Our experience at Gaylord National Christmas on the Potomac: Best Christmas activities in DC region

Tis the season to be jolly, and jolly you will feel at Gaylord National’s Christmas on the Potomac. Gaylord offers some of the best Christmas activities in DC. It is just minutes from downtown Washington D.C. In the National Harbor and is the region’s #1 holiday attraction. At just an hour from our home base of Baltimore, it makes the perfect family destination for a weekend getaway or even a day trip to get into the Christmas spirit. The resort is decked out with Christmas decorations, has an incredible ICE! Exhibit depicting Christmas Around the World, has nightly atrium fountain and light shows, and has many fun activities for the whole family to enjoy, especially the kids. Our visit to Gaylord National was one of our Christmas presents to our children, since we wanted to give them gifts of experiences rather than material items this year. Last year we enjoyed Christmas in NYC, and hope to take them each year somewhere new for a memorable holiday experience. Gaylord National’s Christmas on the Potomac was a huge hit with the kids (and us) and was a great way for us to spend quality time together, making memories that we will always cherish. We took tons of photos because the resort is so beautifully decorated, and looking back at them will remind us of the fabulous time we enjoyed together as a family.

We have visited Gaylord National in previous years just for the day, but this year we decided to stay the night and take full advantage of the whole experience. As Starwood Gold Elite members, we were eligible for an upgrade to an Atrium view room, which we highly recommend when coming to experience Christmas on the Potomac. The balcony makes the experience so much more fun!

We were able to enjoy the light and fountain shows from our private balcony overlooking the atrium and were singing and dancing up there with the best seats in the house. The atrium shows are every evening at 6, 7, 8, and 9pm and include fountains dancing to Christmas music, laser lights, and magical snowfall. The kids were so excited to see the snowflakes falling and were fascinated by the dancing fountains. Since the show is every hour, we also were able to experience it from the atrium, but I preferred the balcony since we were free to dance like no one was watching. 😉

You don’t have to be a guest at the hotel to enjoy the free atrium shows, so people from all over the region come to enjoy them as well as to experience ICE. Visitors can enjoy food and drinks in the Belvedere Lobby Bar which overlooks the atrium and has impressive views of the Potomac through the atrium’s giant glass wall. In our pre-children days, we enjoyed cocktails in the Belvedere (which has a fantastic view of the sunset) while watching the fountain show.

The atrium also has the Potomac Express miniature train for children 12 and under to ride ($5 per ticket) and several restaurants and shops. There are also elves hidden throughout for the Elf on the Shelf scavenger hunt which had us hunting throughout the hotel, and was much more challenging than we had anticipated. Our kids got so excited every time they found an elf, and then turned in their booklets at the end for a giant coloring and activity book prize.

The main attraction at Gaylord National that draws people from all around is the ICE! Exhibit, with over two million pounds of hand-carved ice sculptures in vivid colors and two-story tall ice slides that both kids and adults can enjoy. We were thrilled about the theme this year- Christmas Around the World, which is right up our alley as world travel adventurers. We loved seeing and reading about how the holidays are celebrated in other cultures and countries, many of which we’ve visited. A walk through ICE! Also includes a visit to the North Pole to see Santa and his elves, Frostbite Factory where artisans from China carve the ice before your very eyes, and ends with the most beautiful nativity scene we’ve ever witnessed carved out of crystal clear ice. It truly is a wonderful way to end the exhibit, remembering the true reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Remember to dress very warm when coming to ICE! It is a bone-chilling 9 degrees inside the exhibit, which is the perfect temperature for both carving and preserving the ice sculptures. A blue parka is provided to everyone who enters, but make sure to still wear your own warm coat, hat, scarf, gloves, and warm boots. We also used hand and toe warmers in our gloves and boots which is a good idea especially for the kids. We saw some people dressed in snow pants which is something we will do on our next visit, since 9 degrees is freezing cold even when bundled up well.

A word of warning, you may not want to bring children under age 3 to ICE! Our 2 year old son did not like being bundled up in all the layers-it’s a struggle just to get him to put on his coat on regular cold days, so making him wear a coat plus parka with gloves, hat and scarf was just a little too much for a stubborn toddler. He fell over at one point just like the kid from A Christmas Story and was not feeling very merry. However, once inside he was mesmerized by the colors and had to be reminded multiple times not to touch the ice. We ended up carrying him out kicking and screaming at the end because he wanted to go down the tall slide reserved for bigger kids (he thinks he’s an adult) and wouldn’t take no for an answer. If you have a mellow toddler, then you should be fine, but our wild little guy was a handful. Our 4 year old daughter loved it and did not even complain about being cold until the very end, and by then we were all ready for some hot cocoa and cookies over in Christmas Village.

As soon as you leave ICE you enter Christmas Village, which is a wonderland of Christmas activities geared for families and children and an impressive selection of holiday gifts. Our kids enjoyed riding the carousel and tea cups, and the kids got a good laugh seeing Daddy squeeze into a kid-sized tea cup and mommy almost toss her cookies after all the spinning around and around and around.

My favorite part in Christmas Village was the cookie decorating in the Gingerbread House, where we each decorated sugar cookies to look like ugly Christmas sweaters. We all got our creative juices flowing, although our son mostly got the icing flowing directly into his mouth instead of onto the cookies. Our artistic daughter loved decorating her cookies and being able to eat them afterwards. The kids also got a photo with the Gingerbread Man who hangs out inside the gingerbread house.

There are additional activities that we did not partake in since we had a very busy agenda for a one-night visit. Other holiday activities include cookies with Mrs. Claus, Photos with Santa, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Breakfast with Charlie Brown & Friends, and Cask & Cocoa (wine and chocolate pairings). The hotel also has seasonal spa specials including a Christmas Cocoa Facial, Mint to be Massage, and Joy for the Sole foot soak treatment which all sound blissful. Since this visit was all about the kids, we did not try out the spa, perhaps another time.

For those without kids or who just want a romantic night away from the kids, Gaylord National makes for a great date night. There’s a rooftop lounge called Pose with floor to ceiling windows and a wraparound terrace to enjoy the gorgeous skylines of D.C. & Alexandria with a live DJ on weekends. I snuck up there to see what it looked like while Bertaut stayed in the room with the kids, and it was a happening spot with a huge crowd doing the wobble on the dance floor. We’ll have to come back sometime with Grandma to keep the kids company after bedtime because we love to dance!

The last but not least item on our agenda at the Gaylord National was visiting the indoor pool and whirlpool, which is always one of the highlights for our kids on hotel stays. The pool is heated and the whirlpool was blissful during the cold winter weekend, so we all enjoyed a morning swim before we checked out. There’s also a small arcade and a fitness center if you feel the need to burn off those Christmas cookies.

On your way out make sure to drop off a letter for Santa in the Kids’ Christmas corner in the lobby, where kids can watch The Polar Express while parents check in and out. Our little munchkins had so much fun that they fell asleep on the chair while waiting for Daddy to get the car. That to me is a sign that they had a great time!

While in the National Harbor, make sure to take a quick walk to see the gorgeous and enormous Christmas tree with twinkling lights that change colors. You may also want to check out the Capital Wheel, a huge observation wheel that will give you phenomenal views of the area.

MGM National Harbor also just opened and has a conservatory decorated as a winter wonderland for the season. We were so busy with all the activities at the Gaylord that we didn’t make it to MGM this visit, but I’m sure we’ll be back to check it out another time. We hope you enjoy a magical and fun-filled holiday if you choose to visit Gaylord National’s Christmas on the Potomac. We don’t know of any other local attractions with so many family-friendly Christmas activities all under one roof. Our kids had a blast and were showing some serious love to each other and to us, which is what it’s all about after all. Happy holidays! If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to our email newsletter so you don’t miss any of our travel tips.

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Disclaimer: Gaylord National provided us with complimentary tickets to ICE and the holiday attractions and a discounted rate for our overnight stay but all opinions are our own.