tickets on the appropriate time.

Lodge friends obtain additional perks

Aside from the plain perk of incomes and redeeming your Marriott Bonvoy factors and having fun with free night time certificates in any respect Gaylord properties, in a single day friends additionally obtain Ice!-specific perks. All in a single day friends can make the most of the “Chill Cross” for front-of-line entry and shorter wait occasions when visiting Ice! This complimentary perk is included along with your keep, so that you need not do something extra to put it to use, however you do nonetheless have to buy a ticket for Ice!

In a single day friends also can make the most of “Additional Cool Hour,” a profit that enables resort friends to enter Ice! one hour earlier than it opens to day friends. Fewer folks means shorter strains and extra journeys down the ice slide.

The simplest solution to achieve entry to the occasion throughout Additional Cool Hour is to make your room reservation earlier than you buy your Ice! tickets.

If you buy your Ice! tickets, filter the ticket sort to “In a single day Visitors Solely” and select your most popular date and time. You must obtain a code in your prearrival affirmation e mail that you would be able to enter through the buy course of in case you select a time through the first hour of the day. Alternatively, you should purchase a room and Ice! ticket package deal and you’ll obtain e mail directions on reserving a day and time to go to the attraction.

As a result of entry to Ice! is timed, it did not really feel overly crowded after we visited throughout regular working hours, however as we close to the vacations or in case you go to through the weekend, the Chill Cross and Additional Cool Hour could come in useful.

Guide an atrium-view room

The distinctive glass atrium design is what makes staying in a Gaylord resort so particular.

My household likes to get up within the morning and throw open the balcony doorways to hearken to the dashing waterfalls and see the decor. We normally eat breakfast on the market, as effectively. When the solar units within the night and the atrium darkens, the twinkling lights and glittering decor tackle a completely totally different — and magical — look.

Staying in an atrium-view room can price anyplace from round $70 to $100 extra per night time than staying in a normal exterior-view room, however I acquired it for no extra price — and you may, too.

As a Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite member, I’m eligible for a complimentary room upgrade after I keep at a Marriott Bonvoy property, based mostly on availability. You’ll be able to earn Gold Elite standing with 25 eligible stays per 12 months, however you’ll be able to earn it a lot sooner with a journey card that automatically grants you Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status (you’ll have to enroll on-line or by calling your card’s customer support and giving them your Marriott Bonvoy quantity), reminiscent of The Platinum Card® from American Express.

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I made a decision to roll the cube and booked an exterior-view room with the hopes of being upgraded to an atrium-view room. The improve sometimes cannot be assured till check-in, however I figured it could not damage to name previous to our arrival and have them make an observation on the reservation. I spoke with a pleasant customer support agent who made a be aware on my account. I anticipated to have to attend till I checked in for the improve to be confirmed, however the subsequent time I opened the Marriott app, my room sort confirmed as an atrium-view room.

I am not an enormous gambler, however this one paid off, and I saved some money.