Experience a New Holiday Tradition: ice!™ Featuring Elf™

Gaylord Texan

Experience the whimsical world of Buddy the Elf™ at ice!, our signature holiday attraction. Discover beloved scenes from the Christmas film Elf™ in magnificent, larger-than-life ice sculptures carved from more than 2 million pounds of ice. Enjoy exhilarating, two-story-tall ice slides and unforgettable memories in this festive adventure that captures the spirit of the holidays, just like Buddy himself!

Come for the day or make it a Christmas vacation with one of our overnight ice! packages to enjoy the splendor of the holiday season at Gaylord Texan Resort.

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Guests explore dazzling lights, ice sculptures, and festive activities as part of a new holiday tradition at Gaylord Texan.

Get to Know the Experience

Visitors bundled in parkas admire frozen storybook scenes at the ice! holiday attraction in Gaylord Texan

24 Years of Holiday Magic

Families have embraced the Christmas attraction, ice!, as a beloved holiday tradition since its debut in 2001 at Gaylord Opryland.

10 Scenes

Come to life through ice from the beloved tale, Elf™

20 Ft. High

Slides made of pure ice you can zoom down, from up to two-stories high!

12,000 Hours

Total time the artisans spend carving to create our signature Christmas attraction.

1.4M Attendees

Visited ice! in 2025 across six locations in the U.S.

Take a Sneak Peek Inside

He's No Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins!

Your adventure begins at the North Pole. Learn what it takes to be an elf and meet Buddy's arctic creature pals. Onward to the Candy Cane Forest and New York City!

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Slide Down Two-Story Ice Slides

A favorite part of the ice! experience is our two-story tall ice slides. Plunge down one of five ice slides, including one child-sized slide. It's a re-creation of the famous snowball fight scene in Central Park!

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Find Christmas Spirit All Over Again

Buddy's hilarious adventures will fill you with Christmas cheer. We won't blame you if you want to sing out for all to hear!

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Frosty Facts

Know more about what it's like to step inside ice! featuring Elf™ before you experience it yourself.

10 Iconic Scenes

Carved into ice from the beloved Christmas story

No Time Limits

Enjoy this self-guided experience at your leisure

9 Degrees Fahrenheit

Cool, controlled temperatures keep the icy designs intact

All Ages

Entertaining for both kids and adults

How It Comes to Life

Learn more about the magic and finesse behind the scenes that create these colorful, icy masterpieces.

Kids watch a vibrant science experiment during the Colorful Chemistry show, featuring fizzing reactions and bright colors at Gaylord Texan

The vibrant colors in the ice sculptures are specially created by a chemist with a proprietary formula to ensure it closely matches each character's specific colors and to maintain its bright color for the entire season.

An expert artisan sculpts a block of ice into a detailed character for the ice! exhibit at Gaylord Texan Resort.

Traveling over 6,000 miles from Harbin, China (known as "Ice City"), 40 artisans use their master sculpting skills passed down through generations to carve the immersive Christmas experience over six weeks.

Massive frozen scenes carved from 2 million pounds of ice bring holiday stories to life at Gaylord Texan Resort.

Weighing in at a total of 2 million pounds, ice! featuring Elf™ includes elaborate scenes sculpted from 6,700 massive blocks of ice.

Table filled with carving tools and creative materials used in holiday crafting or ice sculpting at Gaylord Texan Resort.

The carvers use chisels, chippers, tongs, handsaws, grinders, and even chainsaws to bring the experience to life. Some artisans have collected custom-made tools to perfect the irregular shapes and achieve the highest level of detail.

Artisan studies a blueprint of the intricate ice sculpture design for Gaylord Texan holiday attraction.

The artisans follow a 300-page design book filled with hand-drawn, to-scale sketches and blueprints to create every sculpture featured throughout the 17,500-square-foot frozen attraction.

Guests watch a skilled ice carver shape a holiday sculpture from a solid block of ice during the Carver’s Showcase at Gaylord Texan

Once the completed masterpiece is open for guests, a few artisans stay onsite at the exhibit to preserve the icy designs and perform daily, live sculpting demonstrations to showcase their craft.

So Much Christmas. So Many Ways to Experience It.

From ticket passes filled with Christmas joy to special ways to save on your visit —explore ways you can make this holiday season one to remember.

Ice sculpture of waiters serving hot chocolate with cups and kettle at Gaylord Texan Resort.

Save up to 40% on Holiday Fun

Bundle ice! featuring Elf™ with other festive activities and save big! Choose from two pass options featuring tickets to: ice!, ice tubing, scavenger hunt, gingerbread decorating, ice skating, and more.

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