Gaylord Palms Resort ICE Review

Merry Madagascar Ice Exhibit Review- Fun for the WHOLE Family

Note: Non-compensated review post…. just sharing my family fun memory!

When we took our trip to Orlando for Thanksgiving I was on the hunt for something different to do that would be good holiday fun!  Well, I found it over at Gaylord Palms Resort!

Have you ever seen Gaylord Palms?  It’s that HUGE beautiful hotel right outside of the Disney World Resort Complex.  Well, the hotel itself is an amazing attraction all on it’s own!  They decorate it to the nines for the holidays!  You can see it all lit up from the expressway with twinkling lights everywhere!

Inside the resort is decorated just as extravagantly!

In the atrium they have a 54 foot tall Christmas tree and they do nightly Lightings with free live stage entertainment.  Now, this free entertainment is not what you would expect for free!

It’s FANTASTIC!  They had a wonderful holiday show called Luminescence that featured an awesome band (not your typical elevator style holiday music)- they rocked the place out!  The show also features laser lights and aerobatics (acrobatics done in the sky)…. the talent was unbelievable!  They also have other live shows every hour or so (but little man was getting tired so we missed those).

The decorations extend throughout the hotel through the restaurants (you can even have breakfast with Shrek on the weekends).  Even without the decorations the hotel itself has a bunch to see….. they had a yacht, alligators, turtles, waterfalls, etc.

Now, for the STAR of the resort!  ICE…..

The ICE experience is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before!

Located in the conference center of the resort… they took several ballrooms and converted them into a HUGE freezer and dropped the temperature all the way down to 4 degrees.  Then they brought in 2 million pounds of ice and a team of artists to construct this amazing exhibit made completely of ICE!  The artists worked around colored lights and with paints to bring to life ice the scenes from Merry Madagascar…..

The experience starts off in a warm environment that sets the stage with scenes from the movie.  Then you head to the preparation area where EVERYONE is given a parka (YOU WILL NEED IT!!!!).  They have parkas of ALL sizes so no one is left out in the cold (hahaha…. I’m so funny!).  Anyway, once you’re all bundled up you get to head on in to the actual ICE experience.

I do wish that they had little corners where you could warm up throughout the exhibit because it is quite large and with a little one getting colder and colder we didn’t get to spend as much time as we would have liked in there.  I’m sure it would have been better if the little man were older and not affected by the cold as much….. but hey, if one of the executives of ICE happens to be reading my little review then I have a suggestion for next year…. Maybe half way through make a little “hot cocoa stop”, make a room that’s just a little bit warmer so we can take the chill off our noses and grab something warm to drink then we can continue the exhibit without cranky little monsters.   Okay, now that I’ve given my expert suggestion, on with the review!

I LOVED the idea of ice slides for the kids—the kids we saw going down them were having an absolute blast!

The whole experience was unbelievable and I totally recommend checking it out if you’re ever in Orlando while they have it going on!

Once you finish the ICE experience you’re not done! Nope, they have a whole bunch of other holiday excitement for little ones.  How about decorating cookies with Gingy (the gingerbread man from Shrek), or visiting Santa Claus, oh and what about those penguins!  There’s a whole area full of holiday activities and excitement that we didn’t get a chance to explore because the little man was done—oh the fun of having a one year old!

The only criticism I have (and this really goes for all the event planners down there) is the pricing of the pictures.  They take your picture on the way into the ICE experience and they’ll do Santa pics and all…. but it’s WAY over priced (like many attraction pictures) and although I liked the picture I could not bring myself to pay $25 for a single pic!  Why charge so much?  The way I see it, you print them out already to try to sell them to people, well how many do you throw away every night?  I’m sure TONS!  So, instead of charging $25 and hoping that 2 out of 10 people buy one why not charge $10 in hopes that 7-8 out of 10 will buy one.  I would think your object should be sell more to make more…. you’ve printed them out anyway…. the more people that buy the more you’ll make even though they may be paying less….. but oh well…. you missed a sale with this girl.

Other than the picture cost I have NOTHING bad to say about ICE! If you’re looking for a unique experience then I suggest Gaylord Palms ICE experience!

NOTE: I was in no way compensated or asked to do a review for ICE or Gaylord Palms Resort… I simply wanted to share my opinion.  .

If you are a company that would like a review of your family friendly facility or attraction done please contact me at SerendipityandSpice at Yahoo.com.