Exploring Ice Castles With Kids
Exploring ice castles with kids is a fun family friendly winter activity. It’s a great way to get out of the house when you might otherwise just want to stay snuggled inside for weeks on end or if you’re getting stir crazy due to the cold. Get your kids moving and make fun holiday memories in an icy winter wonderland.
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In the past, our family checked out the Dillon Ice Castle in Dillon, CO, but these days the Colorado locations are in Eagle, CO and Cripple Creek, CO. If you’re elsewhere in the country, Ice Castles has other locations in Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Utah as well.
Our little ones looked so cute bundled up and loved crawling through ice tubes, and slipping down ice slides. For us adults, we were in awe of the intricate sculpting and the romantic lighting after the sun set. We highly recommend a winter outing to an ice castle!
What is an Ice Castle?
An Ice Castle is a man-made winter wonderland. There are walls, spires, towers, domes, columns, icicles that shimmer in the sun and are alternately bright white or a deep blue as you gaze around at them. At night they are lit with lights that cycle in color. You can go down slides, crawl through tunnels, and explore mazes. It’s impressive to view and fun to explore for the whole family!
What to know about visiting an Ice Castle
Here are some tips to make your visit easier!
Purchase Tickets In Advance
We purchased tickets online in advance. When you buy a ticket you buy it for a specific day and time. Don’t wait too long because popular day and time slots fill up fast.
We ended up going on a Sunday night because by the time I went to purchase them mid-week Friday & Saturday were unavailable.
Choose Your Time Slot Strategically
The castle will look totally different in both the day and the night, and both are beautiful, so my recommendation is to get the best of both and book a time in the afternoon and stay until it gets dark and the ice is illuminated with all of the beautiful lighting.
For us this was 4:00 pm. Since we went with kids we didn’t want to have to wait too long for nightfall in case they started melting down.
Do know that you might have to wait in line a bit at the front despite having your ticket in hand as they balance people leaving with those entering if it’s especially busy.
Dress Appropriately
Dress warmly! We had lots of layers and wore boots and snow pants. This kept us warm and dry. The durable yet smooth material of our outer layers also helped when crawling through ice tubes and going down icy slides.
Gloves are helpful as well especially for kids who are more likely to touch the ice and get their hands even colder.
Since we dressed in multiple layers, we had the option to add and remove layers if needed. We didn’t though, because it was so cold!
What Else To Bring
Of course you’ll want to bring a camera or use your phone to get plenty of pictures. Just be careful that you don’t lose it, scratch it, or smash it into anything if you’re going through an ice tube or slide. Ice can be pretty unforgiving!
With kids it’s also a good idea to bring a change of clothes just in case. If you didn’t wear waterproof clothing this could be especially helpful.
And finally, a thermos of hot chocolate waiting in the car to help warm everyone back up would make for a nice end to a fun visit to the ice castles.
Our Adventure at an Ice Castle
We didn’t very far into the ice castle before our jaws were hanging open and we were snapping pictures left and right.
Once we got over our initial awe we were excited to check out what else was in store. We spent a lot of time in the kids slide area. My daughter slid down with me a few times and then was eager to try it on her own. We skipped the big slide because the line was pretty long. We did jump on the ice throne for a family photo.
There were some tunnels that my oldest crawled through, encouraged toward the end by our friend Michele from Life Like Retirement waiting for her on the other side and me following along behind.
We wandered through the maze for awhile as well. At the entrance to the maze there were some polished ice areas that were like windows, through which we could see each other but distorted.
The fountain in the center of the ice castle held our attention for awhile as the water jumped and arched.
I was especially entranced at the view looking up in the dome room. I just hoped no icicles would fall while we were standing underneath them!
It’s a completely different place from day to night, and we made the rounds a second time to see the sites again all lit up.
Definitely plan to add an ice castle to your family winter bucket list as a must-do next winter! If you visit the Ice Castle in Eagle, check out Glenwood Springs and warm up in the hot springs or explore the sights of Colorado Springs which is not far from Cripple Creek Ice Castles.
