After two years, holiday favorite ICE! at the Gaylord Texan is back
GRAPEVINE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — After two years of COVID-19 cancellations, a beloved North Texas holiday tradition is back.
ICE! at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine is a 17,000 square foot frozen attraction featuring larger than life ice sculptures that take you through the scenes of your favorite holiday films.
"Texans love coming to ice. We have so many people travel in regionally and of course our locals. It's just a really fun experience that you don't normally get to have here in Texas," said Martha Neibling of the Gaylord Texan.
This year, guests can see over 2 million pounds of ice, carved delicately into scenes from The Polar Express.
"We have Chinese artisans that travel across the globe all the way from Harbin China which is the ice capital of the world, to Grapevine. We build this tent and bring it to 9ºF, and they spent 6 weeks carving the ice," Neibling said.
When you show up to ICE! staff will give you a complimentary parka to borrow, but they recommend you bundle up.
"As you walk through and see the scenes from the movie, one highlight is the ice slide so we have six two story tall ice slides that adults and kids go down, a lot of photo opps inside and there's even an ice bar inside so people 21 and up can get a cocktail."
The resort also has ice skating, snow tubing, and snowball throwing.
But they say, having ICE! back after the pandemic means the most of all.
"We still had Christmas the last two years but without ice it wasn't the same. It's just super heartwarming."
ICE! tickets can be found here. The exhibit runs through January 1.