Note: The following blog entry was originally posted on "FROZEN! The Gaylord Palms ICE! blog" in 2005:

What do we do to get our 1,800 employees excited and "pumped up" about ICE!?  This year, we created our own parade… indoors!  As part of Gaylord Palms tradition, we hold an All-STAR Rally a few days before Opening Day of ICE!  [We call it an All-STAR Rally, because we call our employees STARS]

Our rallies are always informative and entertaining, and certainly a party in themselves.  We honestly believe that work should be fun… so our "all-employee" meetings should be fun as well.  And this one was true to tradition.  It was held in a section of our Florida Exhibit Hall… a few doors down from ICE!  To create the perfect venue for a parade, we lined the room with bleachers, and painted a line down the middle to create a road.  STARS were served "parade food" like hotdogs and nachos. 

The script was a blast.  It was hosted via huge video screens by  Katie Cowlick and Matt Flour, our Today Show look-alikes.  The first parade float was General Manager John Caparella, who stopped to make a "state-of-the-resort" presentation. 

Following John were other members of the Leadership team interspersed with parade units, including the All-STAR Color Guard (below), a band of crazy cowboys, special guests The "Whack-Eyed Peas," the All-STAR band, and a finale with Santa, his elves, and a sassy gang of Rockettes wannabes. 

The unit that stole the show, however, was the Engineering team, who paid tribute to the beloved Shriners, driving floats made from their work vehicles.  They even threw candy.  Gotta love that.

After the parade, all employees were able to experience ICE! for themselves wrapped in their ice-blue parkas.