Gaylord Palms: ‘ICE’ crew making ‘Charlie Brown’ cool again
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Good grief, it’s beginning to look a little like Christmas at Gaylord Palms. Work has begun on the resort’s annual “ICE” exhibit, which this year will be themed to the animated TV classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Artisans from Harbin, China, are now carving figures and scenes to create a walk-through holiday attraction. At this point, the iced Snoopy character lacks eyes, and his bright red doghouse is over in the corner. Chunks of skin-colored ice soon will form the heads of the “Peanuts” gang.
Although the process has been underway for a few days, the workers were welcomed officially by Gaylord Palms employees at a ceremony on Thursday morning. The hotel workers formed two lines for the Santa-capped artisans to walk between, and photos were taken from both sides.
After the company event, which included a traditional dragon dance, it was back to the cold, cold work – it’s 9 degrees in there – of carving.
“You can see the characters are kind of awkward right now because they’re not complete, but they’re getting there,” Brandon Thom, director of entertainment, said during an early media preview Thursday.
There’s ice everywhere now: on the floor, in giant blocks on pallets, stacked to make scenes and along a wall, colored to resemble the jagged design of Charlie Brown’s signature shirt. The artisans use a booklet with scaled drawings to guide them plus chainsaws and some hand-crafted tools.
“It’s not the kind of tool you can find at Home Depot or Lowe’s,” Thom said. “They’re actually screwdriver handles welded onto other bits and pieces that they know can shape the ice to the detail they have it.”
Gaylord Palms hosted the “ICE” version of “Charlie Brown Christmas” in 2016. The look will be similar this time, but with some changes, Thom said. A new design for the room with ice slides was previously announced.
After visitors reach the end of the “Charlie Brown” story, they will walk through a crystal-clear ice display of the nativity scene. Then comes a holiday gift shop that has not yet been set up in one of the resort’s ballrooms.
Workers are putting in daylong shifts but not spending all the time in the frigid work area. The people of Harbin are more accustomed to cold weather. The city, known for its elaborate ice presentations, is north of North Korea and actually closer geographically to Russia than Beijing.
The workers have their own chefs who make meals familiar to them.
Their work continues even after the exhibit opens. Part of the attraction is a carver’s station located in the coldness.
“He might be repairing; he might be working on something he’s going to add somewhere, but it’s just showing people how it’s done,” Thom said.
“ICE” will be open at Gaylord Palms Nov. 17-Jan 3. Other holiday offerings at the Kissimmee resort include “Cirque: Spirit of Christmas” stage show, indoor ice tubing, snowball building, Naughty or Nice Escape Room, the “#LIT” light show and other activities.
For more information, go to christmasatgaylordpalms.com.
