A Harry Potter Ice Attraction Is Coming to Grapevine’s Gaylord Texan This Christmas
Update (July 23, 2026): It’s official. Gaylord has confirmed ICE! featuring Harry Potter, and tickets are on sale now. Read our full coverage of the announcement here.
Glacius! The Wizarding World looks set to freeze over in Texas this holiday season and now there’s an official paper trail.
A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, registered June 18, lays out plans for a temporary ice-themed 2026 holiday attraction at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine. The project’s name in the state system leaves little to the imagination: “ICE Event 2026-Harry Potter.”
If “ice attraction at the Gaylord Texan” rings a bell, it should. ICE! is the resort’s signature winter walk-through, where master artisans from Harbin, China hand-carve more than two million pounds of ice into towering scenes, glowing tunnels, and two-story slides. Each year brings a new theme — last season’s was built around Elf. For 2026, the filing makes clear, it’s Hogwarts.
The paperwork even pins down the details. The build is slated to run from November 13, 2026 through January 3, 2027, across roughly 18,000 square feet, at an estimated cost of just over $1 million ($1,045,000, to be exact). The owner listed on the filing is Opryland Hotel, Gaylord’s parent company.
One honest caveat: Gaylord hasn’t made its official announcement yet. The resort’s 2026 ICE! theme is scheduled to be revealed July 23, and the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau is staying quiet until then. “We are unable to comment on or confirm any information prior to that date,” communications director Elizabeth Schrack told the Fort Worth Report. The public filing, though, tells its own story.
And the timing is pure magic. The new eight-episode HBO series premieres Christmas Day, December 25 — meaning a hand-carved, walk-through Hogwarts and a brand-new Harry Potter series would land on the very same holiday calendar.
What we know so far:
- Venue: Gaylord Texan Resort, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, Texas
- The attraction: ICE! — the resort’s hand-carved, walk-through ice experience
- Timeline (per the filing): November 13, 2026 to January 3, 2027
- Estimated cost: $1,045,000 across about 18,000 square feet
- Official theme reveal: July 23
- The Harry Potter link: filed with the state as “ICE Event 2026-Harry Potter”
Grapevine has carried the state-designated title of “Christmas Capital of Texas” since 2009, and an ice-carved Hogwarts would fit the billing perfectly. Would you brave the cold to walk through a frozen Wizarding World this Christmas? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to follow along for more Harry Potter news.
