Tips for experiencing Ice! at Gaylord Hotels this Christmas season

Across all five properties, expert carvers from Harbin, China, traveled to the U.S. to transform 10 million pounds of ice into whimsical and surprisingly realistic holiday displays up to 30 feet tall. The highlight of the event for kids — and kids at heart like myself — is sailing down a frosty slide made of ice. There’s even a shorter slide designed for kids too small or frightened for the full-size slides.

This year’s Ice! themes include:

There are a lot of festive activities

The splendor of Ice! may be what gets you through Gaylord’s door, but the walk-through displays are hardly the only thing you can do when you visit a Gaylord Resort during the holiday season; there are enough activities to keep your family entertained for a full day or an entire weekend.

The offerings vary slightly from property to property, but you’ll find experiences like snow tubing, holiday-themed scavenger hunts, gingerbread decorating, ice skating, ice bumper cars, family-friendly escape rooms, horse-drawn sleigh rides, photos with Santa, holiday character breakfasts and more.

After two years of visiting, our favorite activities are the Ice! walk-through, ice skating (they have pushchairs that you can use for balance and to help young kids), the scavenger hunt and the ice bumper cars.

Most activities require an advance ticket purchase, but during my family’s recent visit to Gaylord Opryland, we spent as much time strolling through the atriums and marveling at the dazzling decor and dozens of Christmas trees (which costs nothing at all) as we did building snowballs and sliding down the tubing hill.

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It’s also worth mentioning that the sheer size of most Gaylord resorts means lots of travel time between your room and whatever fun activity you are headed to, so it can start to feel like you never stop to rest unless you intentionally build in some downtime.

This year, we scheduled only two to three activities per day. We left time in between to return to our hotel room for a snack or, after visiting the Ice! walk-through, for snuggling in our beds to warm up.

Even if you aren’t staying overnight and are only visiting for the day, I would recommend choosing only a few activities instead of trying to do it all. Part of the fun of being at a Gaylord resort is exploring the shops, eateries and gardens that span the gorgeous glass atriums — you want to leave plenty of time for spontaneous wandering while you are there.

If you are staying on-site, I recommend taking an hour or so after you check in to do a lap around the resort and get the lay of the land. It’ll help ease the stress of trying to make it to any activities with time-based tickets at the correct time.

Hotel guests receive extra perks

Other than the obvious perk of being able to earn and redeem your Marriott Bonvoy points and free night certificates at all Gaylord properties, overnight guests receive Ice!-specific perks, as well. All overnight guests can utilize the “Chill Pass” for front-of-line access and shorter wait times when visiting Ice! This complimentary perk is included with your stay, so you don’t need to do anything additional to utilize it, but you do still need to purchase a ticket for Ice!

Overnight guests can also take advantage of “Extra Cool Hour,” a benefit that allows hotel guests to enter Ice! one hour before it opens to day guests. Fewer crowds means shorter lines and more trips down the ice slide.

The easiest way to gain access to the event during Extra Cool Hour is to make your room reservation before you purchase your Ice! tickets.

When you purchase your Ice! tickets, filter the ticket type to “Overnight Guests Only” and choose your preferred date and time. You should receive a code in your pre-arrival confirmation email that you can enter during the purchase process if you choose a time during the first hour of the day. Alternatively, you can purchase a room and Ice! ticket package and you will receive email instructions on reserving a day and time to visit the attraction.

Because entry to Ice! is timed, it didn’t feel overly crowded when we visited during normal operating hours, but as we near the holidays or if you visit on a weekend, the Chill Pass and Extra Cool Hour may come in handy.

Book an atrium-view room

The unique glass atrium design is what makes staying in a Gaylord resort so special.

My family loves to wake up in the morning and throw open the balcony doors to listen to the rushing waterfalls and see the decor. We usually eat breakfast out there, as well. When the sun sets in the evening and the atrium darkens, the twinkling lights and glittering decor take on an entirely different — and magical — appearance.

Staying in an atrium-view room can cost anywhere from around $70 to $100 more per night than staying in a standard exterior-view room, but I was able to get it for no additional cost — and you can, too.

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I decided to roll the dice and booked an exterior-view room with the hopes of being upgraded to an atrium-view room. The upgrade typically can’t be guaranteed until check-in, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to call prior to our arrival and have them make a note on the reservation. I spoke with a friendly customer service agent who made a note on my account. I expected to have to wait until I checked in for the upgrade to be confirmed, but the next time I opened the Marriott app, my room type showed as an atrium-view room.

I’m not a huge gambler, but this one paid off and I saved some cash.