A Winter Chill in Sunny Southern California
It is not often that you can go tubing, ice skate outdoors or see amazing ice sculptures in Southern California. Queen Mary’s Chill event is a wonderful winter wonderland for both kids and adults alike that allows us to do just that. This annual winter extravaganza in Long Beach offers a variety of fun family activities with the Queen Mary as a beautiful backdrop. We had the pleasure of spending the day at the event and taking in all of the activities with our daughter and her friend.
Why We Recommend It For Families
- Fun Holiday Themed Village
- Beautiful Ice Sculptures
- Ice Kingdom Slides
- Snowman Jumper
- Outdoor Ice Skating
- Indoor Ice Tubing
- County Fair Fun Food
- Plenty of Family Photo Ops
Queen Mary’s Chill Holiday Village
As you walk through Queen Mary’s Chill entrance, you enter their lovely holiday village. You start off at Candy Lane which is decorated with huge candy cane’s, gumdrops and lollipops that are bigger than your kids. Following Candy Lane you enter into Frosty’s Funland which has the world’s largest snowman bouncy and a wild bucking reindeer which is like a mechanical bull but is gentle enough for the kids. At the center of the Chill village is the Holiday Village which has Claus Cabin (featuring story time with Mrs. Claus and visits with Santa), Ginny’s House for decorating a gingerbread house a stage and a performance stage. And lastly there is Polar Park which has the outdoor ice skating rink, snow globe jumper with “snow” and a giant rocking horse. Scattered around the center of the village are cool fair type food stands serving foods from Pizza to Deep-Fried Twinkies.
Queen Mary’s Chill Event Map | Courtesy of The Queen Mary
The Ice Kingdom at Queen Mary’s Chill
At the end of the village is a massive igloo structure which houses The Ice Kingdom and Glacier Glide tubing. The Ice Kingdom is a winter wonderland filled with two million pounds of ice that is hand carved into beautiful ice sculptures. Before you enter the freezing 9° Ice Kingdom, you are given a full-length parka jacket to keep you from freezing. We suggest that you still bring something warm to wear underneath the jacket but that you can easily remove when you head out into the warm SoCal weather. Once inside the Ice Kingdom you are treated to amazing ice sculptures of The Nutcracker (this years theme) with life sized recreations of Clara, sugar plum fairies, the Mouse King and The Nutcracker himself. Our favorite part of the Ice Kingdom was the 30 foot high replica of The Queen Mary with slides that bring you back below the boat as well as the massive ice castles that you can walk through.
Some of the beautiful Nutcracker ice sculptures from the Queen Mary’s Chill Ice Kingdom | Photos by FamilyVacationHub
Tubing at Glacier Glide
We decided to go on the Glacier Glide first as the lines were not that long but start to increase throughout the day. After you electronically sign a waiver, you are given a wristband which has 5 tabs, one for each tubing run you will take. After waiting in the line, they remove one of your wristband tabs and hand you a tube (either adult or child sized) and you head up the stairs on the side of the tubing hill. The hill stands two stories tall and is 100-feet long with six ice slides. Once you get to the top of the hill you are assigned a slide number and when you settle in to your tube one of the staff pushes you down the hill. It is a fast and fun run down the ice until you hit the non-ice area which stops you. The kids and I had a fun time swooshing down the large icy hill.
Madison heading down the Queen Mary’s Chill Glacier Glide tubing. | Photo by FamilyVacationHub
Ice Skating at Queen Mary’s Chill
Our last stop was the outdoor Ice Skating rink which is perfectly placed with the Queen Mary towering behind it and providing all with one of the most unique and beautiful backdrops. The 6,000 square-foot ice skating rink has a skate rental on the right side and private cabanas for rent on the left side. The skating rink also has penguin shaped skating aids for those kids that need a little help when they are on the ice. The kids had a blast ice skating and it was a tough task to get them off of the ice.
The outdoor ice skating rink with the Queen Mary in the background. | Photo by FamilyVacationHub
Queen Mary’s Chill Photo Gallery (26 Images)
Our day at the Queen Mary’s Chill event was very fun and was definitely a unique experience. To be able to participate in all of these family friendly activities in one place was quite a treat for all of us. In addition to all of the family activities that Chill has to offer, we recommend also taking a tour of the Queen Mary during your visit. With all the Queen Mary’s Chill has to offer, it will be easy to entertain the kids as well as having fun for yourself.
Visit the Queen Mary Website for tour, activity, dining, hotel and special event information.
Best Things To Do with Kids in Los Angeles
The Queen Mary and Queen Mary’s Chill event are part of our comprehensive list of things to do with kids in Los Angeles. Our list of family friendly activities that the whole family will enjoy includes amusement parks, museums, aquariums, beaches, Los Angeles landmarks, parks, shopping and much more.
We were provided media passes to Chill for the purpose of reviewing it on our blog. Regardless, we would only recommend places, activities or services that we would use/visit personally and that we believe will be good for our readers.
