Christmas at Gaylord Palms Includes an Abundance of Holiday Offerings for 2022 (Plus the Return of ICE!)

Hi everyone!

Christmas at Gaylord Palms Resort has begun for the 2022 season, with the welcome return of ICE! after a 2-year absence featuring Dr. Seuss’ ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. We were invited for the weekend to experience much of what is being offered. We have covered ICE! at Gaylord Palms since 2010 and visited previous to that. So much has changed over the years! The resort offers a full slate of activities that rivals some theme parks. Much of it is ticketed, but some of it is included once at the resort. Where else can you go ice tubing and throw snowballs in Central Florida?

Here are some highlights of what you can find for Christmas at Gaylord Palms!

The Grinch in ICE!

ICE! featuring Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas – The story of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is carved into 2 million pounds of ice, complete with ice slides. (Read our story with 50+ photos and a walk-through video here). Dress warmly, the multi-room display is a frosty 9 degrees!

Ice Tubing – Gaylord Palms says of this attraction, In this mechanized, snow play space you will slide through factory conveyor belts that have frozen solid and ride tubes down a thrilling plummet slide or hilly ice coaster at Snow Factory.

These slides are a lot faster than the slides inside the ICE! walk-through and very popular with guests! Gaylord Palms had experimented through the years with various ways to incorporate snow and ice into the holiday season, and they perfected it a few years ago with this and the Snowball Build & Blast.

Ice Tubing

Snowball Build & Blast – This is my personal favorite of all the activities outside of ICE!. The concept is simple – make snowballs and throw them at targets. While I’m not always up for the Ice Tubing, the Snowball Build & Blast allows me to enjoy the snowy fun of the holiday season.

Jeff is ready to throw a snowball

Cirque: Spirit of Christmas – Gaylord Palms calls this a “Cirque-styled Christmas show”. “Cirque: Spirit of Christmas” features acrobatics and stunts (many in the air). This is a different show than the previous “Cirque Dreams Unwrapped”. It is a perfect show for the Gaylord Palms Resort atrium. Tickets can be found online, and we did see a sign for standby seating as well.

“Cirque: Spirit of Christmas” performers

Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions – Join Mrs. Claus for the retelling of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and sing holiday songs. It is a fun, interactive celebration and I think especially nice for kids. The Gaylord Palms website mentions having warm, freshly-baked cookies but the cookie we received was an individually packaged, wrapped cookie (but still good, a Sandy’s Amazing Chocolate Chunk Cookie). A half pint of milk is also given with the cookie.

Mrs. Claus

Shine Light Show – Thousands of dancing lights are synchronized to a (very) high-energy, seasonal soundtrack. The animated light curtains look better than they ever have, with holiday imagery.

Christmas Tree Trail – This was another of my very favorite things to do at the resort. I love the atrium, and especially during the holidays. The Christmas trees, decorations and landscaping are so festive. Even if you do nothing else but ICE!, I recommend taking a walk around the atrium. There are alligators, fish and more to look at along the way.

Jeff looks at one of the Christmas trees

The trees look gorgeous at night too!

Christmas at Gaylord Palms is always a highlight for me of the holiday season and there is much more to do than what I’ve posted.

I love Gaylord Palms Resort all year round, especially the 4.5 acre enclosed atrium. But…the holiday season really is where the resort shines brightest. And you can make a full day of it – or a half day – if you choose to, with the various “Play and Save” bundles (or make it a vacation with one or more nights at the resort).

Parking is not included with the ticket price, just FYI – it costs about $30.00. That is another reason I recommend enjoying a little more of the resort instead of just ICE!

We were invited to Gaylord Palms for a weekend to experience the holiday season, all views are ours.

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