Issue/Solution: Orlando Polar Bear Club

ksalwoski
Aug 24, 2017
2 min read

After five years of promoting ICE! at Gaylord Palms, I was looking for an additional opportunity to promote the 9-degree attraction that ran for 40+ days every season.

In 2008, the Orlando Polar Bear Club was born.

For more than 100 years, members of Polar Bear Clubs around the world gathered in their swim suits to "take the plunge" into icy winter-chilled lakes and waterways. While its easy to chalk it up as an oddball Northern phenomenon, the very existence of such clubs have long distinguished Northern cities from Southern towns. Until then.

We took the opportunity to announce that Orlando was the newest metropolis with a branch of the famed Polar Bear Club. This new organization -- based loosely on the traditions of its kooky Northern counterparts -- gave residents (and visitors) the opportunity to take their own cold-weather plunge through ICE!, Orlando's 9-degree holiday attraction hand-carved from nearly two million pounds of ice.

The attraction, carved by a team of 40 artisans from China, featured a walk-through winter wonderland of ice sculptures and monuments, all intricately carved from ice. The highlight of the attraction -- four ice speed slides -- provided a thrilling (and icy) "plunge" for Orlando members of the Polar Bear Club.

The inaugural plunge gave participants the opportunity to be named official members of the Orlando Polar Bear Club and receive a special certificate to commemorate their plunge. A post-plunge warm-up reception included coffee and cocoa. In addition, participants were invited to return to the attraction later that morning while fully clothed to enjoy the artistry of ICE!

But why would a person want to run through the 9-degree ICE attraction in a swim suit?

The short answer is simple... "just because." Because it's fun and memorable -- something to laugh about, brag about and blog about. And not everybody can go to Pamplona to run with the bulls.

For us, it was a great new story to tell online... and attracted plenty of photographers from the news media, eager to chronicle the debut of the Orlando Polar Bear Club!