These Hotels Have Ice Skating, Santa Visits, And Simulated Scenes From Christmas Movies

Christmas is always a big event at Gaylord Hotels. From mid-November to early January, Gaylord properties near Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, and Washington, D.C., roll out the red carpet for Santa as well as thousands of families and couples to celebrate the festive season. While this year’s events are a bit different with Covid-19 protocols in place, there’s a new feature, “I Love Christmas Movies,” at four of its five properties that is becoming a fast-favorite of the hotels’ many annual visitors.

Guests and day pass holders can walk through life-size simulations of five well-known Christmas movies and famous scenes that make you feel as if you were on set. The pop-up exhibition is in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. This is the first year for the movie-themed holiday attraction, which features popular scenes from movies like “The Polar Express,” “A Christmas Story,” “Elf,” “The Year Without A Santa Claus,” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

Tickets are sold on a reservation basis for social distancing purposes (or through special room rate packages ideal for “staycations” or family road trips). Tour guides lead theatrical and entertaining walks through each scene, which features elaborate set recreations, audiovisual elements like falling snow, and even the rumbling squirrel-infested Christmas tree from the Griswold’s family living room. Film props and audio clips are part of the multi-sensory experience with many visitors recalling their favorite lines and songs from each Hollywood film.

From “A Christmas Story,” the well-known “leg lamp” appears from a wooden box marked FRAGILE while sounds of the Polar Express train energize kids as they walk through a mock-up of the train as it races to the North Pole with images recreating the ride through the windows.

Christmas winter wonderland

Gaylord properties, which participate in the Marriott Bonvoy program, recreate a winter wonderland, but always in the spirit of the local destination. At Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas (close to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport), the property uses two million twinkling lights, 15,000 ornaments, 5,600 feet of garland, 2,000 poinsettias, and 25 foot-tall nutcrackers in its decorations. Guests will find more than 100 Christmas trees on the property, many featuring Lone Star State elements adding a Texas touch.

At night, a 54 foot-tall Christmas tree in the center of the atrium produces a music and light show hourly. An ice skating rink and snow tubing attraction use fresh ice and snow produced daily (two million pounds of snow will be produced this year). Throughout the season, visitors to the hotel make nearly 20,000 gingerbread houses.

At Gaylord Texan, there’s a new 80,000 square foot outdoor lights attraction that comes to life once the sun sets. All five Gaylord properties are observing safety protocols to keep spacing between attendees along with masks required during any visit to the Christmas attractions.

Guests and day visitors can walk through Christmas market-style pop-ups and stalls to purchase snacks and Christmas souvenirs. There’s also a Build-A-Bear workshop for kids and plenty of photo opportunities throughout the hotel for family photos. Hotel staff mention that it’s even a great experience for couples’ date night since there are so many things to explore for adults, too.

Activities for all ages

The activities vary by property, but include snow tubing, gingerbread house making, socially distanced visits with Santa Claus, “Elf on the Shelf” character breakfasts, and build your own snowman experiences using real snow created daily. For many kids, ice skating or building a snowman using real snow is special at properties in warmer climates like Florida and Texas where snowfall is a rarity.

Polar Express-themed train sets roll across their tracks throughout the resort. Gaylord Texan even has a dedicated staff “engineer” to oversee and maintain the train sets around the property, which stay up year-round.

Holiday-themed “escape rooms” and property-wide scavenger hunts with prizes keep visitors of all ages engaged and entertained.

Christmas events take place at all five Gaylord properties: Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center near Denver, Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside of Washington, D.C.