Little Hiccups: I Love Christmas Movies at Gaylord Rockies

Can you believe it's already December? Where did the year go?

December is always a pretty crazy month around here with a ton of different holiday activities happening in a relatively short amount of time. I'm sure that's true for most families. This year things are looking a little different with lockdowns, shelter at home orders and everything that the pesky virus has brought with it. We're lucky that while numbers have increased dramatically here in Colorado, we're not in a lockdown like other places. Rather, we have "safer at home" measures in place which means we can go out but should limit it as much as possible.

This means that we have been getting out to celebrate the holidays a little but we've majorly cut down on the number of activities and events from previous years and we're sticking to all of the social distancing and mask requirements. Likewise, the events and exhibits that we have gone to have been great about keeping visitors safe.

One such exhibit that we recently attended was the I Love Christmas Movies immersive exhibition at Gaylord Rockies in Denver. If you've been here a while you'll know I'm a big fan of immersive experiences so this was right up my alley!

I Love Christmas Movies is all about - you guessed it - Christmas movies! The exhibit features replica movie sets from five classic Christmas movies, and visitors are walked through in small groups led by masked "Production Assistants" who provide a little background, and fun commentary, for each scene. Lighting, audio, music and special effects help bring each scene to life.

So, just which Christmas movies can you expect to find yourself in? The exhibit starts with scenes from Elf, followed by The Year without a Santa Claus, A Christmas Story, and The Polar Express before ending with my favorite, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Let's take a look...

First up, it's Elf!

The exhibit starts in Santa's workshop, makes it's way through the North Pole where we found a cute narwhal and walrus, and ends up in a New York City toy store.

Next up we headed back to the 70s and the telemovie The Year without a Santa Claus. Admittedly, we weren't familiar with this movie, but I do know that it's an American classic that many people here grew up with. We started out with scenes featuring Snow Miser followed by his brother Heat Miser. Then we moved onto the quaint town of Southtown.

Then it was on to the classic A Christmas Story. The first scene features the famous leg lamp set up in the window in the living room. The second scene features the kitchen where we crawled under the sink and popped out in the next scene (there's an option to jut walk around as well). Here we found Ralphie's pink bunny pajamas.

Pulling into the station next was The Polar Express. We started out in a young boy's bedroom when there is a commotion and the Polar Express train appears in a cloud of steam. We then "board" the train and find ourselves in the dining car where hot chocolate is being served - if only that part was real! The flashing lights and scenes whirring by on the windows give the impression that the train is indeed moving. Back off the train Santa appears in a series of lights reminiscent of Aurora Borealis while music plays.

Then it was on to the last movie, but definitely not the least!

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies so I was pretty excited to see it here in I Love Christmas Movies. The first scene we found ourselves in featured the front of the Griswold's house with their station wagon out the front. The house is covered in lights, but it's dark. That is until a guest connects the cables! Lola and Mathilde got to turn the power on and, oh boy, did it get bright! Shortly after the lights fizzle out and we made our way into the Griswold's living room. Here we find the too tall Christmas tree bent over to fit. The Christmas tree begins to shake as the lights flicker and an animated squirrels runs out of the tree and across the mantle. Then it was onto the dining room where the turkey burst open with smoke filling the room.