A truly frosty attraction. Made up of 2,944 blocks of ice, this giant maze has been attracting crowds since its opening. It is also considered the largest ice labyrinth installed on American soil.
Called “Ice Palace Maze”, this incredible attraction which took three weeks to build is located in the town of Stillwater, located 37 km northeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Open to the public on January 15, 2022, it will remain so until the end of February.
Lit with some 3,000 multicolored LED bulbs, the labyrinth was shaped using 2,944 blocks of transparent ice. Each block weighing approximately 130 kg, the total weight of ice used is equivalent to just over 382 tonnes of frozen water.
With walls of ice about 2 meters high, this maze is made up of a tangle of alleys and, of course, dead ends. It also hides a few secrets along the way, such as ice sculptures in the shape of dragons or royal thrones. Inside the maze, visitors can meet different characters such as the Snow Queen or Olaf, the snowman from the famous Disney cartoon, but also princesses and knights in armour. Once the exit has been found, visitors exit the maze by taking a double toboggan… of ice.
an estimated cost of $200,000
This ephemeral architecture cost around 200,000 dollars. Slightly more than half of that amount is just for the construction material, namely making the ice and trucking it to Stillwater, according to Calyssa Hall, the manager of the Zephyr Theater that runs the attraction. Indeed, the bricks of ice come from a specialized company in Ohio carefully chosen because the authorities of the State of Minnesota have enacted specific directives concerning the different types of ice authorized to travel from one state to theirs, to avoid any risk of contamination of local waters and rivers.
Last year, the Zephyr Theater built an ice maze similar to Stillwater, albeit a bit smaller, which drew around 31,000 people. This year to enter the “Ice Palace Maze” and enjoy this icy fun, visitors must pay the sum of 22 dollars for an adult or 14 dollars for a child (up to 12 years old).