At IceBar Orlando, patrons don’t need to order drinks on the rocks.

“You have a vodka in the rocks,” said co-owner Patz Turner.

Make a reservation, pay $35, don an insulated cape and gloves and you can have a vodka drink in a 27-degree room. There, the couches, chairs, walls, glasses, bar and even the fireplace are made of ice. Lights alternately bathe the room in subtle colors, and the drinks are served by waitresses dressed in stylish all-white snow suits and Russian-style fur hats.

Ice bars are popular in Northern Europe, where entire buildings are sometimes carved from ice. But Florida?

“Orlando has all kinds of adventures,” Turner said. “This is an adventure into the Arctic.”

Ohio artist Aaron Costic did the sculpting, based on Turner’s vision.

“It’s the Crystal Palace as I imagined,” said Turner, who co-owns the bar with Wylie Plummer, which is being touted as one of the first permanent facilities of its kind in North America. “It’s a fantasy, created in my mind, of things frozen in time.”

Turner said they’re careful that those frozen in time don’t include the patrons or the staff. Visits are limited to 45 minutes and a variety of warmer drinks are available. The bar staff has a 30-minute in, 15-minute out rotation.

Chuck Taylor, construction project manager, said efforts were made to limit electric consumption by using bioclimatic filters, which refresh and recycle the cold air.

Turner, who calls herself an environmentalist, said the bar has LED lighting, which uses less electricity than normal, incandescent bulbs.

“We want to make the smallest footprint we can,” she said.

Her husband, Fred Turner, said the projected average monthly electric bill is $3,500.

The bar aims to draw conventioneers and vacationing parents looking for a more adult adventure after a steady diet of theme parks, Turner said.

Credits: SFGate

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