Experience a New Holiday Tradition: ice! Featuring Elf™
JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa
Experience the whimsical world of Buddy the Elf™ at ice!, our signature holiday attraction. Discover beloved scenes from the Christmas film Elf™ in magnificent, larger-than-life ice sculptures carved from more than 2 million pounds of ice. Journey through unforgettable scenes for unique photo ops and enjoy exhilarating, two-story-tall ice slides. It's a festive adventure that captures the spirit of the holidays, just like Buddy himself!
GET TO KNOW "ice!"
The magic of our signature experience has been featured in Forbes, Conde Nast, CNN, The Points Guy, and more.
Come to life through ice from the beloved tale, Elf™
Slides made of pure ice you can zoom down, from up to two-stories high!
Total time the artisans spend carving to create the ice! experience
Visited ice! in 2024 across six locations in the U.S.
SNEAK PEEK INTO ice!
Your adventure begins at the North Pole. Learn what it takes to be an elf and meet Buddy's arctic creature pals. Onward to the Candy Cane Forest and New York City!
A favorite part of the ice! experience is our two-story tall ice slides. Plunge down one of five ice slides, including one child-sized slide. It's a re-creation of the famous snowball fight scene in Central Park!
Buddy's hilarious adventures will fill you with Christmas cheer. We won't blame you if you want to sing out for all to hear!
FROSTY FACTS
Know more about what it's like to step inside ice! before you experience it yourself.
Enjoy this self-guided experience at your leisure
Cool, controlled temperatures keep the icy designs intact
Entertaining for both kids and adults
MAKING OF ice!
Learn more about the magic and finesse behind the scenes that create these colorful, icy masterpieces.
The vibrant colors in the ice sculptures are specially created by a chemist with a proprietary formula to ensure it closely matches each character's specific colors and to maintain its bright color for the entire season.
Traveling over 6,000 miles from Harbin, China (known as "Ice City"), 40 artisans use their master sculpting skills passed down through generations to carve ice! over six weeks.
ice! features elaborate scenes sculpted from 6,700 massive blocks of ice, weighing in at a total of 2 million pounds.
The carvers use chisels, chippers, tongs, handsaws, grinders, and even chainsaws to bring the experience to life. Some artisans have collected custom-made tools to perfect the irregular shapes and achieve the highest level of detail.
The artisans follow a 300-page design book filled with hand-drawn, to-scale sketches and blueprints to create every sculpture featured throughout the 19,000-square-foot frozen attraction.
Once the completed masterpiece is open for guests, a few artisans stay onsite at the exhibit to preserve the icy designs and perform daily, live sculpting demonstrations to showcase their craft.
SO MUCH CHRISTMAS. SO MANY WAYS TO EXPERIENCE IT
From ticket passes filled with Christmas joy to special ways to save on your visit —explore ways you can make this holiday season one to remember.
SAVE UP TO 30% ON HOLIDAY FUN
Bundle a ticket to our Christmas experience, ice!, with other festive activities and save big! Choose from two pass options featuring tickets to ice tubing, scavenger hunt, gingerbread decorating, ice skating, and more.
EXCLUSIVE TICKET OFFERS
Members of AAA, Military, Teachers and more can enjoy special savings on room nights and tickets to our ice!experience for the 2026-2027 holiday season!
SAVE WITH PREPAID PARKING
Visiting for a festive day of holiday fun? Day visitors can purchase parking in advance to save more time and money for an icy smooth arrival.