Review- ICE at Gaylord Palms, Orlando, Florida

ICE at Gaylord Palms

Below freezing temperatures in Florida? Not a chance right? While you would think no, the answer is actually YES! Well, if you visit ICE at Gaylord Palms, that is. Below is my review of the ICE spectacular as it took place in 2018.

The theme is A Christmas Story. The iconic tale of a young boy who wants a Red Rider BB Gun for Christmas.. But you know what they say.. You’ll shoot your eye out! 

A Christmas Story sign

My family and I went to Gaylord Palms on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. While Disney and Universal were packed to the brim, ICE was empty. This was the PERFECT weekend to go! We decided to stay on site for one night. The hotel was amazing from its decorations to its staff and we are so glad we got the opportunity to take it all in!

I requested an early check in for 8:30 am with an Atrium view room. To my surprise I was notified that my room was ready before we even got to the hotel. What a nice surprise to be able to bring my bags upstairs and not have to worry about dealing with obtaining them in-between activities.

Our schedule looked something like this:

10:00 am Story time and cookies with Mrs. Claus

11:00 am meet the big man on campus, Santa Claus

12:00 pm was a break for lunch

1:00 pm snow tubing

2:00 pm view the ice sculptures

3:00 pm Build a Bear holiday treats

4:00 pm gingerbread cookie decorating with the gingerbread man

5:00 pm Santa’s Snow Throw

5:30 pm Reindeer Post Office to write our letters to Santa and confirm what we asked for earlier

6:00 pm Dinner

7:30 pm Christmas Tress Stroll, Scavenger Hunt and cirque De Soleil Dream of Christmas Light Show

8:30 pm Sugary Sweet Story Time with the Sugar Plum Fairy

Phew, are you tired yet? Believe me, I am exhausted just typing out this schedule and we thought for sure the kids would be dead by the end of dinner on this kind of schedule.

Of a special note, much like Disney, you can buy an ICE photopass. It is $99 for unlimited photos. It is good from the day you buy it until the last day of ICE so use it! We bought it and in 1 day they took 60 pictures on it.

I am pleased to report that we waiting in next to NO lines and by 11 am we had completed Story time, Santa, tubing and lunch. In fact, we had allotted 1 hour for tubing during the day. The kids went back all day long to go down those slopes. For Florida babies this is as close as they were getting to real runs and they had the best time!

Meeting Mrs Clause and Snowflake

Mrs. Claus read the children ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas with her elf helper, Snowflake. If any of you have seen Frozen Sing A Long at Hollywood Studios, Snowflakes’ act was much like the Royal Historians. It was such fun! Adults and Children were given chocolate chip cookies and milk to enjoy during the story.

 

A special talk with Santa

Santa was one of a kind. He spent individual time with each child and made sure we got lots of pictures to take home. He also took multiple family photos and nobody felt rushed despite their being other people in line behind us. He even gave each child a good luck token with his picture on it to take home.

Family pic with Santa

The actual Christmas Story ice sculptures were amazing! The detail that goes into this exhibit is like no other. See photos below for just how awesome it really is!

Christmas Story Ice Sculptures

      Build a Bear has a pop-up shop set up right outside of Santa so be sure to be prepared for that! They do not honor coupons but do honor Build a Bear gift cards. This trip each of the kids was allowed to get 1 holiday theme friend to bring home.

 

Ugly sweater cookie

The sweet shop offers multiple different options for gingerbread decorating from houses to men to ugly sweaters. We chose the sweaters as 6 came to a box and that meant one for each of us.

We ended the night with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince reenacting the Nutcracker story. This was very entertaining and a fun interactive way to get the kids involved with some songs. All adults and children were provided with Sugar Plum flavored hot chocolate in a fun take home glass mug.

All in all, the ICE spectacular was just that, spectacular. We are already looking forward to next year and we can’t find to find out what the theme will be!

"I double dog dare you!"

By: Rachel Hollingsworth

Rachel@traveltimetravel.com

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Coco Key Hotel and Water Park in Orlando, Florida!

Coco Key Hotel and Water Park!

My family and I enjoyed a quick one-night stay at the Coco Key Hotel and Water Park June 6^th 2014.   I highly recommend this hotel. 

LOCATION

This resort is located on International Drive.  Its only a 2 mile drive from Universal Studios and 9 miles to Disney. 

ROOMS

This hotel was built in 1971 and doesn’t have the best curb appeal but don’t worry the inside is much nicer.  The rooms were very clean and recently renovated.   We stayed in a standard room, with two double beds, although there are several types of rooms to choose from.  The desk had extra outlets built in that made it easy to charge phones and iPads. Free Wi-Fi is available and not as slow as I expected it to be.   A small fridge is included in each room and there were ice machines on each floor.  From the photos I’ve seen, some of the bathrooms have slightly different layouts. 

Our bathroom was spacious and had 2 doors.  The first door leads to the sink area.  We had a long counter top with storage underneath. This gave us a little extra privacy and was a great place to get dressed.   Behind the second door was a smaller area for the toilet and tub/shower.  The shower curtain bar was curved out, which is a simple thing, but one I appreciate. 

There was not an elevator anywhere near our room, so we hauled our luggage up the stairs to the second floor.  Guest rooms are located in 9 different buildings and there are elevators located ONLY in building 6.

FOOD AND DRINK

Hi, my name is Trena and I have a Diet Coke addiction.  I could host an addiction support group at this hotel because it is a Pepsi property!  There were plenty of places to get a soda, vending machines, gift shop, quick service food court, and tiki bars…but they only had Pepsi products.  So, bring your own Diet Coke.  If you love Pepsi…and I’m ok with that…they do offer refillable souvenir cup for $9.99 for your hotel stay.  It was a simple plastic cup….small, maybe 16 oz, no lid or  handle, not insulated.  

The Breakfast buffet cost $10 per adult and $5 per child and is served 7:00 am to 11:00 am.   The scrambled eggs were from some sort of mix and would have been better if there were hot grits to put over them!  The French toast was a little soggy and limp.  They did have a waffle station to make your own fresh waffles.  I don’t know what type of batter they use, but it was WONDERFUL!  The bacon was nicely cooked and bacon is the most important meat of the day!  My son assured me the Froot Loops were top quality.  There were several types of juice, white and chocolate milk, and coffee to drink.  The dining room was smaller than I expected but it was not completely full.  The staff was very friendly and pulled two tables together for my family of 5.  The staff was pleasant while busy keeping the tables and dining room clean.  I did like the convenience of eating at the hotel.    

We had lunch in their food court.  I had a personal size Pizza Hutt Pizza.  My son had a cheeseburger and fries.  The food was fine, and was brought to our table for us.   

WATER PARK

The water park is really perfect for young children.  There are 14 slides of various heights and 4 heated pools.  There is a large shaded area for toddlers.  Near that is an area called Parrots Perch where kids ages 12 and under would enjoy, although it is large enough for parents to play too.  Yes, I tried the slides there!  It was fun. 

There are 3 large slides big enough for teens and adults to enjoy.  I was brave enough to ride 2 of the 3.  Surfers Splash Tube Slide (yellow slide) has a 42” height requirement.  It is mild and you can get tubes for 2 riders—so you can ride with your child if YOU are scared.  It was my favorite.  The Boomerango Tube slide (red) has a 48” height requirement and has a steep drop that really surprised me. It gives quite a thrill! The tubes are for 2 people.  Over the Falls Body slide (orange & blue) has a 40” height requirement.  My 8-year-old son loved all 3 slides. 

You can purchase a day pass to the water park even if you aren’t staying at the hotel.  There are large locker rooms at the water park for changing your clothes. There are lockers to rent if you need to secure your valuables.  It was hard to find a chair in the shade so get there when the park opens and claim your spot.  You are not allowed to bring in coolers.  

By Travel Time Agent Trena

trena@traveltimetravel.com