Winter is here!  We live in Utah where winter is in full throttle. I have been thinking about all the Salt Lake City winter activities around town and trying to do as many as possible.

The Midway Ice Castle has been on my list for a few years.  We decided that this was the year we would check it out!

If you want to save this for later be sure to pin this to Pinterest!

This post may contain affiliate links that will give me a commission at no additional charge to you.

The Midway Ice Castle is a hand-crafted ice structure.  There are tunnels and slides made of ice to explore.  It really is a beautiful work of art.  The ice castle is built entirely by hand using hundreds of thousands of icicles.  The ice castle includes LED -lit ice sculptures (at night), ice thrones, ice carved tunnels, and slides.

Ice Castle Locations in North America

This frozen attraction is located in six cities across North America. These cities include: Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Utah, and Alberta.

I feel pretty lucky that there is an ice castle in Utah and that I do not have to travel too far to see it.  If you are traveling to Utah in the winter this really needs to be on your Salt Lake City winter activity list!

The ice castle is located in Midway, Utah.  Midway is an up and coming mountain town.  It is about 25 minutes from Park City.  The area is really beautiful.  A few years ago it was chosen to house the HGTV Dream Home.

The Midway Ice Castle is about a 50 minute drive from Salt Lake City and about 43 minutes from Provo.

Homestead Resort

The ice castle is at the Homestead Resort and Golf Course. The location is great because if you wanted to make a weekend of it you have a nice place to stay at the resort.  There is also a crater located near by with warm natural hot springs.

Reservations

Reservations are needed.  There are time slots all day starting at 12:00 pm on weekends and 4:00 pm on weekdays.

One of the reasons I did not go until this year was because in the past I have wanted to go and it has been sold out.

I was really lucky this time because it just happened to be the day it opened and I don’t think everyone knew about it opening.   All the nighttime slots were filled.  At nighttime it is lit up and even more beautiful.

We chose to go at  3:00 pm.

Ticket’s to the Midway Ice Castle

Ticket prices vary from weekday to weekend.  During the week adults are $14 and children (4-11) are $10.  Weekend Prices for adults are $18 and $12 for children.

Buying tickets online is pretty important to guarantee your spot.  But if you want to risk it, there are stand by tickets available that are more expensive.

Coupons for the Midway Ice Castles

Use code Planningaway to get a 15% discount on your tickets.  

Hours for the Midway Ice Castle are as follows:

Weekday

4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Weekends

12:00 pm – 9:00 pm

What to Wear to the Ice Castle

With all outdoor Salt Lake City winter activities, certain clothing should be worn. For starters, put on some good quality snow boots that will keep your toes warm.

I wish I would have put my little kids in ski bibs. Not so much for the cold, but mostly because there are ice slides and if you are sliding down without the proper material you will get wet and be cold.

Gloves, hat, face mask , and earmuffs would be a good idea to take with you.  I happened to go and it was only 32 degrees out so it wasn’t super cold.  If you go at nighttime I would prepare to bundle up!

Bring a Sled

Bring a sled for your little children.  I saw a few parents pulling sleds around the castle and thought that was a genius idea.

Parking is pretty easy.  You will park at the golf course because the Midway Ice Castle is actually built on the golf course.  There are four lots available.  If you park farther away there is a shuttle tram to take you to the entrance.

As you enter, you will go in a ticket area and be directed to the right location.  You will need to show your online purchased tickets which will be scanned.  The ticket master will give you a card with your party size on it and you will proceed to the ice castle entrance.

There are a few rules that you can read in this picture.  I think the most important ones were to not touch the ice and that if you leave the ice castle you may not re-enter.

Before you enter the ice castle there is a great photo opportunity.  There is a sign that says, ” ice castle.” Plus Elsa and Anna from Frozen will be there to greet you and take a picture with you.

My little kids were so excited to go to the ice castle and then the added bonus of getting to meet the princesses was pretty awesome!

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I went in.  As you enter,  you get to walk between tall sheets of ice crystals.  It is pretty awesome.

Once inside the area opens up and you are surrounded by the walls of the castle.  Within the ice castle there are mazes, ice chairs, and slides to explore.  You can explore the whole area and take as many photos as you want.

What Surprised Me

I knew that it would be fun to take pictures and see the castle but I had no idea there was slides and mazes.  There were 3 slides.  Two of the slides are short and fast. In my opinion, one slide stands out above the rest at the Midway Ice Castle.  It is both long and fast! You will know which one I am referring to because it is the only slide that a mat is provided.

There is really something for everyone at the Midway Ice Castle.  Even toddlers can enjoy one of the slides.  It is designed especially for little children.  My 4 and 7 year old went on this smaller slide and loved it.

 Height Requirements

There are two other slides do have a height requirement of 42″. The first one we went on was not extremely fast and I think kids ages 4 and up would do just fine.

The more intense slide that I mentioned above is extremely fast.  With that said my four year old loved it but if you have a timid child it might not be the best option. One thing I liked about this particular slide was the mat to sit on.  This was nice so your pants would not get wet!

My kids loved the intense slide and went down multiple times. Even adults will love this.  I went down and thought it was fun!

Daytime

This is solely my opinion.  I have little kids and I thought it was tough to keep track of them at the ice castle.  They were running in all the mazes and coming down different slides.

I would be so stressed out if it had been dark and I could not see where they were running off to.  So, I would say daytime is best with little kids. Plus, it is more crowded at night!

One benefit of going in the daytime is that the time slot’s do not sell out as quickly.  When we arrived, the crowd level wasn’t bad.  We did not have to wait in any lines for the slides.  As the next time slot opened it became busy.  The lines grew rather large toward the end of our visit.

Nighttime

Now if this had been a date, nighttime would totally be the way to go.  You might not be able to stay as long because you may get cold but the Midway Ice Castle will be lit up with beautiful colored lights.

If you are there for photography in mind you should be able to get some great shots. I like the contrast in colors at night for sure.

The nighttime time slots are usually sold out, so you can expect it to be pretty crowded.

I would plan to stay 30 minutes to 1.5 hours.  If the weather is nice you can easily stay longer.  We were able to go on all the slides multiple times and we stayed over an hour.

Obviously, if you go later and they are sold out it is going to take you a lot longer to go down all the slides.  You will also have to wait in line to take pictures at particular spots as well.

First, I would say dress warm no matter what.  We went and it wasn’t bad at 32 degrees.  I was chasing kids around and was not cold at all.

Space Heaters

In the middle of the Ice Castle is an open space with huge space heaters.  There are log benches available to sit and relax on as well.

Refreshment Stand

If you are still too cold there is a refreshment stand that sells hot chocolate.  You can grab a cup and head to the space heaters to warm up.

Some people in our party got too cold because they didn’t have the right shoes.  Shoes really make a difference (get snow boots).  They decided to go back to the car because they couldn’t handle being in the cold for any longer!

The Midway Ice Castle is a great activity but if you need more ideas for your Salt Lake City winter activities list, be sure to check out my Ultimate Salt Lake City Ski Trip Post.

Soldier Hollow is another great place for snow tubing. And of course heading to Park City for some winter fun is always an option!

Facebook Travel Community

If you have any questions or know of other great places to add to our Salt Lake City winter activities list please comment below!

Also, join my Planningaway Travel Community on Facebook.  This is a place where I post travel deals, and you can ask any questions about your Salt Lake City skiing trip or any other upcoming trips!