This winter, Ice Castles, LLC will bring a one-of-a-kind experience to Eden Prairie, Minnesota, as it unveils a massive castle made only of ice. The Ice Castle will feature lofty ice towers, shimmering archways, glowing tunnels, narrow slot canyons, glossy stalactites and frozen thrones—all made entirely of ice.
Ice Castles are the brainchild of Utah-based ice artist Brent Christensen, who is returning to Minnesota after his Ice Castle exhibit at Mall of America two winters ago. Visitors will enjoy the acre-sized winter wonderland crafted entirely by hand using only icicles and water. The Ice Castle features millions of icicles that sparkle a glacial blue by day and glow multi-colored at night with the help of thousands of LED lights embedded in the ice.
Ice structures inside of the Ice Castle do not appear like traditional ice palaces that are constructed of blocks. Instead the Ice Castle is grown from the ground up and resembles organic formations found in nature, like those of frozen waterfalls, glaciers or ice caves.
Each ice castle is built by hand and takes thousands of man-hours to create. The daily process consists of growing 5,000 to 12,000 icicles that are harvested by hand and individually sculpted into existing ice formations. Newly placed icicles are then drenched with water.
Guests are invited to not only view the beauty of the structure but also to squeeze, squish and crawl through parts of the stunning, Narnia-like display. Favorite photo spots can be found in the throne room, in front of the waterfall and throughout the winding ice maze. Children will enjoy whizzing down the tubular ice slide and spelunking through small tunnels.
- FUN FACTS –
- Each ice castle uses about five million gallons of water to build and maintain. This is enough water to fill nearly eight Olympic-sized swimming pools or fill Shamu the whale’s tank three times. That freezes into 2,100 tons of ice! Each night, 5-20 tons of ice is added as the castle gets watered and grows.
- All of our Ice Castles are located next to a natural water source so all of our water returns directly into the environment to be used again by wildlife, people and plants.
- This year will mark Brent Christensen’s sixth year building Ice Castles since the first one in his Utah backyard in 2008. Past Locations include Midway, UT; Silverthorne, Breckenridge and Steamboat Springs, CO; Minneapolis, MN (Mall of America); and Lincoln, New Hampshire. This year’s locations are (1) Lincoln, New Hampshire; (2) Stratton, Vermont; (3) Eden Prairie, Minnesota; and (4) Midway, Utah.
- All lighting at the ice castle is frozen inside of the ice, resulting in seemingly glow-in-the-dark ice—a surreal evening experience. During the day, the ice takes on glacial tones of deep blue.
- A team of 10-20 artists works day and night to build each ice castle by hand. Artists place between 6,000 to 12,000 icicles per day to become the base structure out of which ice tunnels, towers, caverns, canyons, archways and caves are created.
- An Ice Castle spans about one acre. The highest point we’ve built to is just over 40 feet!
- Just like the movie, our Ice Castles feature a lot of love. Hundreds of soon-to-be brides and grooms have taken their bridal photos at an Ice Castle. More than 50 couples (that we know of!) have gotten engaged or renewed their vows, and 20 couples have tied the knot in our Ice Castles.
- Over 500,000 visitors from all over the world have visited an Ice Castle in the past five years.
“Ice Castles really are one of the most unique and beautiful places on earth,” said Christensen. “We’ve been compared to Lake Superior’s ice caves, but you’ll actually see more variety and ice formations at the Eden Prairie Ice Castle. What’s really special is that every visitor gets a distinctive experience since the ice is constantly melting, freezing and being reshaped. It’s an amazing, continuously evolving and very organic experience.”
Eden Prairie’s Ice Castle is being built at the city’s Miller Park, located at 8208 Eden Prairie Road, and is expected to be open to the public Jan. 9 through March 7, 2015, weather permitting. The Ice Castle will be open from 2-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 2-10 p.m. on Fridays, and noon-10 p.m. on Saturdays. For ages four to 11, tickets are $7.95 Monday through Thursday and $9.95 Friday through Sunday. General admission tickets are $9.95 Monday through Thursday and $11.95 Friday through Sunday. Senior, military and group discounts are available. Tickets can be purchased on site or at www.icecastles.com/buy-tickets/.
See beautiful photos and videos or learn more at http://icecastles.com/ep/, https://www.facebook.com/TheIceCastles or http://instagram.com/icecastles. The website also has special events listed, like the ice princess visiting and fire performances. 🙂
About Ice Castles
Ice Castles is a Utah-based company, led by ice architect Brent Christensen, which creates acre-sized, all-ice castles at venues across the United States and Canada. Over 500,000 guests have visited an Ice Castle since the company’s establishment in 2009.
Giveaway:
Ice Castles has graciously offered me four general admission tickets as a gveaway. One reader will win the set of four tickets. To enter, please note that you are to attend Ice Castles in Eden Prairie that will tentatively continue to operate until March 7, weather permitting. You must be 18+ to enter. This giveaway will end on January 14, 2015. The winner will be notified via e-mail and has 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be selected.
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