Gaylord Palms’ ice event is ‘Polar Express’ themed

First time film will be used in festivity within hotel chain

KISSIMMEE — The holidays are chugging toward us. Gaylord Palms has announced the theme for its annual Ice exhibit. The event will revolve around the train-driven animated film “The Polar Express,” the resort announced Wednesday.

Ice, which runs daily between Nov. 25 and Jan. 5, will feature icy representations of scenes and characters from the movie, which featured the voice of Tom Hanks. It will be the first time that the film will be used in any holiday festivity within the Gaylord hotel chain.

“From the moment you walk in, when the Polar Express shows up at the house, to the hot chocolate scene, all the way to Glacier Gorge, when the train is rushing down the side of the mountain … and then you’re at the North Pole — so you get to see a lot of it as you go through of it,” said Niko Nickolaou, director of special events and entertainment.

The ice slides are incorporated into the side-ofmountain scene, he said, and the exhibit again will end with clear-ice carvings of the Nativity scene.

The cold continues with snowball tossing at Santa’s Snow Throw and a snowtubing hill.

The carvings will again be created by artisans from Harbin, China, and they will keep their shapes thanks to temperatures right around 9 degrees.

Another new element to Gaylord Palms’ event, which is spread across the resort, will be the Elf Training Academy, where visitors make a present for someone under the guidance of the elf supervisor.

“There is a need from a family traditional experience to come and really decorate something. So you can leave your kids there so they can make you a Christmas present,” Nickolaou said. “Instead of giving them something to go out to the store and just buy something that makes sense, they can make a nice custom something and then they’re there getting entertained in a great immersive setting and creating Christmas memories.”

Returning to the Ice event are activities such as the Naughty or Nice Escape Room, Reindeer Express Post Office, Secret Santa Scavenger Hunt, Gingerbread Decorating Corner, Sugar Sweet Storytime (led by the Sugarplum Fairy), Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions and more.

“Cirque Dreams Unwrapped,” a 25-minute live acrobatic and theatrical show, again will be presented in the resort’s atrium. A new choreographed light show is also planned there.

For more information or tickets, go to christmasatgaylordpalms.com.