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You will spend more time getting into the building than inside the attraction. ICE! is a self-guided walk of roughly forty minutes. The arrival, on a December Saturday, at a resort where hotel guests, convention delegates and ticket holders all funnel through one entrance, can comfortably beat that.
What is ICE! at Gaylord Palms?
ICE! is a walk-through Christmas attraction inside Gaylord Palms Resort, carved from more than two million pounds of ice and kept at nine degrees Fahrenheit so the sculptures hold their detail. Guests walk through in the resort’s signature blue parkas, which are provided rather than brought.
The 2026 edition is themed to The Polar Express, with eleven scenes and five ice slides including a smaller one for young children. It is self-guided with no time limit, so families move at their own pace, though most are through in around forty minutes.
| What to know | The detail | What it means for your evening |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature inside | 9 degrees Fahrenheit | Parkas are provided. Wear closed shoes and bring gloves for children. |
| Scale | 2 million lb of ice | Eleven scenes and five slides, so allow more time with small children. |
| How long it takes | ~40 minutes | Self-guided with no time limit, so this is a guide rather than a rule. |
| Where it is | Kissimmee | Gaylord Palms, 6000 W Osceola Parkway, not on Disney property. |
| The part to plan | The arrival | One resort entrance, three different sets of arriving guests. |
Why is the arrival the hardest part of the evening?
Because Gaylord Palms is not a theme park with a parking lot built for arriving crowds, it is a resort with a convention center attached, and in December all of it is busy at once. Hotel guests are checking in, a convention may be breaking for the evening, and ticket holders are arriving for timed entries. They share one approach road and one front door.
The resort sits on West Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee, away from the Disney and International Drive corridors, which is good news for the drive and less good news for the last five minutes of it. Traffic backs up at the entrance rather than on the highway.
So a family arriving in their own car on a December Saturday spends the queue, the parking and the walk to the lobby before the evening starts. Being dropped at the door removes all three, which on a night when everyone is in coats is worth more than it sounds.
Should you drive or be dropped off?
Drive if you are staying at the resort and the car is parked anyway. Be dropped off if you are coming from elsewhere for the evening, because the arithmetic changes completely once parking enters it.
Self-parking at Gaylord Palms carries a charge, as it does at most large Orlando resorts, and the rate is worth checking on the resort’s own page before you go rather than discovering it at the barrier. Set that against a forty-minute attraction and the sums stop favoring the car for a single evening visit.
There is a second cost people forget. A December evening in Central Florida can be genuinely cold once the sun goes down, and the walk from a distant parking space to the lobby with children already dressed for an ice attraction is the least pleasant part of the night. A drop-off at the entrance is the whole point of booking a car rather than driving one.
How do you plan the evening around a forty-minute attraction?
Treat ICE! as the anchor and build the evening either side of it, because forty minutes is not an evening on its own. The resort runs a broader Christmas program around the attraction, and the atrium alone is worth time, so most families end up spending two to three hours on site rather than one.
That matters for the ride. A pickup booked forty minutes after your entry time will be too early, and a family standing outside in December waiting for a car they booked badly is a poor end to the night. Book the return leg for when you actually intend to leave, not when the attraction ends.
If you are combining it with other holiday events, the timing gets tighter rather than looser. Our Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party guide covers the other big ticketed evening of the Orlando December, and the two do not sit comfortably on the same day.
What does a well-run ICE! evening look like?
The Kaur group came over from a rented villa near Davenport, three families, twelve people, on the second Saturday in December. Their original plan was two rental cars, because that is what they had for the week and it seemed obvious.
What they had not thought about was arriving in two vehicles at a resort entrance in a queue, parking in two different places, and then finding each other in a lobby with several hundred other people in it. Twelve people arriving as one group at one door is a different evening from twelve people arriving as two carloads.
We took them in one 14-Passenger Van, dropped at the entrance at their entry time, and collected them two and a half hours later after the ice, the atrium and a meal. Nobody parked, nobody walked, and nobody spent the first twenty minutes of a Christmas evening on the phone working out where everyone else was.
For groups from the Kissimmee and Davenport villa corridor this is the normal shape of it. Our Kissimmee corridor guide covers the roads, and the ten-passenger sizing guide covers the vehicle question when a group is on the boundary.
What does transport to Gaylord Palms cost?
A private transfer from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to the Kissimmee area, where Gaylord Palms sits, starts at approximately $119 in a Luxury Sedan for up to three passengers. Evening runs from a nearby villa or resort are shorter local movements and are quoted rather than published, so send the pickup address and the time and the rate comes back flat.
Tolls, car seats and boosters, bottled water and curbside meet-and-greet are inside every Orlux quote at no extra charge. Gratuity is the only item outside it, and it can be added on request.
The flat rate matters on a December Saturday for the same reason it matters on any busy night: demand-based pricing rises exactly when a resort entrance is busiest, and a rate agreed in advance does not move. Visit Orlando lists the season’s events if you are still deciding which nights to build the trip around.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does ICE! at Gaylord Palms take?
ICE! is self-guided with no time limit, and most families walk through in around forty minutes. Groups with young children who want the ice slides should allow longer. Because the attraction is short relative to the effort of getting there, most visitors plan two to three hours on the resort site rather than treating it as a single stop.
How cold is ICE! at Gaylord Palms?
The attraction is held at nine degrees Fahrenheit to keep the two million pounds of carved ice intact. The resort provides its signature parkas, so you do not need to bring a heavy coat. Closed shoes are sensible, and gloves are worth bringing for children, since parkas cover the body but not the hands.
Is ICE! at Gaylord Palms on Disney property?
Gaylord Palms Resort is in Kissimmee, on West Osceola Parkway, and is not on Walt Disney World property. It is an independent resort with its own convention center, which is why its December evenings are busier than the attraction alone would suggest. Give the resort name and the entrance when booking a car.
Do you have to pay to park at Gaylord Palms?
Gaylord Palms charges for self-parking, as most large Orlando resorts do, and the current rate is published on the resort’s own site. For a single evening visit built around a forty-minute attraction, that charge plus the queue at the entrance and the walk from the space is usually what tips families toward being dropped at the door.
What time should we book the car for the ride home?
Book the return for when you intend to leave, not for when the attraction ends. Most families spend two to three hours on site once the atrium, the wider Christmas program and a meal are included. Call or text 689-407-2496 with your entry time and we will set a sensible collection, or hold the vehicle if you would rather not commit.
Can a large group be dropped at the entrance together?
A single vehicle for the whole group is the point of booking one, and it is the difference between arriving as a group and arriving as several carloads to find each other in a crowded lobby. A Van seats up to 10 and a 14-Passenger Van up to 14. Tell us the group size and the entry time and we will size it.
Which vehicle suits a December evening at Gaylord Palms?
Evening resort runs are short, cold at both ends, and usually involve a group. Size for the group rather than the distance.
Luxury Sedan seats up to 3. Best for a couple or a small family staying nearby.
Luxury SUV seats up to 6. Best for one family with young children who want the same vehicle waiting afterward.
Van seats up to 10. Best for two families coming from the Kissimmee or Davenport villa corridor together.
14-Passenger Van seats up to 14. Best for the multi-family groups this evening attracts, and the vehicle that gets everyone to one door at one time.
Send your entry time, your pickup address and your group size and we will set both legs around the evening. Book at orluxrides.com, see our Gaylord Palms transportation page, or look at theme park transfers if the trip takes in more than one evening. Questions go to our contact page. Call 689-407-2496 or text “TRANSFER” to 689-407-2496 for a same-day quote.