ICE! at Gaylord Palms

[Rachael Q]

We will be at Disney over Christmas and are looking for things to do when we need a break. Has anyone been to ICE before? Is it worth it? How long would you spend there? Does it get crowded?

 

[SpeciallyK]

We went to the ICE thing last year. It was a lot of fun. My wife is an artist, so she was particularly amazed at the small details. I guess the artists are all Chinese. I originally found out about it at this website called Christmas In Orlando dot com. [It won't let me use a link... oh well] Oh, and we stayed for dinner because there was a show in the hotel's giant atrium, too. Good fun.

 

[Keacc]

My wife and I went to the show last year. We spent more time waiting in line to get in than it took to see everything. The ice carvings are impressive, but you can see everything in 10-15 minutes. Not much bang for the buck.

 

[kilee]

This is something I'd like to do too. The reviews always seem to come back raving about this.

 

[inkkognito]

The ice slides are very neat. Never realized I could move so fast!!

 

[lookingforward]

We did the Ice show last year. It was beautiful, but as one poster mentioned it is very short walk through. I would recommend going during off hours when you can take lots of time to see all the details. We went at night and it was wall to wall people and they were not very polite. We stayed at the Gaylord and that was amazing, the Canyon Ranch spa was great as were the Christmas decorations

 

[Trishqtpi]

We have gone before and would go again. Its amazing to see all the ice sculptures. If you can go it will be one of those things you'll always remember seeing. Makes for good photo ops too, especially when you wear the big blue coats they give you!!

 

[HopperFan]

We did it NYE day and it was just beautiful. My teens were, whatever, when I told them but they loved it. Slides are so much fun. I bundled it with the ice skating too. Then we spent a couple hours in the Gaylord atrium walking all over hunting down the Gnomes in the search game they had. Just had a great afternoon. But the ICE is really special, and I would go again. Agree to go early if you can and walk slow, we even backtracked and looked at all a second time.

 

[redoschi]

I just found info on this today and thought it would be pretty cool to go!

Does anyone knows until what are the working hours in mid December?

How long should I prepare to spend on ICE!?

 

[HopperFan]

All info you need is here including link to buy tickets.

http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordpalms/things_to_do/IcePalms.cfm

 

[horseshowmom]

We enjoyed it when we went a couple of years ago. This year we're going to see it in Nashville at the Opryland Gaylord (along with the Rockettes). The theme there is going to be the Grinch.

Ours is with the package (room, etc.), but if I were buying the tickets separately, I'd do the weekday online purchase to save money.

 

[celerystalker]

I've been to the one in Nashville and it's amazing! The ice slides are a lot of fun - be sure to do them even if you are an adult.
The only bad thing is the price -
it's around $17 per person here.
I get in free because I have a friend that works it every year. I'm not sure if I would do it if I had to pay, but I love walking around Gaylord Opryland at Christmas, so it's a great evening out.
If the price doesn't bother you, I'd say go for it.
If it's the same size as the one in Nashville, as long as it's not crowded, I'd say it'd take about an hour to just soak up the atmosphere.
Remember to bring gloves and a scarf though.
The parka they give you keeps you warm, but your hands and nose start to suffer after awhile.
The pictures turn out really well.

 

[redoschi]

we have a shopping day so I guess we can go there right when it opens then go shopping after that (we're going to Cirque du Soleil on that night and we have NO free nights for the whole trip, always ADR for dinner, MVMCP or a show)

 

[mmkk]

I too went to the one in Nashville a few years ago and it was spectacular. We were there actually to see the Rockettes Christmas show but found the ICE exhibit before the show. The slides are a lot of fun and it is nice that they loan you the parkas-definitely needed them!!!

 

[Mom21]

DD and I are going in Dec 20. I have a question about the parkas. I'm not a germophobe, but do they clean them between people? It grosses me out to think about getting a parka after someone that doesn't shower or someone that has lice.

 

[Sue's Mum]

My wife and I went to the show last year. We spent more time waiting in line to get in than it took to see everything. The ice carvings are impressive, but you can see everything in 10-15 minutes. Not much bang for the buck.

I agree - and we had to pay for parking - $7 I think.

 

[Lisa P.]

...the parkas. I'm not a germophobe, but do they clean them between people? It grosses me out to think about getting a parka after someone that doesn't shower or someone that has lice.

That's a good question and I don't have the answer. The parkas are hooded, but you may want to bring your own hat or at least, not use the hood, since sharing hats/hoods/hairbrushes is not really a good idea. However, the shower issue is probably a non-issue. This isn't exactly a soup-kitchen. People pay good money to park and tour this thing so it likely attracts people who would practice reasonable hygiene habits. I wouldn't worry terribly about the parkas being grungy. You try on a coat in the store before you buy, right? It's not as personal at other clothing, just outerwear.

We still haven't decided if we're going to make time for this on our winter trip. It sounds & looks really nice but we'll probably use the money for a nice lunch someplace instead. LOL!