(Updated) A Visual Tour of Ice Castles in Stillwater 2017

Ice Castles are back – and this year they’re in Stillwater! I love the location 10x more than their previous location in Eden Prairie’s Miller Park. Ice Castles are in Lowell Park, by all the downtown businesses and restaurants (i.e. places to WARM UP!!!) and right along the St. Croix river.

I shared in my Twin Cities Kids Club blog post that Stillwater is brilliant for hosting Ice Castles this year. What better way to boost traffic to all their quaint businesses, like Leo’s Grill & Malt Shop (our favorite!), Kids Oasis Indoor Creative Play Space, and Gammy & Gumpy’s Toy Store.

Our visit was great. It was flipping COLD out the night we visited – so we didn’t stay long. But it has all the “cool” features of previous years – the Enchanted Frozen Characters from Tiny Diva Princess Party, the fire performers from Insphyre, goodies from Taste of Love Bakery, and fun features like slides.

The ice princesses were taking a break when we were there, and somehow we missed a new feature – a MAZE – but I put together a bunch of pictures of the many awesome things we did see.

Fire Performers from Insphyre. These guys were fun. They gotta keep moving though to not get burned.

Awesome fire performances. Be sure to check them out on Friday and Saturday nights when they have four performing together.

There were slides for either adults or kids to go down. There were some long, covered slides, and some shorter, uncovered slides. They were a hit with all ages including my kids.

The dome room.

Taste of Love Bakery offered lots of tasty treats like decorated cookies, gingerbread cookies, cake pops, hot cocoa and coffee. Prices were $2-5 or so for each.

The best new feature were the FIRE PITS everywhere. Though they’re probably mostly for the performers, every little bit of heat helps!

You could get ice castles themed cookies like this one!

TIPS FOR VISITING

My tips for visiting are pretty much the same as previous years with a few additions:

• The ground is all crushed ice so don’t even consider bringing a stroller. 
• Bring a sled to pull the kids around!
• Be careful and dress for the weather.
• Bring your camera (preferably a regular camera and not your smartphone – it’s easier to take pictures with a real shutter button than with your bare, cold hands on a screen!).
• Bring cash for the concessions. You’ll want something here.
• Get your tickets in advance to save money AND avoid the long lines.
• Note they’re closed on Tuesdays.
• Plan some time to visit some downtown Stillwater businesses – there are many great ones for the kiddos!

(Read my reviews from 2016 and 2015 with more tips!)

TICKETS and DISCOUNTS

UPDATED DEALS:

Here are deals I previously posted for Ice Castles:

• Save 15% with coupon code USFamily17 at IceCastles.com. The coupon is good through January 31, 2017. However, readers have reported that this coupon appears to have “reached its limit.”
• Save $2.00 per ticket with online code available at Cub Foods.

Then Ice Castles closed for a while due to warm weather.

Well, now they’re open again, and Twin Cities Daily Deals has a 2-for-1 deal going on through the end of January. (Thanks, Pocket Your Dollars!)

If you buy tickets, BUY THEM ONLINE IN ADVANCE. If you buy tickets at the entrance then the price is the highest, at $18 per adult and $12 per child. Instead, pay less than $13 per person online and with discounts.

HOURS

GIVEAWAY

Ice Castles has given me a 4-pack of tickets to give away for Ice Castles in Stillwater 2017! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below by Wednesday, January 18th at 11:00pm. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway