Moody Gardens is preparing its ICE LAND: Caribbean Christmas attraction for another winter season in Galveston, and this time the frozen wonderland is trading snowy landmarks for tropical seas. The exhibit is taking shape as an icy holiday centerpiece inside Holiday in the Gardens, the resort's annual festival running from Nov. 21, 2026, through Jan. 2, 2027.
As reported by CW39 Houston, ICE LAND: Caribbean Christmas brings a tropical twist to the holiday season and is located in Galveston, Texas. According to kicks105.com, the festival returns November 21, 2026, and runs nightly through January 2, 2027, from 6 to 10 p.m., with the 2026 ICE LAND theme set as “Caribbean Christmas.”
Two Million Pounds of Ice, Kept at 9 Degrees
Moody Gardens describes the exhibit as kept at a steady 9 degrees, featuring more than two million pounds of hand-carved ice, according to the venue's own account on moodygardens.com. That same source says the ice is carved into colorful Caribbean scenes, including an underwater world filled with tropical fish, rays, turtles and sharks.
Visitors will also be able to ride an oil rig ice slide through the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf, where tropical fish, eagle rays, turtles, sharks, and more await, per Moody Gardens' visit-planning page. The theme marks a shift from the attraction's prior edition, which depicted global monuments such as Mount Rushmore and the Great Sphinx of Giza, according to Houston Public Media, which also reported that the earlier exhibit was kept at the same 9 degrees and priced at $35 for ages 13 to 64.
A Mile of Lights and a New Lightwire Show
Beyond the ice, the festival's Holiday Lights Trail stretches roughly one mile and features more than two million lights, according to visitgalveston.com. Moody Gardens notes that Lightwire Theater brings a brand-new show, A Very Electric Christmas, to the gardens from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2, adding a new live-performance element to the season's lineup.
The combination of ICE LAND, the lights trail, skating, films and live entertainment follows the format Moody Gardens has built out in recent years, with the ice exhibit now in its 12th year as a recurring holiday fixture, per Houston Public Media's reporting on the attraction's history.
Tickets, Parking and a Food Drive Discount
Special-event tickets are sold separately, while parking remains free throughout the festival. The venue is also pairing the season with charitable programming: every Thursday from Dec. 3 through Dec. 31, Moody Gardens is holding Food Drive Thursdays, offering buy-one-get-one-free admission to guests who bring a non-perishable food item, according to kicks105.com's coverage of the 2026 lineup.
With the Caribbean-themed ice sculptures, the mile-long lights trail and the new Lightwire production all set to open within weeks, Galveston's best-known winter attraction is once again reshaping itself for the season — just with a decidedly warmer-weather backdrop frozen into the ice this time around.
