If you go, be prepared to part with some cash, or um, charges on your card. We planned a Christmas…read moreouting to see ICE! with dear friends from Granbury on 12/9/23. She's going through breast cancer treatment and needed some holiday cheer. Bought tickets online, and even with the senior discount for all four tickets, we paid $212. We planned to see all the hotel's beautiful decor and then enjoy a nice meal in one of the hotel's restaurants after seeing ICE!
NOWHERE, absolutely NOWHERE on the ICE! web site or the Gaylord's site does it mention the true blue nightmare that is parking, nor does it mention or suggest buying in advance a parking pass for the garage nearest the ICE! exhibit. One must search for info on parking to find that out. We would have paid another $25 per vehicle, but it would have saved MANY steps and much frustration.
We were coming from Plano and found the parking garage was full. Our friends from Granbury were apparently about two minutes behind us pulling onto the Gaylord's grounds. We went to the front of the hotel to valet park. Valet was crazy busy but efficient considering there were long lines four rows deep with a mixture of overnight guests loading and unloading luggage, day visitors coming and going, etc. We were shocked to find out valet was $27 and NO CASH. We didn't see another choice, so we used valet services. Although right behind us, our friends were waved away because "valet was full." They were routed to a remote lot where a shuttle picked them up and dropped them off at the back of the hotel. We, of course, were at the front. It took quite a while to navigate the massive hotel to find each other.
We made the fairly long walk to ICE! and proceeded through the maze and many stops along the way of getting inside the exhibit. Once in our (very hot while outside the exhibit) parkas, we inched along a long snaking line for at least 30 minutes while all those in front of us stopped for the professional photographer to take their pictures. We knew we wouldn't purchase any photos and wanted to skip that step. They wouldn't allow that. So we had our picture taken, got the claim ticket and moved into the exhibit.
The exhibit itself was cute. The artistry of the ice carvings is quite impressive. The Grinch That Stole Christmas theme wasn't nearly as good as previous years. It seems to be a smaller exhibit than others, but it was still enjoyable. I'm not a fan of the Grinch stuff and would have preferred another theme, but it was well done.
As we emerged from the cold, we were asked for our claim ticket for the photos. A nice young lady brought over our already printed photos... one 8x10 in a cute ICE! themed cardboard frame, two 4X6 prints, and a cute little frame that looked like a snow globe to hold one of the 4X6 prints. The cost? A whopping $45! That's the smallest package they offer. No option to buy just the 8X10 or the two 4X6 prints. Not a chance we were going to spend that kind of money on photos even if they were good. We thought they might make a deal rather than discard what they'd already printed, but nope. They'd only accept $45. No pictures for us.
Upon leaving the exhibit, patrons are sort of "dumped" into a very large gift shop, much like the Disney and Universal Studios parks do. One must navigate the gift shop to get out of the ICE! area. The gift shop opens into a large open area with an ice skating rink (additional fee), a merri-go-round (additional fee), and a Build-a-Bear station (additional fee). There is NO SEATING in this entire area. There is a place to buy BBQ (as I recall) and drinks, but no seating. My friend wanted a Christmas ornament from the gift shop as a memento, so the rest of us stepped out of the fray and had to stand while she waited behind at least 25 people to pay for her purchase. No seating doesn't make sense except that Gaylord wants people to move around and spend money.
Once leaving the ICE! area, we walked the fairly long distance back to the hotel and made our way around to where the restaurants are. That isn't a short walk either and was quite congested with people. Once we reached the restaurant area, we were met with a sign saying the restaurants were ALL reserved for overnight hotel guests only. So we've spent all this money, navigated the expensive parking nightmare, fought ridiculous crowds, and now we're not welcome to have a sit down meal in the hotel. Thankfully Grapevine has many fine offerings, so we left the Gaylord, tired and frustrated, and made our way elsewhere for our meal.
There is no doubt the Gaylord Texan is aware of these many issues. They don't care about warning local patrons so plans can be made accordingly because the hotel is making money hand over fist. So incredibly disappointing. We won't bother including ICE! or the Gaylord Texas in future holiday plans as they were inhospitable hosts who clearly don't care about the comfort and convenience of their patrons.
