Bellevue Ice Skating Arena

I only like this place because they offer groupons, but It was pretty disappointing, i don’t mind the rink being small, but the skates the provide aren’t the best. I wasn’t able to skate at all, and i’ve gone ice skating a couple times, i was basically just sliding back and forth.
If you go, i’d say bring your own skates or expect to skate in crappy skates.

The area is nice but the rink is so small and the skates are really shitty.

Never thought I would ever write anything but a good review until now. To start off I’ve been here every year for the last 5 years and bring a group of my daughter’s friends and had an amazing time… This year I bought a Groupon and the rink was booked for a private party. A week later I came back and paid since My Groupon has blackouts (No problem). The issue we had was these new skates. The straps are great, but everything else about them are horrible. 1) There is not enough cushion between the inner ankle and the skate. Everyone in my group complained about them, so we loosened the skate to make them more comfortable. 2) I constantly lean backwards since there is no vertical support against the back of the ankle even when the skate is tight. 3) There is no toe pick! This make the skate very dangerous. I stood watching kids fall forward. These skate are a liability.

The supposed «New» ice skates this year are terrible, they hurt each of the four members of our families ankles so badly that I couldn’t skate more than 1 hour, each leaving with blisters. For $ 12 per person, they could actually get comfortable skates… The holiday skating in Renton is a way better option, great skates, way bigger ice rink, etc.

Tiny rink but still super fun. They have a little concession stand inside by the lockers. And lockers for u to lock up ur items! They sell little keypad locks for $ 3. Pricey if u ask me. General admission is $ 12 each. Great for a date or to take the kiddos Ice skating!

This review is for their STROLLER skating. I also have my own skates so I don’t need to add complaints about crappy rental skates.
Pros:
–fresh ice! us parents get to skate with our strollers before the rink opens up to the public, so there’s no snow everywhere
–only a handful of people go so there’s plenty of room
Cons:
–toddlers use the skates’ toe pick to walk around and gouge the hell out of the ice, making potholes that are dangerous to skate over.
–everyone wants to take pictures so they stop in the middle of the stream of skaters, making it hard to skate around them
–only once a week
FYI: I spoke with a staff member and he said they clean off the ice every 60 to 90 minutes. He said that people complain about the rink having more snow than ice, but he added that hundreds of people are skating so what do you expect? He said they have new ice skates this year that are much better than previous years.

I had a blast! Wish there were more Christmas decorations and isn’t ideal for intermediate or professional skaters but DUH!!! We’re in WA, don’t expect a prefect movie like «outdoor iceskating» experience when our climate just doesn’t call for it. It’s cool that something like this is provided here. It’s just a nice spot for enjoying some fun with the kids or a slow glide while holding hands on a date. We weren’t here long but everyone was kind and in the holiday spirit. Take some friends and family and enjoy the night and other festivities in the area.

This should not be called an «arena». It’s a very small makeshift rink in the outdoor downtown park. I second other reviewers who commented on the choppiness of the ice. The Zamboni driver didn’t know what he was doing, missing several spots as he resurfaced the ice. This is definitely not the place for the experienced skater to enjoy the holidays as It is overly crowded with teens who have never skated before. Lots of collisions, and toddlers pushing around PVC pipe «walkers».
The tent has poor air circulation, so the rink itself smells of gas fumes from the Zamboni and the lobby area reeks of foot odor.
Cons:
— no restrooms on site. Trek to the far end of the playground to use the outdoor facilities
— very limited parking
— poor air quality
— crowded
— too many 1^st-​time skaters
— extremely cheap «snap on» 1-​size fits-​all skate rental
— limited and expensive café (watered down swissmiss like hot choc for $ 3,00)
Pros:
— beautiful park at night
— festive for the holidays
— priced accordingly with other «arenas»
Recommendation: for the same price, just go to an Olympic sized arena during public skate! Get better skate rentals, larger arena, with fresh ice, and ample room to roam!

The ice rink that is set up for the holidays is a total s* hole. The ice is choppy and they suck at cleaning it. They cleaned it for 5 minutes at 7pm, and then again at 8:30. We were skating on what could be best described as snow on rocks :)

They should really call this a snow rink. Wet, stinky shoes and 1.5hrs Btwn ice cleaning… Not coming back. I made the mistake of getting the groupon not realizing that I can’t use it during December… Gah

Pluses:
— It’s kid friendly.
— Not too expensive since it includes the skate rental ($ 12 at time of writing).
Minuses:
— The skates are not sharp and kinda moist on the inside.
— The ice is pretty beat up and the new ice machine is not much of an improvement over previous seasons.
Worth checking out once if you are in the area, but if you enjoy working equipment and speeds in excess of a stroll, this probably isn’t your place.

I went with a friend of mine and her kids ages 5 & 10. We went on a Saturday at around 9. They had just done their reicing/​Zamboni machine run at 830 pm so there wasn’t too much of a delay getting onto the ice. There was a small line leading up the the first room where you pay and get your skates. They also have gloves, but we brought our own. It took about 20 minutes or so to get to the cash register which takes cash and credit with no refunds.
Make sure you wear socks and possibly bring a second pair as the skates can be a little gross inside with a little mildew smell. It’s to be expected since a little ice and moisture probably gets in the skates throughout the day. Also, don’t wear your best shoes going and try not to bring your purse or a lot of belongings in. There are lockers to lock up your stuff but most people just leave their shoes on the floor underneath the benches. I’m not sure if there is anyone supervising the area to prevent stolen shoes.
This place claims to be the largest in the area but it’s actually slightly smaller than average. I wished there was more room to spread out. Please be mindful of your kids because there are a lot of «show offs» that whizz on by, go in the wrong direction, fall down on purpose, …let’s just says there’s a lot of horsing around. There are supervisors on the ice to make sure people are somewhat civil but if you have a kid that very novice, the more expert skaters may not care as much and push them out of the way or run into them which will probably make your kid fall down and possibly hurt themself. But, of course this is a holiday skating rink so everyone is trying to have fun and some without regard to other’s safety.
I believe you can skate as long as you want for entrance fee. A cheap way to have fun.
All in all we had a wonderful time. The littlest one learned how to skate as it was her first time and we got some great photos for the album.
Check for hours