ICE! 2017: Christmas at the Gaylord National Resort

As part of Christmas on the Potomac, the Gaylord National Resort’s ICE! is a special holiday event in the Washington, D.C. area you won't want to miss! This holiday season, the popular holiday attraction returns with a brand-new theme for 2017 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  The famous Christmas song tells the story of how Rudolph’s red-nose first helped Santa guide his sleigh. 

Dates: November 18, 2017 - January 1, 2018 

The resort will offer a variety of immersive activities in the hotel’s exhibit hall. Upon entrance, guests will discover a decorated Christmas town square, complete with holiday merchandise, a hot chocolate stand, Santa’s sleigh, and a carousel ride.

At the Gaylord National Resort at National Harbor, visitors step inside a winter wonderland created entirely of 5,000 BLOCKS of ice weighing 2 MILLION POUNDS! hand-sculpted by 40 international artisans and kept at a chilling nine degrees Fahrenheit. Produced exclusively for Gaylord Hotels, the attraction is fully interactive, allowing guests to roam inside, around and on-top of holiday scenes.

The indoor, walk-through attraction is housed in an enormous 15,000 square feet structure that is specially constructed and thickly insulated to help maintain its internal temperature of nine degrees.

The master artisans who created Gaylord National’s ICE! are from Harbin, China - a city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province that is world-famous for its annual Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival. Every winter, more than 2,000 sculpture artists carve a massive, 100-acre walk-through Ice Park and a full-size Ice City from blocks of ice taken from the nearby Songhua River. Gaylord National Resort brought 40 of Harbin's most talented master artisans to the U.S. to showcase their amazing talents in creating this one-of-a-kind attraction.

The Starlight Christmas Tree will be the star of the hotel’s nightly holiday fountain show, Sounds and Songs of Christmas, at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. The tree is comprised of 50 five-point stars, inspired by Washington, D.C. Americana and representative of the 50 states of America. The tree topper displays one large star - signifying the Capital – and a small cluster of stars to pay homage to the deco liberty coin. The holiday fountain show runs nightly from November 18 through January 1.

• New this year, a live entertainment show, JOY – A Holiday Spectacular, will be performed within the hotel's stunning 19-story atrium. Visitors can enjoy the rich harmonies of classic and modern songs that celebrate the joy of the holiday season performed by Gaylord National singers. 
• Also new is a Glacier Glide Ice Skating experience in the resort’s ornate Christmas Village. Ice Skating costs $16.99 for all ages.
• An exclusive Build-A-Bear Workshop experience that lets guests build their very own furry winter friend—a cuddly, cute polar bear plush which can be personalized with cozy winter clothing and accessories.

Read More About Christmas Events at National Harbor