SAN ANTONIO – Not too far from San Antonio is a magical Christmas town that’s been visited by Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman and even The Nutcracker. This holiday season, the Gaylord Texan is hosting Snoopy and his pals for ICE! featuring a Charlie Brown Christmas.
The Gaylord Texan is a 125-acre upscale resort that adds even more sparkle and magic throughout their property to transform into a Lone Star Christmas wonderland. Martha Neibling, director of public relations at Gaylord Texan says all the decorations are hand-made by more than 200 employees throughout the year.
“It’s not only the decorations you see, it’s the two million, it’s the 54 foot tall Christmas tree that’s twenty-five foot tall, the nutcrackers and the trains,” Neibling said. “There’s (also) snow tubing with real snow, outdoor ice skating, gingerbread decorating.”
Perhaps the coolest attraction is inside a gigantic 17,500 square foot tent. Forty artisans from Harbin, China mixed a special recipe to create thousands of ice blocks to carve into this year’s ICE! featuring a Charlie Brown Christmas.
“We turn it down to a wintery 9 degrees Fahrenheit to keep the ice intact, and then we bring in two million pounds of ice,” Neibling said.
Inside the main attraction, you can span pictures with all the Peanuts gang, slide down a two-story, six-lane ice slide for all ages and be awed by a crystal clear rendition of a nativity scene.
“We always want there to be something fun and new for families to see and do,” Neibling said. “This year we created a Christmas village so that when you walk through the events, you feel as you’ve been transported to this really festive little village. That’s where you can find the snow tubing.”
The Christmas village also hosts a Build-A-Bear pop-up shop that benefits the non-profit organization, Marlee’s Smile. Marlee battled Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a very rare and aggressive soft tissue sarcoma, for four years until she passed away earlier this year.
“This year, we partnered with Build-A-Bear to support Marlee’s Smile,” Neibling said. “Her wish was to give teddy bears to other kids in the hospital who were sick, too.”
For every bear purchased at Gaylord Texan’s Christmas Village, Build-A-Bear, as well as Gaylord Texan, will match it to gift to kids fighting cancer. For learn more about Marlee’s Smile, click here.
ICE! featuring a Charlie Brown Christmas will remain open until January 5, 2020. For hours and tickets to ICE!, click here.
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