Family-oriented highlights include parades, a KidFest featuring live entertainment, ice-sculpting contests, ice-skating, and a giant slide fashioned from snow. Plus, visitors can warm up with hot chocolate and free coffee in historic Rice Park. Festival admission buttons are $3.75 for adults and free for kids ages 12 and under; activity fees vary. Call (800) 488-4023 or go to www.winter-carnival.com, which features a calendar of events and detailed visitor information, plus a parade map.
While the snow is falling outside, the action is heating up indoors at the Depot, a newly restored landmark in downtown Minneapolis. In addition to four hotels (three of which, the Courtyard by Marriott, Marriott Residence Inn, and Historic Suites, are on-site), there is also a 15,000-square-foot indoor water park with a three-story water slide, four pools, and a video arcade (admission from $15 to $20 per person for the public, and for hotel guests from $20 to $30 for four people ) and an indoor ice rink (call (612) 339-2253 for prices). Nightly lodging rates, which vary by hotel, start around $150. Call (612) 375-1700 or go to www.thedepotminneapolis.com.
Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated June 2005.
