July 23, 2026
Gaylord Hotels’ ice!, the hand-carved frozen walkthrough that has anchored the brand’s Christmas programming since 2001, expands to eight resorts for 2026, its largest lineup to date. The attraction debuts at Gaylord Pacific in Chula Vista and JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge, and three new themes join the rotation: Harry Potter, Home Alone, and Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Tickets and early bird packages went on sale July 23 at somuchchristmas.com.
“Having welcomed tens of millions of guests over the years, this beloved holiday tradition continues to capture the spirit of the season, and we are proud to introduce our largest footprint to date, giving even more families the opportunity to experience how our resorts create extraordinary holiday memories,” said Johann Krieger, regional vice president of Marriott International, in the announcement.
The 2026 Lineup
Each edition runs more than 10 scenes of floor-to-ceiling ice, kept at 9 degrees Fahrenheit, with two-story ice slides and the signature blue parkas handed out at the door.
Debut locations:
- A Charlie Brown Christmas at Gaylord Pacific (Chula Vista, CA), Nov. 20, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027
- New Line Cinema’s Elf at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge (Phoenix, AZ), Nov. 18, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027
New themes:
- Home Alone at Gaylord Opryland (Nashville, TN), Nov. 6, 2026 to Jan. 2, 2027
- Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas at Gaylord Rockies (Aurora, CO), Nov. 20, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027
- Harry Potter at Gaylord Texan (Grapevine, TX), Nov. 13, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027
Returning themes:
- Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! at Gaylord National (National Harbor, MD), from Nov. 14
- The Polar Express at Gaylord Palms (Kissimmee, FL), from Nov. 13
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country (San Antonio, TX), from Nov. 23
The Craft That Scales
The production model behind ice! has stayed remarkably consistent while the footprint has doubled since we first reported from inside it. Inspired by the Harbin Ice Festival, the 2026 program brings more than 300 artisans from Harbin, China, who spend roughly 40 days hand-carving 60,000 ice blocks, with each edition built from some two million pounds of ice.
We saw that model up close in 2017, when we interviewed Niko Nikolaou, then director of special events at Gaylord Palms, about the operation behind a single edition. The Gaylord Palms build ran 50 to 60 artisans working six weeks in an 18,000-square-foot insulated space, with four refrigeration units holding the room at 9 degrees against the Florida heat, and the carving team stayed on site through the season to maintain the sculptures as thousands of guests moved through daily. The philosophy Nikolaou described then is the same one driving this year’s interactive additions across the So Much Christmas programming: “It’s one thing to view something, but it’s another thing to be part of it.”
What has changed is the IP strategy. Early editions built original winter-wonderland scenes. The 2026 slate is wall-to-wall licensed franchises, and the Harry Potter edition is worth noting for the industry: Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences, the steward of the Wizarding World at Universal’s parks, is licensing the brand into a Marriott resort attraction. Hotels have quietly become their own seasonal-attractions market, selling ticketed IP experiences to fill rooms across the exact holiday window when, as we argued in Is Summer the New Shoulder Season, the industry’s demand generation now lives. A resort that can sell a Harry Potter ice walkthrough, character dining, and tubing as a package is competing for the same seasonal trip a theme park is.
Beyond ice!, each resort wraps the attraction in the So Much Christmas program: millions of lights, character dining, ice tubing, scavenger hunts, live stage shows, and Santa photo ops, with offerings varying by property.
