It can definitely be hard to get into the holiday spirit in Florida when the temperatures are still in the 70s. If you’re looking for fun things to do in Florida for Christmas, ICE! at Gaylord Palms is a must, especially if you have young children. This event brings Christmas to life and a little frosty fun to sunny South Florida.
ICE! is a holiday attraction with ice sculptures, ice slides, a holiday village and all sorts of holiday activities to do with the family like gingerbread decorating and Santa meet and greets. It’s a huge production within the Gaylord Palms and you can easily spend the whole day here.
The theme for ICE! is different each year. When I went, it was ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ (the year before was the Grinch and I was so bummed to miss that one). For 2024, the theme at the Orlando location is ELF!
There are six ICE! locations around the US including Orlando. The others can be found in Dallas, Denver, Nashville, San Antonio and Washington DC. And they each have their own theme featuring popular holiday movies or Christmas characters.
general info:
About ICE! at Gaylord Palms
The inspiration behind the whole event is none other than Harbin, China. Harbin is home to the largest Ice and Snow Festival in the world. I was lucky enough to be able to go to it back when I lived in China and let me tell you, it was one of the best travel experiences I have ever had. It was also the coldest I have ever been in my life.
The ice sculptures in Harbin are UNREAL. They have life-size buildings, castles, ice slides, insane sculptures…you name it. It is a phenomenal experience. And I took one of my favorite travel photos there:
With that being said, ICE! at Gaylord Palms is the real deal because they actually use 40 artisans from Harbin, China to create this attraction. And they meticulously plan out each ice sculpture and hand-carve them from over two million pounds of ice over a 6-week period.
ICE! at Gaylord Palms
The ICE! section is just one of many attractions there, but easily the main attraction (for me anyway). This part of the hotel is sectioned off and kept at a cool 9 degrees in order to keep the ice sculptures frozen. Before heading in, you’re handed a blue parka to wear, but you’ll still want to make sure you dress warm.
We felt silly (and were sweating) wearing jeans, boots and sweaters on the way up to Orlando, but it’s necessary once you enter. We brought gloves and hats also and if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to stay in there that long.
There are 10 scenes recreated from the movie that you can walk through to see and some small ice slides towards the end as well. The ice sculptures are super vibrant and a chemist is actually used to get the colors accurate.
Most people spend about 20-40 minutes inside, because at some point you’ll reach your limit of being cold and you’ll have to get out. We stayed in there a decent amount of time and then took ages to thaw out.
But it’s such a fun experience that you sort of forget about being cold. Once you walk through the movie scenes, there’s a Carver’s Showcase where you can see one of the artisans at work. And the last scene you walk through is a nativity scene of clear ice blocks.
Market Square
Once you get out of the ice sculpture area, you’ll end up in the Market Square which is a cute area to walk around. There are lots of decorated Christmas trees that you can shop for ornaments and there are store fronts around the whole area. This is where you’ll find some of the other activity workshops.
Snow Things to Do
Apart from ICE!, there are a few other snow things to do that are outside of the 9º area. They each require a separate ticket for purchase.
Snow Flow Mountain
Though there are a few small ice slides within ICE!, they don’t compare to Snow Flow Mountain which is a bigger production for ice tubing. There are several lanes of slides and your ticket gives you unlimited rides within an hour time slot.
Snowball Build and Blast
This seems like a very Florida thing to have, but a few of the other warmer locations have it as well. It’s a snow station where you can buy a bucket of snow so you can make your own snowballs. (The midwesterner in me is rolling my eyes that you can sell a bucket of snow but it totally makes sense for Florida kids who haven’t seen snow!)
It’s a cute station too with targets to aim at after you’ve made your snowballs.
Additional Activities:
There is a lot going on at the Gaylord Palms and many additional ticketed activities:
- Gingerbread Decorating: $13.99+
- Photos with Santa: $40+
- Elf Training: $18.99+ per ornament
- Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions: $18.99 per person
- Greatest Story Stage Performance: $13.99 per person
- Cirque: Adults $9.99 – $19.99, Children $4.99 – $13.99
- Scavenger Hunt: $14.99 per book
- Escape Room: $120+ for 4 people
As you can see from the list of activities above, there’s a ton of things to do on the property. Even if you don’t end up buying additional tickets, you should walk around a bit to explore and see the decorations.
I’d never been to the property before and in the middle is an atrium type area with shops, restaurants and a little jungle like area where you can spot alligators. Only in Florida can you see gators next to palm trees and Christmas trees but there you have it!
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