KISSIMMEE, Fla. – It’s not Christmas just yet but the Gaylord Palms is getting ready for the holiday season. On Friday, News 6 got a behind the scenes look at “I Love Christmas Movies” marquee pop-up experience.
With over 300 Christmas trees and thousands among thousands of lights, guests will be able to step into some of their favorite holiday feels such as “Elf.”
And we all know nobody spreads cheer like Buddy the elf.
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“You walk through the candyland forest, then New York and you’re in the department store. We have a ‘Christmas Story,’ ‘A Year Without Santa Claus,’ ‘The Polar Express’ and my personal favorite ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,’” Niko Nickolaou, Creative Director of Gaylord Hotels, said.
Nickolaou explained the work started back in August from building replicas of movie sets and even handmaking props from some of the scenes.
“You really get to go through and see life-size props, you step into the movie and really experience the movies how they’re meant to be,” Nickolaou said.
On Friday, crews were finishing the new “Snow Factory” where it will snow every hour and guests will get the change to slide on Snow Flow Mountain and throw snowballs at the “Snowball Build and Blast.”
Christmas at Gaylord Palms is a holiday tradition for families all over the world but with the ongoing pandemic, things are going to be quite different this year to keep visitors safe.
“Due to international travel restrictions - we couldn’t put the ICE event this year and it was important to us to continue making those Christmas memories with families around Central Florida, so we worked towards creating a new experience that is safe and enticing to us and exciting,” Nickolaou said.