Visit the Ice Castles – Lincoln, NH

For the second year in a row we went to see the beautiful, majestic Ice Castles in Lincoln, NH. They are so much fun for kids (and adults) of all ages! Below is my favorite photo from the night – If you went last year and had some trouble with the parking lot being so far from the castles, or the long wait, please check it out again this year! The location, while still in Lincoln, is now at the Hobo Railroad. Better parking, shorter lines, and a flatter, easier to navigate terrain (strollers and wheelchairs that can get through snow can likely get through these castles this year!). 

New Hampshire’s Ice Castle was built at 64 Railroad Street, Lincoln, New Hampshire, 03251. The Ice Castle is expected to be open through March 2015, weather permitting. The Ice Castle is open from 2-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 2-10 p.m. on Fridays, and noon-10 p.m. on Saturdays. General admission tickets for ages 12+ are $8.95 Monday-Thursday and $12.95 Friday-Sunday. For ages 4-11, tickets are $6.95 Monday-Thursday and $8.95 Friday-Sunday. Listed prices do not include taxes. 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 www.icecastles.com or http://instagram.com/icecastles_

All About the Ice Castles

HISTORY of the Ice Castles – 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.

PROCESS – 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. The blend of icicle placement, temperatures, water volume and wind result in an astonishing and ever-changing variety of ice formations.

 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.
• 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.
• The Ice Castle will be open anywhere from two to four months, depending on weather. Typical open dates are around Christmas with closing dates in March.

Check out some of my photos from our visit in the video slideshow below. You can also watch a video I took while there scanning the lights, sounds and lots and lots of ice here.  

 

 

Win Four Ice Castles Tickets!

Of course, the videos don’t do these beautiful sites nearly enough justice so why not just visit the Ice Castles yourself? I’m giving away four tickets to visit the Ice Castles in Lincoln, NH or one of the other three locations (Stratton, VT, Eden Prairie, MN or Midway, UT). The tickets are good anytime this season (one-time use).

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And, in case you haven’t had enough of Frozen yet, and really – even if you have! – check out this fantastic video filmed at one of the four Ice Castles locations –