I was hosted at Christmas at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Hotel in exchange for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
If you’re from Nashville or have visited around the holidays, the Gaylord Opryland Hotel is always at the top of your Christmas event list during the holiday season. Their atriums are transformed into little holiday villages with lights, music, and so many decorations. They also have an outdoor area with activities for kids, special holiday activations and so much more to experience.
My brother and nephews moved back to town and I knew I needed to take them to Opryland to see all the holiday cheer for themselves. We had the best time running around doing things with my nephews and having family-friendly fun and I’m going to share all we did in today’s post!
Christmas at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Hotel
Our Room: Delta Atrium
We had a room with two queen beds and a balcony view of the Delta Atrium. It’s the perfect spot to be in the middle of all the holiday action! From our balcony, we could see the ginormous Christmas tree, the Delta riverboat cruise, and all the holiday decor. It was so nice sipping my coffee out there in the morning and people-watching fellow guests!
ICE! with The Polar Express™
ICE! is back at Opryland this year and it’s better than ever! Bundle up and wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. It’s 9 degrees inside so before entering you’ll put on Opryland’s signature blue parka and step into a wonderland carved by expert artisans out of two million pounds of colorful ice. See the story of The Polar Express™ with larger-than-life sculptures and take a ride down a slide made entirely of ice! It was such a fun and magical holiday experience. They also have such a fun gift shop with lots of ornaments, holiday decor and gifts.
Merry Snoopy Christmas Scavenger Hunt
Snoopy needs your help to find the most festive decorations for his doghouse! Throughout this scavenger hunt, you’ll need to search high and low across the resort and follow clues to locate some dazzling decor for his famous red house. Find all the decorations and complete the quest to receive a seasonal souvenir!
Gingerbread Decorating Corner
Don’t let anyone tell you differently, decorating a gingerbread house is harder than it looks! But the boys had an absolute blast decorating their side of the house and then eating it once they were done. You get a pre-built house with icing and candy decorations and go to town! It’s a little messy and sticky but fun was had by all!
Ice Skating
I haven’t ice skated in years and was never good at it, to begin with, but that wasn’t going to stop me from strapping on some skates, clinging to the railing, and hitting the ice with my nephews. Elijah is 8 and Caleb is 5. Caleb didn’t enjoy ice skating, but enjoyed being pushed around the rink in one of the Polar Bear chairs! Once he was done with that, he was content to sit and watch with some hot chocolate. Elijah on the other hand had a blast learning how to skate and get around the rink. Make sure you pack long pants and thick socks to go ice skating and make sure you have a crossbody bag on to keep your hands free.
Get your tickets beforehand here!
Country Christmas
What’s Music City without the music? Get tickets for the Tennessee Dinner show. This year Darryl Worley and Friends are headlining the Christmas Show as the main dinner act and it’s always a treat to see him live.
Ice Tubing
Another fun activity that we all loved was Ice Tubing! You drag your sled up to the 15-foot-high, four-lane ice tubing hill. Then the lanes are iced so you go faster down the hill. We took turns racing each other and did it more times than I could count. It was something the boys wanted to do over and over again.
Snowball Build & Blast
Another activity in Opryland’s Pinetop Village is the snowball build and blast station! It’s in the outdoor area next to the tubing area and ice skating rink. A container of snow comes out and there’s an area where you have “target” practice. There are holes that are different heights and you make the perfect snowball and try to make the target.
The Opryland has a ton of holiday activities, but don’t forget to just get a hot chocolate and walk around and enjoy the lights. Registered overnight guests can walk around and enjoy the lights and buzz. I will tell you it’s a very busy time of year. There’s a line to get into most things to plan out your activities and have tickets bought ahead of time. You’ll also have to wait in line to get snacks or eat, so pack some snacks to avoid hangry meltdowns. We also wandered the Gaylord Opryland Events Center and Convention Center and since it was empty the boys could run to their heart’s content and get out excess energy before bed.
The boys and I had an amazing time and already can’t wait to do it all again next year!
See all the holiday activities here!
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