Giant Ice Castles Being Built Across the Country [Photos]

One-acre ice castles are being built across the country this winter. Each ice castle weighs over 25 million pounds and takes 20-40 people about two months to build.

The company building the fantasy-like ice playgrounds, Ice Castles, began in 2011 after the founder built an ice castle for his family in their yard in Alpine, Utah. This winter, Ice Castles will build ice castles, ice slides, ice tunnels and more in six cities across North America:

• Midway, Utah
• North Woodstock, New Hampshire
• Edmonton, Alberta
• New Brighton, Minnesota
• Dillon, Colorado
• Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Lake Geneva is by far the closest to Michigan, located about halfway between Milwaukee and Chicago. The Minnesota location is in a suburb of Minneapolis.

Most locations open in late December or early January and stay open until early March, but weather conditions always dictate the schedule. The castles are always built next to a natural water source. The castles have been built near large cities too, which could be Michigan's biggest obstacle in getting our own Ice Castles location.

A spokesperson for Ice Castles told me, "Currently we do not have any plans to expand into Michigan."

With Michigan's coldest weather north of Michigan's biggest cities and our proximity of the Lake Geneva location, our chances of getting our own one-acre ice castle don't seem great.

At least the Lake Geneva location isn't too far of a drive.

If you're going to make the trip, here's what you can expect to see:

LED-lit Sculptures

Slides

Tunnels

There are also frozen thrones and fountains ready for Disney and Jon Snow fans to post all over their social media accounts.

No ice castles in our backyard for now, but we can always count on Mother Nature to create her own ice formations at Eben Ice Caves in the U.P.