--- title: Harry Potter and Home Alone Ice Sculptures Are Coming to Gaylord Resorts This Christmas description: Marriott hand carved Christmas attraction ice! expands to eight resorts in 2026, with early booking discounts of up to 30 percent. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-07-25T11:28:14.986Z canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/gaylord-ice-harry-potter-home-alone-2026 image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/marriott-gaylord-ice-christmas-attraction-30655.webp categories: Destinations content_type: News region: United States publication: Rich Travel Magazine schema_type: Article --- Families weighing whether to book a Gaylord ice! package built around Harry Potter or Home Alone this far ahead of the season have one firm date to plan around: reserve a room and ice! package by August 10 to save up to 30 percent, a discount that varies by resort and shrinks the closer the calendar gets to the first opening night in November. That deadline sits inside the attraction's biggest expansion yet. Ice!, the hand carved Christmas attraction Gaylord Hotels has run since 2001, opens at eight resorts this year for the first time, two more than in 2025. Gaylord Pacific Resort in Chula Vista, California, and JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort in Arizona join the lineup for the first time, while three existing resorts swap in new film licenses for the 2026 season: Harry Potter at Gaylord Texan near Dallas, Home Alone at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, and Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas at Gaylord Rockies outside Denver. Each resort's attraction is carved fresh every year from about 2 million pounds of ice, worked by roughly 40 artisans who travel from Harbin, China, the city that hosts the world's largest annual ice and snow sculpting festival. Following a 300 page design book, the crew spends five to six weeks cutting the ice into scenes as tall as 30 feet with chisels, chainsaws and handsaws, all inside a room held at a constant 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Guests are given the attraction's signature blue parkas at the door and move through at their own pace, since ice! is self-guided with no fixed time limit. The attraction has already shown it draws a crowd: 1.4 million people visited ice! across six resorts in 2025, and the 2026 season adds two more locations rather than replacing any. “Having welcomed tens of millions of guests over the years, this beloved holiday tradition continues to capture the spirit of the season,” said Johann Krieger, regional vice president at Marriott International, of the expansion into Arizona and California. > "1.4 million guests visited ice! across six resorts in 2025, before this year's expansion to two more." > — ice!, 2025 season attendance ## Which Resort Has Which ice! Theme in 2026 Debut locations carry family classics: Gaylord Pacific in Chula Vista gets A Charlie Brown Christmas, and JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge gets Elf. New themes at returning resorts are Home Alone at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas at Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, Colorado, and Harry Potter at Gaylord Texan on Lake Grapevine, Texas. Three resorts keep their existing themes: Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! at Gaylord National in Maryland, The Polar Express at Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Florida, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country. Most runs open between November 6 and November 23 and close January 2 or 3, 2027, with exact dates varying by resort. ## When to Book for the Best Price Gaylord's own booking pages show the discounts arriving well before the season starts rather than closer to it. Guests who reserve a room and ice! package by August 10 save up to 30 percent, though the exact figure varies by resort and some properties cap it closer to 20 percent, and separate activity bundles that combine ice! with tubing or a scavenger hunt save up to 40 percent. Booking in July, months before the first resort opens in November, is when the packages are cheapest. ## Do You Need to Stay Overnight to Get In No. Day tickets to ice! are sold separately from hotel packages through SoMuchChristmas.com, so a family within driving distance of Gaylord National, Palms, Rockies, Texan or Opryland, or of either debut resort, can visit without booking a room. The overnight packages exist for travelers making a longer trip of it, and they are where the early booking discounts are concentrated. Details on all eight resorts and current ticket offers are at [SoMuchChristmas.com](https://www.somuchchristmas.com/). ## FAQ **Q: Which Gaylord and JW Marriott resorts have ice! in 2026?** All eight: Gaylord Pacific (Chula Vista, CA), JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge (Phoenix, AZ), Gaylord Opryland (Nashville, TN), Gaylord Rockies (Aurora, CO), Gaylord Texan (Grapevine, TX), Gaylord National (National Harbor, MD), Gaylord Palms (Kissimmee, FL) and JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country (San Antonio, TX). **Q: How long does the ice! experience take?** Most visits run 20 to 40 minutes, but the attraction is self-guided with no fixed time limit, so guests can linger over the sculptures and photo spots as long as they like. **Q: Can you buy an ice! ticket without booking a hotel room?** Yes. Day tickets are sold on their own through SoMuchChristmas.com. The discounted packages, by contrast, bundle a room with ice! tickets and are the ones worth booking early.