Ice Castles Minnesota

This was my very first time at the Minnesota Ice Castle. It was held at the Minnesota State Fairground. I visited during on a Saturday. It was roughly 23ºF. The time I visited was 4pm - 6:30pm, because I was recommended to go when the sun is about to set so I could enjoy the lights. WHAT TO WEAR: Don't be like my teenage niece who decided to wear a sweatpants, hoodies, and converse shoes, despite being told multiple times that the event is strictly outdoors with NO indoor shelter. (The tented gift shop is also freezing cold.) She left before the place became dark. I actually had a heated vest and heated gloves in addition to a beanie, hoodie, jacket, thermal leggings, sweatpants, mittens, and UGG boots. My feet was cold even with toe warmers! I saw a lot of adults and children in snowpants - think of visiting a ski/snowboard resort. I saw a few adults with heated jackets. PARKING: We did not have any difficulty finding parking, nor did we have to park far away. There was a lot of spaces available. When we arrived at 4pm, we parked near the front gate. There were so many open spots. GETTING AROUND:Definitely not a place to bring a stroller. I saw a lot of parents had their kids on sled as they pull. On the day I went had a lot of snow - probably ankle high. The lines for the slides were decent. The one with the duel slide had a slightly longer wait time. There are restrooms available - no indoor plumbing - it's a porta potty. They have campfires around the park. I was told there was pronto pup, but I didn't see it. I saw Original Hockey Mom Brownie food truck. SOUVENIR PHOTO: When you purchase your ticket online, it will ask if you want to add-on a souvenir photo. Since it was during peak-times, it was about $30 for a few photos. I did not add this option at the time of purchase, but you can give your ticket to the photographer, who will scan your ticket and take your photo. There is a gift shop (white tent) where you will go to pay for your photo, if you did not purchase it when you bought your tickets online. You will also receive one print-out copy of a photo of your choosing, and the rest of your photos, I had 9 photos, will be emailed to you. If you are not the original purchaser of the admission ticket, like me - Nana bought it, but left with my niece and the tickets were e-tickets on her phone, then you will receive a card with a QR code that you would bring to the gift shop to get your photos. Why 4 out of 5 stars?I wish there were more options with dates and times. I would like to avoid the peak hours. My option for non-peak was Monday or Thursday starting at 4pm, which I wanted to avoid rush hour traffic. Plus, they were sold out of hot chocolate by 4:30pm, but Original Hockey Mom Brownie food truck was present and was also selling hot chocolate, but the line was longer. Unfortunately, the hot chocolate are not lactose-free. Overall, I had a lot of fun. I went on the slides about 3-times. If I go again, I would definitely wear snowpants and my actual waterproof snowboots and not UGG. There is a scavenger hunt that I tried to help one of my family member solved. There's a QR code around the park where you can get the scavenger hunt questions.

We visited the Ice Castles last weekend while we were visiting the Minneapolis area. The staff was very friendly and professional. The weather was warmer than usually in January, so the staff was maintaining the ice every night so they could extend the Scriptures for a couple of weeks. I wasn't disappointed because they have no control of weather. They are still nice to see, especially if you have never been.I've been to the Ice Castles in New Hampshire years ago. Lots of fun and alot to venture thru, great for a family outing with the kids. Its pretty amazing to see. The artist who create the ice castles are very talented. Check the website for other cities to visit the Castles.

It was cute and the staff are pretty friendly! There's not a whole lot to do for the price you pay, but there are some ice slides that are fun. I'd be careful though because a few people did apparently get injured. Overall, beautiful and definitely don't regret going. I would purchase tickets online to save money and try to find a discount code.

Visited at 6pm with our 2 yr old. It took 30minutes for the gates to open. That's right, we were waiting in line in 10° weather for half an hour with our 2 year old. Absolutely nothing was communicated to us about this (no one told us there would be a wait, how long of a wait, or even why we were waiting). If it wasn't so expensive to begin with, we would have left. Hard to recommend after an experience like that.

We visited Ice Castles with a group of two adults and 5 kids and it was so fun! We went on a Wednesday night and arrived around 5:45 to one of the shuttle lots. Upon arrival, we were directed that way and would i've preferred parking right by the castle, but the parking lot where we were had plenty of spots and the shuttle was running very quickly. We waited less than five minutes before getting on for the quick five minute drive to the castle.Check in moved pretty smoothly, but didn't seem to take a little bit of time given that everyone in line already had bought tickets online. Checking in there was a quick set of instructions about how to keep people and the castles safe and then we were on our way.Upon first, entering your weave through a tall set of ice walls that were extremely high and picturesque. And opens up into a large area where you can explore at your own pace and direction of variety of different ice activities. They had three heights of ice slides, ice cornhole, lots of ice tunnels and various sculptures throughout. We easily spent an hour exploring all the areas and taking turns on slides, even the adults!Upon exiting the castle you walk through an area that is all lit up with a different twinkling lights and can make your way over to a spot with both an ice bar and two food truck options. Behind the food truck options are also a tubing hill where the kids spent another 30 minutes taking turns on inner tubes. The food options were a little pricy but good. And the seating included various picnic tables and heat lamps as well as open gas, fire pits to warm your hands.We were told by some of the employees that the weekend can get crazy! With Saturday clocking in and up to 5000 visitors. If waiting in longer lines or around, a lot of people, isn't your jam, I would definitely recommend a Wednesday night as I think, they are closed on Monday and Tuesday. All in we were there a total of just under 2.5 hours including shuttle time and a break to eat. The kids could've easily stayed longer!The price was definitely right at only $15 for adult and $11 for children under 12. We were considering the ice maze on the south side of town as an alternate outing, but I'm so glad we decided to go with ice castles. In general, the price, location and the wide variety of activities was the perfect choice for our group. This just might be one a yearly activity going forward!

A so so cool and surreal experience being a native Californian! Right as you walk in, you are surrounded by ice castles that make you feel like the size of a pea. It was super cool at night because the castles were lit up with LED lights so I definitely recommend you go at night! Some of these reviews are complaining that you had to wait a long time for the slides but I didn't wait more than a couple of minutes! I also went on a Thursday night so the tickets were a bit cheaper and it was a little less busy. Dress warm and bring your cameras because this is a sight to see! Not something you see everyday :)

It's winter time in Minne-snow-ta! My friends and I decided to enjoy a winter snowy adventure and explore the Ice Castles in the neighborhood in New Brighton. We chose the 4:00pm Ice Castles reservation and got a start in daylight and then transitioned into the night and enjoyed the lights in the dark too! We had so much fun going through the ice maze, caverns and sculptures. Oh, and then there was the ice slide, where we got on a floppy sleigh and down an icy slide! At the end of our adventure, we sat down and relaxed by wonderful bonfire and enjoyed hot chocolate at the Polar Pub. The cost of the adventure is a little steep for adults at $22.00 + tax/fees, but very well worth it. We took advantage of 15% off with online purchase beforehand. Just use the promo code: stamped2023. Yes, we froze our ass off literally....but had so much fun playing in the snow and letting our inner child free. The good thing it's close to our gym at LA Fitness in New Brighton so we were able to warm up at the sauna afterwards which felt just AMAZING after our snowy adventure! Yippee!

Beware of slide! At the end of the largest slide they have a carpeted platform to catch guests from sliding too far. The platforms were spaced too far apart on 1/11 & my father had his foot slip in between a crack, shattering his leg in two places. The staff told us that, "people have been getting hurt on this all day. It's unfortunate that this time was so bad." This tells us it was willful negligence to not solve the issue that they knew was occurring. The liability waiver you sign specifically includes "acts of negligence". Be warned when bringing your family here, your safety is NOT their #1 concern.

This was the most underwhelming and anti climatic thing I have ever experienced or paid for. For 26 it's price gouging. If I could have gotten my money back I would have. I think that is absolutely crazy that they are on the state fair fairgrounds grounds and the tickets are somehow more expensive than the fair itself. I do not recommend paying for this. I would recommend checking out the snow sculptures those are cool.

Was not what we expected. Too much money. No "castles" just ice shaped structure like blobs