Last Friday, Nov 16th, I was given the opportunity along with my friends, to attend
Chill – The newest winter attraction at The Queen Mary!
To those of you who aren’t familiar – The Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner now being used as a hotel/museum/tourist attraction in Long Beach. For this winter season, they decked out The Queen Mary Seawalk and turned it into their version of a Winter Wonderland.
Now I don’t know about you guys, but living in California where the sun always shines make me excited for snow or ice! I personally vowed to visit Chill the moment I saw the billboards around my neighborhood, and going there and seeing it live definitely did not disappoint!
There was an Ice Skating rink, a Holiday Village (where I met Santa), Ice Tubing, and my favorite – An Ice Kingdom!
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A skating rink! |
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Kiddies having fun with Gingerbread houses at the holiday village! |
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Wriss and I having fun with snowmen! |
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The Ice Kingdom! |
Since it was technically Chill's "launch", there was a ribbon cutting and everything. And yes, even the ribbon was made of ice! They had to 'cut' it using a mini electric chainsaw!
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That guy on the right is James Maslow - a kid from the show "Big Time Rush" in Nickelodeon. The two kids on the left are from the show, Ant Farm! |
The Ice Kingdom is basically a huge frozen igloo handmade entirely out of ice. To keep the sculptures from melting, they keep the temperature at a freezing 9 degrees. And to prevent the visitors from dying from hypothermia, they hand out blue parkas for you to use while you’re inside exploring! I thought that was a nice touch… my friends and I definitely had fun in them. It was a necessity too because even with the parkas, our fingers and toes went numb. It was so cold, it felt like even the ground was made of ice! I think I can honestly say I haven’t been that cold in my life! It was fun!
Here are some photos we took inside. (Click any photo to enlarge)
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Freezing in our Blue Parkas! |
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The Ice Kingdom! |
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Inspecting an icy sled |
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They made a Queen Mary ice replica! Pretty cool with the whale! |
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View from the top of the Ice Queen Mary |
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We were visited by the beauty queens of Long Beach and California! |
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Santa's Ice Toyland! |
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Stealing Santa's Ice Candy Cane |
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Wriss with a Panda! |
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Me with a Giraffe |
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Benny with a Bear |
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Beautiful Icy Nativity |
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We were FREEZING! |
When we got out to get some drinks to warm ourselves up at the Holiday Village, we were greeted and serenaded by these carolers! They were so good – they could sing any Christmas Song you could think of! I think we asked them to sing about 6 songs for us that night. We yelled out a song for them to sing each time we bumped into them!
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They sang, "Santa Baby" - which was totally apt! It was originally sung by my namesake, Eartha Kitt! |
Apart from the carolers, there were also these jugglers on stilts.
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Yeah he clearly loved his job :) |
And I did mention Santa, right? This has quickly become one of my most favorite heartwarming photos...
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<3 |
My friends and I had a great time hanging out at Chill. It's the closest we can get to a white winter down here in SoCal, so if you guys are in the area or planning to visit, I totally recommend it!
WIN FREE TICKETS
Chill is open from November 17 to January 6, and I am giving away 2 FREE TICKETS to one lucky California Resident (or ANYONE planning to visit LA between now and Jan 6!)
All you need to do is:
1. Like my Facebook Page
here.
2. Post or Share a photo on my page's wall of the COLDEST you've ever been! (Could be a photo of you stuck in a mound of snow, or caught in a snow storm, or you in front of the freezer...)
3. Whoever posts the "coolest" photo by November 28 wins! :)
That's it! Good luck guys!
PS
Happy Thanksgiving!!!