Christmas at the Gaylord Palms Archives

I Love Christmas Movies Gaylord Palms Resort Christmas 2020

As the holiday season approaches, Gaylord Palms is excited to announce a new one-of-a-kind marquee Christmas pop-up experience that will debut November 13, 2020, and run through January 3, 2021. Called I Love Christmas Movies, the new experience presents a multi-sensory exhibition in collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products allowing guests to experience beloved holiday movies in a completely new way.

The new pop-up experience anchors Gaylord Palms’ lineup of renowned annual Christmas programming, promising an enchanting holiday celebration this year.

With the unveiling of the new, I Love Christmas Movies immersive pop-up experience, visitors will enjoy enhanced holiday fun and delights as they discover this exclusive activity offered only at Gaylord Hotels for a limited time.

I Love Christmas Movies presents a fully immersive exhibit featuring key moments from some of the most iconic Warner Bros. Pictures Christmas movies including THE POLAR EXPRESS, A CHRISTMAS STORY, ELF, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION, and THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS.

As guests young and young at heart navigate the multi-sensory exhibits, they will enjoy over 13 fully immersive scenes complete with replicas of film props, audio clips, and more, making participants feel as if they have stepped into the part of the actual story. Guests will travel with Buddy the Elf from Santa’s North Pole workshop to New York City; take photos in front of the Griswold’s house adorned with thousands of Christmas lights; and more.

For almost two decades, Gaylord Palms has become legendary for providing magical holiday events and activities for winter visitors to experience, and this year will be no different.

A lineup of additional signature activities and experiences visitors have come to know and love over the years is being developed and will be featured alongside the new I Love Christmas Movies experience.

With a full lineup to be announced soon, visitors can look forward to experiences such as ice tubing, scavenger hunts, gingerbread decorating, elf training academy, holiday stage shows, and much more, all

to be enjoyed within acres of airy indoor atriums decorated with millions of twinkling holiday lights, towering Christmas trees, and thousands of shimmering ornaments.

“The holidays are the perfect time of year to make memories with friends and family, and we know that this year more than ever, guests will be looking for places where they can celebrate the magic of the season in a safe environment,” said General Manager Johann Krieger. “This year we are excited to present the new I Love Christmas Movies experience, along with our other amazing events and activities our guests have come to know and love.”

As the safety of guests and STARS (employees) is of paramount importance, the Christmas at Gaylord Palms program is being developed in accordance with Marriott’s “Commitment to Clean” program and with enhanced protocols and social-distancing measures. Programming will also operate in consideration with the latest local, state and federal legislation.

Overnight Christmas packages including admission into the I Love Christmas Movies immersive pop-up experience are available to book now. Tickets for all the events and activities for Christmas at Gaylord Palms will go on sale in early October.

For more information about the I Love Christmas Movies pop-up and Christmas programming, visit ChristmasatGaylordPalms.com, which will be updated with this year’s lineup soon.

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The Gaylord Palms will be bursting with the magic of Christmas during the resort’s signature holiday experience from November 25 – January 5, 2019!

Christmas at the Gaylord Palms will feature new and returning holiday fun as well as “The Polar Express” is featured inside the nine degree ICE!

All Aboard for Ice!

A Christmas classic, Warner Bros.’ “The Polar Express” arrives at Gaylord Palms as an all-new theme for ICE!, presented by DEI.

A truly heart-warming tale, “The Polar Express” will come alive for guests in a world made from more than two million pounds of ice, hand-carved into sculptures and interactive features to recreate iconic scenes from the film about a magical adventure to the North Pole full of lessons on friendship, bravery, and the true spirit of Christmas.

“We can’t wait to debut ‘The Polar Express’ as this larger-than-life attraction,” said Johann Krieger, General Manager for Gaylord Palms Resort. “Christmas is a truly magical time here at Gaylord Palms, and this film embodies the magic and wonder of the season. We know guests of all ages will love experiencing ICE! this year to feel that holiday joy.”

The ICE! attraction is crafted by artisans from Harbin, China, home of the world’s largest ice and snow sculpture festival, who travel more than 6,000 miles to hand-carve more than two million pounds of colorful ice, creating larger-than-life sculptures.

This year, as guests explore the nine-degree attraction, they will discover more than ten favorite scenes from “The Polar Express,” along with the event’s two-story ice slides and the popular Frostbite Factory live ice carving showcase.

The ICE! experience concludes with a separate area dedicated to a traditional Nativity created with crystal clear ice.
Brand New Interactive Experience

Families can experience a day in the life of one of Santa’s toy makers inside the new Elf Training Academy at Alpine Village where guests become honorary gift maker elves as they create the perfect Christmas present for someone special, all under the guidance of the elf supervisor.

Exciting Celebrations Of The Season

The Sounds of the Season Concert Series will once again fill the atrium of the Gaylord Palms Resort with the joyful music of the season as VoicePlay returns to join a line-up of other performers, who will be announced later this season.

All performances will include a concert patron-exclusive admission to the ICE! attraction.

Christmas at Gaylord Palms will again present the Three Kings Festival, a special commemoration of the extended holiday season celebrated by many Christians in Spain and Latin America honoring the Three Wise Men and their visit to meet baby Jesus as told in the Gospel of Matthew.

Among the special activities planned is a musical show “The Journey of Los Tres Reyes Magos” along with special food and beverage options.

The Three King Festival will run from December 27 through January 5.

Christmas Classics Return

“Holiday thrills” take on a whole new meaning during Cirque Dreams Unwrapped, a 25-minute, action-packed experience featuring soaring acrobatics, theatricality and imagination that will have guests on the edge of their seats. Cirque Dreams Unwrapped features new acts and performers each year to bring to life a magical and timeless Christmas wonderland, all imagined by Broadway director and renowned Cirque Dreams founder Neil Goldberg.

Gaylord Palms’ St. Augustine atrium will be home to an all-new, dazzling light show for the 2019 season. The multisensory experience will feature a new musical score accompanied with millions of dancing, choreographed lights all around the resort’s six-story Christmas tree during nightly shows.

Guests exploring the meandering paths inside the resort’s Everglades atrium will find the Christmas Tree Trail, a display of nine magnificent trees provided by Balsam Hill^TM. Sparkle the Elf, Santa’s chief Christmas Tree Decorator, has personally prepared these for grand display at Gaylord Palms. From snowmen and candy canes to reindeer and nutcrackers, each tree represents one of Sparkle’s favorite things about Christmas, with one even honoring the Florida-themed resort!

The Secret Santa Scavenger Hunt will have families and friends enlisting in Santa’s Secret Service to decode some fun. Guests will utilize their very own Santa’s Secret Service Decoder Ring to decipher clues to become full-fledged members of Santa’s Secret Service. Only the most elite yuletide sleuths will be able to locate the unique Christmassy clues hidden throughout the resort’s atrium to break the code and earn a Santa’s Secret Service badge.

All ages will delight in the holiday hijinks inside the Naughty or Nice Escape Room, as mischievous Jack Frost has moved the names of “Nice” Gaylord guests onto the Naughty side of Santa’s delivery list! Guests will need to work together to follow the clues and solves the puzzles to secure a spot on the better side and avoid a stocking full of coal!

The immersive, interactive Reindeer Express Post Office returns this year, where everyone isinvited to jot down their top Christmas wishes on a postcard before entering this special facility to launch their wishes off on a journey to Santa.

The festive Alpine Village will again be the central hub for holiday happenings. In addition to ICE!, the village is home to various attractions and shows, Photos with Santa, seasonal food and beverage options plus holiday retail locations, including a Build-A-Bear Workshop, where imaginations soar. Guests choose from all kinds of furry friends to make and bring home, including a Gaylord Hotels-exclusive bear.

Gingerbread Decorating Corner returns, now located inside the Alpine Village Sweet Shop! Guests may select a gingerbread house or a themed cookie kit to enjoy a sticky and fun interactive experience, creating sweet souvenirs to take home. The Alpine Village Sweet Shop will offer additional candies and treats for purchase to decorate sugary masterpieces or to delight someone’s sweet tooth. The deliciously fun gingerbread pair, Cinnamon and Nutmeg, will also be available for toasty hugs and holiday photos.

Every evening, the Alpine Village Sweet Shop will present Sugary Sweet Storytime, transporting guests to the world of “The Nutcracker” during an interactive show led by the Sugarplum Fairy herself. The experience is completed with a one-of-a-kind, super sweet, super sparkly and super tasty Sugarplum Hot Chocolate in a festive souvenir mug.

Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions brings the First Lady of the North Pole back to Gaylord Palms as she leads a half-hour interactive show. Guests enjoy classic holiday stories and a sing-a-long, plus a delicious finale as the holiday hostess presents everyone with warm cookies and a glass of cold milk.

Santa’s Snow Throw puts real snow in the hands of guests as they show off their pitching prowess by tossing snowballs at a variety of interactive targets created by Santa’s Elves. Bragging rights go to those with the best aim!

Snow Tubing sends guests zooming down an eight-lane tubing hill covered in real snow. This all-ages attraction offers both single and double tubes to accommodate children and parents.

During the season, the Orlando-area resort welcomes guests to make memories amongst festive décor and an endearing mix of Christmassy activities and shows, becoming “Everything Christmas in One Extraordinary Place” for Christmas at Gaylord Palms, presented by Pepsi.

To make your reservations and to find out even more information, visit their official website.