ICE experience at gaylords, review

[pbotz]

Just wanna be helpful since before i went i could not find any reviews on this display.

this review is for the Ice experience at gaylords hotel at the national harbor in maryland.

I went saturday at 1.30 and there was about a 1.5 hr wait to get into the ice display. Yes its cold and the parkas they supply are needed. I feel the display is over priced and should be about 20 dollars for adults. There will surely be 1 to 2 hr waits on peak hours during this time of the year. The ice display is pretty short most of the time is used up in the slide room waiting on line to go down the ice slide. You could probally go thru the display minus the slide in 15-20 min. Of course they try to milk you more with overprices family photos and 3 dollar tiny hot cocos, after the display. It was a nice display, we all enjoyed it. I would highly recommend going off peak hours and trying to score some discount tickets which i did not find.
There are many places to park also there, which will be cheaper than the 10 dollars the hotel gets. They are usually per hour rates, i paid 7 bucks for 3 to 4 hrs.
Thanks hope this is helpful

 

[nobody really]

we went friday afternoon, got the military discount, which brought it down to $23. still alot, had tickets for the 1:30 show, and we still waiting 2 hours to get in. It was very nice, just alot to spend (esp the young familiies with lots of kids). National harbor itself was nice, lots of restaurants and bars and neat shops.

We parked at st. george garage. Paid $7 for about 4 hours also! Cheaper than the $18 all day at the Gaylord (but if you go to the ice show you get a $8 validation which makes it "only" 10.

it put me in the christmas spirit, thats for sure!

 

[CalvertNewbie]

A friend gave us a warning not to try to take our little one there because she waited forever and finally just left because the kids were all getting cranky. They had tickets, had already waited 2 hours, and would have to wait another 2 hours before they'd be let in. UFB! This is obviously something people bring their kids to and kids get bored and cranky. And of course, they were told "no refunds". Twelve tickets, a lot of wasted money. Ridiculous. I really wanted to go there but after hearing about the ridiculous wait time, I'll pass.

 

[MrX]

We went on Friday evening, military discount on the tickets I bought online. Paid $10 for parking, and were greeted with an excessively long line. With no signage or anyone directing you where to go, i went to the front, found an employee and asked. I was told that the line that was nearly to the next street over was for Will Call. After being in line for over an hour, we finally make it to the entrance to get inside the building only to find out the line was actually the Will Call and wait to see the display all-in-one line. There was zero wait to go to the ticket box and pick-up the tickets once inside. Of course, one you have the tickets, you had to get back in line to make it to the display entrance. We waited in this line for roughly 45 minutes, winding our way through various works of Dr Seuss before finally entering the display area over an hour later than the scheduled time of 6:30.

Once inside, the display was very interesting and my family enjoyed it. Of course, by the time everyone made it into the display, they were all in a mad rush. Good luck being able to look at things without groups of people pushing to get by you, or jumping in front of you to get a photo. Like said above, it was the worst in the area of the ice sliding boards. My daughter was too young to enjoy them, and it still took us quite a while to navigate through the sea of people running around in that section.

The line to exit the display area was nearly as bad as the entrance, thanks to one last "Merry Christmas" display at the end of the hallway before you exit, in front of which everyone wanted to stop and take a picture or twenty. This caused everyone behind them to line-up, either to take their turn at photos or just to make it to the door that was co-located in the same area.

You then get trampled while trying to remove your parkas in an effort to return them, as there was no designated area for this activity. Sorry I have to remove my child from her stroller to extract her from the parka. We made it out alive at around 8:30, and there was zero line to get in the building.

We did meet some very nice folks while waiting in line, and enjoyed the display itself. After hearing it was the same way last year, I cant help but wonder why there is not any better organization. Surely they are making enough money to put up signs or at least have people posted at the back of the line to direct folks where they need to go. Perhaps allowing you to print your internet purchased ticket would smooth things as well.

Some of the folks near us in line were reportedly able to go to the hotel's front desk and get a refund due to the excessive wait.