Gaylord National Resort Presents ICE! 2011 Merry Madagascar
Posted by Rebekah Lowe / Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
On Saturday, the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center announced this year’s ICE! theme at its “Christmas in July” exclusive media preview. ICE! is Gaylord National’s annual attraction, featuring a life-sized, walk-through winter wonderland hand-carved from two million pounds of colorful ice. It always includes some extremely cool activities that you won’t find anywhere else, especially not this close to home. ICE! 2011 will feature DreamWorks’ “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar” with its “Merry Madagascar” theme. The kids will love this! Santa and his reindeer crash on the island of Madagascar and the penguins have to save Christmas by delivering all the presents. King Julien learns the true meaning of Christmas after getting on Santa’s naughty list.
Yours truly attended the media preview this weekend and had a marvelous time, as I’m sure you can see from the slideshow below. Gaylord National is an almost indescribable place, with a fancy shmancy interior and a gorgeous Potomac overlook visible through the huge glass walls of the resort. Even though I was only at the resort for a few hours, I left feeling like I had taken a weekend vacation. Although Gaylord is just on the other side of the river, it seems like a getaway spot much farther away than that.
The Christmas in July preview began with the announcement of this year’s theme accompanied by shiny streamers very suddenly popping out at the audience (which made both me and my friend jump a little) and an introduction of this year’s ICE! characters. Here’s Shrek’s memorable entrance:
Then it was party time! The Gaylord had a sushi bar extravaganza for us, and my friend and I gladly did some damage on that. The movie “Madagascar” was playing on the big screen with an old-fashioned popcorn machine popping away for the audience. Santa sat in what I like to call the ‘winter wonderland forest’ with snow (tiny bubbles) falling all around. Shrek, Alex the lion, King Julien and Po the panda roamed the room, posing for photo after photo. (Yes, I got in line with all the 5 year olds, and I am proud of it). The Gaylord National really knows how to throw a party! They even had party favors at the door: Madagascar chocolate bars! Check out the slideshow for a preview of all the delish Madagascar-themed food and drinks you could be savoring the flavoring of this holiday season! I tried my very best to taste-test almost everything, and I can definitely say I approve!
The DreamWorks Experience Package features festive interactive character meals, character passport meet & greets, gingerbread decorating with Gingy and a DreamWorks scavenger hunt. This year, Gaylord National is adding more two-story tall ice slides than ever before! Every night, guests experience the lighting of a 60-foot glass tree and a real-life indoor snowfall along Holiday Lane. With eight outdoor ice skating rinks, live entertainment every night and a Northern Lights show featuring a 150-foot tall light curtain hanging from the 20-story atrium, you and the kids will both find something fun to do. ICE! runs from November 18 through January 8 this holiday season.
Early bird discount tickets are on sale now!
-Rebekah Lowe
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