Enter an ICE! Wonderland at Gaylord National Resorts

ICE! at the Gaylord National Resort

— Image Credit: Gaylord National Resort

What’s better than a million lights of holiday decorations that you can look at? More than a million lights of decorations plus a winter wonderland of ice sculptures that you can walk through, complete with slides made of ice. Gaylord Resorts’ Ice! extravaganzas are open to non-resort guests.

To celebrate the season, Gaylord Hotels create themed fairylands of ice at four of its resorts:

• Gaylord National Resort — National Harbor, Maryland
• Gaylord Opryland — Nashville, Tennessee
• Gaylord Palms — Kissimmee, Florida
• Gaylord Texan — Grapevine, Texas

Scores of artisans from Harbin, China, where ice sculpting has a long tradition, crafted the roomfuls of larger-than-life sculptures, each carefully colored. Stroll through Christmas Around the World at Gaylord National’s ICE!; relive the story of Rudolph and his red nose at Gaylord Opryland; see Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang at Gaylord Palms; and learn how Santa started handing out toys at Gaylord Texan.

ICE! at the Gaylord Palms

— Image Credit: Gaylord Palms

The kid with you, not to mention the child within, can’t help but smile at the mega-sized Linus, Santa, nutcracker, and rows of Technicolor, glistening figures. You and your kids can zip down the ice slides and, depending upon the location, skate on an ice rink. For humbuggers who need a bit more holiday incentive, ICE! comes with access to a bar and specialty drinks at certain properties.

To keep the scenery from melting, the ICE! sets remain at a chilly 9 °F, so be sure to bundle up and wear hats and gloves. If you need extra warmth, the resorts provide calf-length, hooded parkas to wear over or in place of your own jackets.

At all four resorts, you can construct your own stuffed friend at the Build-A-Bear Workshops, and win a prize for discovering the locations of the elves in The Elf on a Shelf Scavenger Hunt.

In addition, at the National Harbor hotel, families can have breakfast with Charlie Brown and his team; at the Opryland property, see the musical “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas;” and at the Gaylord Palms, watch “Cirque Dreams UnWrapped Stage Show.” Reserve tickets ahead. ICE! runs through January 1, 2017.