If you’re looking for a “cool” experience while on a ski vacation at Deer Valley, Park City, or Sundance, head to the Ice Castles at Soldier Hollow in Midway in Heber Valley. This was my second visit to these ice castles with my friend Christy and while it’s fun during the day, it’s magical at night, especially when it’s snowing.

@jenniferbroometravel

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♬ Fairytale (From “Shrek”) – Geek Music

As you walk in there’s a lighted wall with “Bringing Fairy Tales to Life.” The fairy tale is based on the true story of a father building a snow and ice playground for his kids one winter.

One of the first areas I noticed was the Reindeer Room. There are several live reindeer to watch.

In the towering ice castles there’s arches and tunnels to walk through. Some have colorful lights and lead to caverns. Kids will enjoy going through the crawl tunnels. While exploring I felt like I was in a frozen maze with icy wonders around every corner or through every tunnel.

There are elaborate ice sculptures hand-carved by a world-renowned sculptor and light shows throughout the icy world. The changing colorful lights are mesmerizing to watch. With the orange and red colors, it almost looks like fire and ice in places.

We ended our icy experience going down one of the ice slides. The slides are fun and fast. You might squeal with delight as I did racing down one of them as two people can go at the same time.

While we were there it starting snowing which made the frozen wonderland even more spectacular, even as we walked through the final tunnel.

Ice Castles were in Colorado for multiple ski seasons, but not this year. Other ice castles locations are in New Brighton, MN; North Woodstock, NH; Lake George, NY; and Lake Geneva, WI. Prices vary, but are cheaper on weekdays. Book well in advance for weekends, especially holiday weekends. Open dates and hours are weather dependent.

Check out the Explore Utah section for more places author Jennifer Broome has gone to in Utah including hiking Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park and Winter in the Wasatch.