We recently had the opportunity to visit Gaylord Texan to experience their holiday attractions. The resort has transformed into a winter wonderland that you will want to visit this holiday season. In today's post, I'll tell you about our visit and also answer a question that is on everyone's mind -- does Gaylord Texan enforce wearing masks and social distancing? (Spoiler alert - they require masks and were fantastic about cleaning, providing hand sanitizer throughout the resort, and encouraging social distancing during our visit.)
Let's start with the coupon because I'm sure that you are eager to book early and score 50% off of the I Love Christmas Movies tickets and $5 off of Yuletide Bright tickets. Use the offer code TRENDYMOM when you book your tickets for the discounts. This coupon is for specific dates and while space lasts. I recommend booking early to make sure that you are able to take advantage of the coupon, but also because you will choose a time slot for your Christmas movies tour and it's nice to get your top preference before the popular time slots sell out.
Before moving onto the fun activities, let me answer an important question about whether people are required to wear masks and other COVID-19 issues. In our experience, we stayed overnight at the hotel and visited most of the attractions, so we were able to observe that they take COVID-19 concerns seriously. Everyone who visits the Gaylord Texan is required to wear a mask. They are really nice about it. I noticed a woman who didn't have a mask, so they offered her a free disposable mask. They also corrected some adults who were wearing their masks incorrectly, so that was appreciated too.
We went to our hotel room and noticed that there were stickers on the floor and signs for social distancing throughout the resort. They also offered hand sanitizer stations throughout the resort. When we got to our room, I appreciated that they even thought to provide a complementary bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. There was also a notice that no employees would enter your room unless you dialed the "consider it done" button.
After dropping our stuff off in our room, we walked to Christmas Village. Throughout our visit, we noticed that they hired a small army of employees to clean. Those employees were awesome and reminded me of humming birds because they were so energetic and quickly moving around to clean anything and everything in the different areas! For instance, as soon as my children exited the carousel, two employees ran over with spray bottles and cloths to wipe the seats and poles. I similarly saw people quickly wiping tables, railings, and seemingly everything around us.
Our scheduled time for the I Love Christmas Movies was 6pm. We arrived early because we love walking around the Gaylord Texan's Christmas Village. It's very pretty! You may want to plan to get hot cocoa for kids.
Adults will love the holiday themed cocktails. They have several options, but I fell in love with the drink below. I love that they pay attention to small details and appreciated that the drink was sprinkled with nutmeg and comes with a cinnamon stick.
My children were mesmerized as we walked around. The decor was beautiful, but they also had employees in costumes to interact with our boys. This special touch added to the magic for them.
The I Love Christmas Movies was our favorite attraction. I don't want to spoil too many surprises for you, but I will share the general idea. You check in at your specific time slot. You are then greeted by your two production managers who serve as tour guides. We loved the two who hosted us because they were movie buffs and had a lot of enthusiasm to make the experience extra fun for us. They also served a secondary purpose of making sure that we maintained social distancing with the groups who were ahead or behind us.
The 13 immersive movie sets cover the following movies:
- The Polar Express
- A Christmas Story
- Elf
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
- The Year without Santa Clause
Another highlight includes sets from A Christmas Story. I won't spoil the surprises, but you won't be disappointed because it includes the special lamp, pink nightmare, and more!
I'm not sure if you will recognize this set, but I want to highlight that my children enjoyed the interactive nature of many of the sets.
The National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was one of my favorite parts of the experience. I have to really hold back here because this part of the experience is packed with excitement.
My children will tell you that the Polar Express sets were amazing. They felt like they were on the train and even noticed the smell of hot cocoa on the set. Again, I don't want to spoil surprises, but this is another highlight of the tour.
In addition to the I Love Christmas Movies attraction, we visited Yuletide Bright! I don't want to spoil surprises for you, but I think that a couple of photos are helpful in order to give you a general idea of what to expect.
Yuletide Bright is an outdoor attraction that encompasses 50,000 square feet of space. Our family enjoyed strolling through the beautiful holiday themed decor.
We had a busy evening between I Love Christmas Movies and Yuletide Bright. We returned to our room to sleep for the night. The view of the atrium was beautiful in the evening! Our children found it magical. I'm certain that they will always love their happy childhood memories of this trip.
The next day was packed with snow tubing, ice skating, and carousel rides! My children love snow tubing. Since it doesn't snow often in North Texas, it's nice to have the option to visit the Gaylord Texan to enjoy snow every year.
We also enjoyed ice skating. My preschooler was wobbly, so they offered a little teddy bear seat for him to sit on while I pushed him around. This rocked his world! My other son took several months of ice skating lessons when he was younger, but it has been a few years and he had to relearn. Two of the employees were very sweet to give him pointers. They also skated a few laps with him to get him going again. You could tell that they were well trained and passionate about making sure that visitors have fun.
I think that you could easily spend a week at the Gaylord Texan with all of their holiday events, so we only showed a glimpse into the sparkling activities. Here is a list and prices of Gaylord Texan's 2020 Holiday Activities that you may enjoy:
- I Love Christmas Movies - price varies by date, but the range is $23.99 to $31.99 per adult and $14.99 to $20.99 per child (ages 4 to 11). <-- use our coupon code TRENDYMOM for 50% off select dates for an even better deal!)
- Yuletide Bright - $15 per adult and $10 per child ages 4 to 11 <-- use our coupon TRENDYMOM for $5 off for an even better deal!
- Snow Tubing - $21.99 per person
- Holiday Heist Escape Room - $25 per person
- Ice Skating - $17.99 per person
- Christmas Craft Studio - $20 for 1 canvas or wood project; $35 for 2 projects
- Build Your Own Snowman - $27.95 per family/group with up to 5 participants
- Mistletoe Mile Scavenger Hunt - $12 per book
- Photos with Santa - packages start at $30.00
- Mrs. Claus' Christmas Tradition - $14.99 per person
- Gingerbread Decorating Corner - $29.99 per decorating kit
- Santa's Snow Throw - $9.99 per bucket of 12 snowballs
- Christmas Carousel - $4.99 per ride of $12 for all-day unlimited rides
- The Elf on the Shelf Character Breakfast - $42.99 per adult; $26.99 per child ages 4 to 11
- Photo packages - packages from $30.00
I hope that you enjoyed this glimpse into our visit to the Gaylord Texan for the Christmas 2020 holiday season. Our family is grateful for the experience because we needed an escape from our daily routines that have been hampered by COVID-19. The Gaylord Texan really stepped up to provide a safe and enjoyable holiday experience for us. I think that we all deserve a holiday escape this year and recommend the Gaylord Texan!
Learn More
Visit the Gaylord Texan's ticketing website here. Use the discount code TRENDYMOM for 50% off of I Love Christmas Movies and $5 off of Yuletide Bright.
.jpeg)
No comments :
Post a Comment