Ice Castles in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, will open this season with coronavirus safety precautions
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Ice Castles, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, plans to open this season with a new design due to the novel coronavirus.
Marketing Director Melissa Smuzynski said this season will have the same attractions and activities as last year, including ice slides, crawl spaces and slot canyons — narrow canyons to walk through.
“Everything is illuminated at night with color-changing lights,” she said, “and kind of whimsical music. It’s a really fun and magical experience for families.”
Although the castles won’t look different this year, the winter wonderland attraction will implement COVID-19 safety precautions.
All guests and staff will be required to wear masks or face coverings, Ice Castles will operate at 40% reduced capacity to encourage social distancing between groups, and hand sanitizing stations will be placed throughout the attraction. The staff will frequently sanitize high-touch surfaces, including iPads, mats used on the slides and bathrooms.
To further promote social distancing this year, Ice Castles will reconfigure crawl spaces and narrow canyons, marked with one-way traffic flow to prevent face-to-face contact with other guests, she said.
Smuzynski said the Ice Castles team spent the last few months discussing a COVID-19 contingency plan.
“If there’s one thing at Ice Castles we do well, it’s dealing with uncertainty,” Smuzynski said. “Our entire business model is weather-dependent, and so we deal with uncertainty every single year. This is a new type of uncertainty with COVID-19. But we know that our plans can change, restrictions can tighten up on us and things can change. Our staff is very well-trained and very well-versed in dealing with uncertainty. So we’re confident that the season will be a great season and that we can provide an experience that is magical and safe for our guests.”
In addition to the COVID-19 safety precautions, this year’s castles will be in a slightly different location on the Geneva National golf course than last year to better promote ice growth as the castles are built and constructed by hand, using icicles.
Smuzynski said she hopes families can create memories at Ice Castles this year, given the tumultuous year we’ve had so far.
“We are keenly aware that, for many people, summer vacations and plans were canceled for them,” she said. “We know that kids have missed out on those fun activities this year. And so our whole goal and objective for this season is to provide a way where families can do something fun, make those magical memories and do so in a safe way so that they can either end 2020 or begin 2021 on a high note.”
Admission is $12.99 for children (ages 4-11) and $18.99 for adults on weekdays, or $18.99 for children and $22.99 for adults on weekends. Admission is free for children age 3 and younger.
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