By Linita Masters
The Queen Mary, Long Beach-Celebrities Aedin Mincks, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Aubrey Miller, Damien Wayans, Ryan Newman and others, chilled on the blue carpet at opening night of Chill, at in the City of Long Beach on Friday, November 19, 2015.
Hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Clause along with Commodore Hort of the Queen Mary, everyone enjoyed musical entertainment, roving juggling elves, a tree lighting ceremony, exploring the all new North Pole Chill Village and Chill’s three main attractions—outdoor ice skating on the 6,000 square foot ice rink, ice tubing on The Glacier Glide, a two-story , 100 foot long thrilling ice slide, and located inside the huge dome that was once home to the Spruce Goose, the amazing 13,000 square foot Ice Kingdom –A Christmas Carol.
A new addition to ‘Chill’ is the Victorian Village with Illumination Candle Shoppe’s where you can have a build-a-candle experience, an Enchanted Garden and Hedge Maze, the Polar Paintball, an interactive twelve-position paintball shooting gallery featuring the Mountaineer’s animated North Pole expedition. You can visit Santa’s Gingerbread House, write a letter to Santa at the North Pole mailbox and for those 21 and over The Ice Bar was open for business. Not to forget annual favorites- the largest Rocking Horse in the world and Michal Jackson’s Neverland “Swinging Sleigh Ride”.
As part of your Chill general admission you can experience the 4-D adventure of the holiday season screening of The Polar Express 4D at The Queen Mary 4-D Theater with motion seats and 4D effects with wind, fog, mist and scent all synced to the on-screen action.
This year’s Chill Ice Kingdom theme is “A Christmas Carole” with ice carved characters of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. To experience the Ice Kingdom first hand, I threw on my parka and immediately regretted not taking the gloves. But it was all worth walking through the 7 degree temperature as I went from room to room, totaling over 2 million pounds of carved ice, that had been turned into life-sized and larger at 2.5 stories tall, familiar characters and backdrops from the holiday classic.
The highlight of the evening was Mr. and Mrs. Claus along with Commodore Hort welcoming their guests with a special surprise. We were directed to look up into the sky where we saw Santa’s sleigh dropping down two flickering electric parachutes, as the Redbull skydivers parachuted down with a perfect landing and to a cheering crowd, launching the holiday tree lighting and the holiday season.
Experience the frozen magical adventure of The Queen Mary Chill with the entire family this holiday season – now open until Jan 10, 2016.
General admission is: (Experience CHILL and its incredible 13,000 square foot Ice Kingdom – A Christmas Carol, Ice Tubing, CHILL village and access to The World Famous Queen Mary.)
Adults — $39.99
Children – ages 4 to 11 — $29.99
Children 3 and under are free.
For more detailed ticket information and discounts visit: tickets.queenmary.com.
The Queen Mary
1126 Queens Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90802
http://www.queenmary.com/events/chill-calendar/nov20/