After a drastically shortened season last winter due to unfavorable weather conditions, ice castles will be making a return to Lake Geneva this winter with a different look.
Tickets for one of Lake Geneva's most popular winter events go on sale this week.
Tickets for this season's "Winter Realms" -- formerly known as Ice Castles -- will go on sale at 9 a.m. Wednesday, a press release announced.
Organizers hope the "snowy, fairy-tale playground" can open beginning in early to mid-January and run through early February. However, that all depends on the weather, the release said.
Last year's season was drastically shortened -- it lasted all of three days -- due to warm temperatures melting ice castles "beyond repair."
Advanced ticket dates for 2024 are based on historical data, the release said, with much of the season expected to run between Jan. 26 and Feb. 11. An opening date has not yet been determined.
"If weather permits, Winter Realms will likely open sooner and/or stay open later than the advanced ticket dates now available for sale," the release said. "Additional dates will become available as an opening date is solidified."
Tickets are sold in 30-minute entry time slots, the release said, adding that once guests enter, there is no time limit on how long they can stay. The event is "tentatively" planning to be open for Martin Luther King Jr. and Presidents Day holidays as well, the release added.
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According to the website, Winter Realms, set to be located at Geneva National Resort & Club, will feature sleigh rides, a "polar pub," ice slides, an arctic village with snow caverns and ice sculptures, a tubing hill and more.
Another Winter Realms location will open this winter in Lake George, N.Y., with four other ice castle locations in Midway, Utah, Cripple Creek, Colo., Maple Grove, Minn. and North Woodstock, N.H.
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