Best rink ever!

[skatingmozzie]

Hello everybody,

I'm just trying to see what is seriously the best rink ever. My personal favourite was Baulkham Hills until it was closed,(sorry if I spelt it wrong Mrs Redboots) So whats your favourite?.

Skatingmozzie

[skatingatty]

I'd say the Yerba Buena rink in downtown San Francisco. Lots of windows and natural sunlight looking into a park. Unfortunately, that day that I visited, I didn't bring my skates, but it was a fantastic rink.

[sue123]

unfortunatly, my skating experience in different rinks is limited to a few ny area ones, and an outdoor rink in south carolina. i don't know how they managed to stay open.

[Elsy2]

I love the rink in Ann Arbor where AN has been held so often.

I have a fondness for the Hobart arena in Troy, OH. Lots of skating history there. There is just something about it that is special.

[Mrs Redboots]

Hello everybody,

I'm just trying to see what is seriously the best rink ever. My personal favourite was Baulkham Hills until it was closed,(sorry if I spelt it wrong Mrs Redboots) So whats your favourite?.Sorry? I don't see why me - it's not me who complained about your spelling! Don't know the rink you were talking about, either.

I love my home rink, of course, but the ice sometimes isn't very good. Of all the rinks I skate at regularly, I think Alexandra Palace, where we are going tonight, is my favourite, as it is in very beautiful surroundings & lovely views over London. Nice people, too. For occasional skating, I do love Villard-de-Lans, and iceSheffield, and Bracknell and Bad Reichenhall, and ..... well, very few rinks I actively dislike!

[ZekeTheCat]

I skated at a really neat rink this fall while on a trip. It's part of the Jones Center for Family Recreation in Springdale, Arkansas. They have about 27 hours per 6 day week of public skating available and the amazing thing is - it's all FREE-they don't charge admission-even skate rental is free. It's a new modern full size rink complex built in 1997 as I recall. I wished I lived in that area - I'd be rink rat there for sure. I also have nostalgic memories of Hobart arena in Troy as I was a member of TSC for several years (mid to late 80's) and went thru my preliminary to bronze ice dance tests there. Hobart arena was remodeled a few years ago and now has a full size standard ice surface,
new restrooms(hooray), concession stands, seating etc.

[montanarose]

I love the outdoor rink in Sun Valley, Idaho. It's not quite full-size, and depending on what time of year you're there the ice can get a little mushy as the day goes on, but what a gorgeous spot! Right in front of the Sun Valley Lodge, flowers all around (in the summer and fall), and the deliciously cheesy music they play makes you feel like you're in a Sonja Henie film :lol: The best time of all is when they pull the net canopy back late in the afternoon, after the sun has passed overhead, and you can skate on into the night under the stars.

[iskatealot]

my favorite rink is definitly Teen Ranch in Orangeville Ontario

[Michigansk8er]

I love the ice at the Onyx in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It's a warm rink too. :D

Toronto Curling and Cricket Club is also a great place to skate.

[jazzpants]

I'd say the Yerba Buena rink in downtown San Francisco. Lots of windows and natural sunlight looking into a park. Unfortunately, that day that I visited, I didn't bring my skates, but it was a fantastic rink. I'll second that vote too!!! I'm royally spoiled skating there!!! The only thing that would make it even better probably is to make it Olympic sized and/or a twin sheet rink. But I'm not complaining!!! :mrgreen: (And I'm not just saying that b/c it's my home rink either...) Best part is that you can easily walk over to a Starbucks or get a bite to eat at the Metreon afterwards!

Of course, second favorite I would say is Chelsea Piers.

[doubletoe]

I'd say the Yerba Buena rink in downtown San Francisco. Lots of windows and natural sunlight looking into a park. Unfortunately, that day that I visited, I didn't bring my skates, but it was a fantastic rink.

Yep, I have to agree, those big windows and sunlight really provide a unique skating experience! I like that rink! I just had to skate there a few times to get used to the distraction of the window before doing a competition there, LOL!

[icedancer2]

Best ICE I have ever skated on was in Salt Lake City at one of the rinks that was built for practice ice for the 2002 Olympics. Awesome flow!!

Best rink?

I used to skate on this rink in Boston -- It was on Soldier's Field Road heading west towards Watertown. It was a public rink right next to the Charles River that was a covered open-air rink. On snowy days you could just look out over the river and trees and just skate and skate and skate.

That was nice.

[AshBugg44]

I'd say the Yerba Buena rink in downtown San Francisco. Lots of windows and natural sunlight looking into a park. Unfortunately, that day that I visited, I didn't bring my skates, but it was a fantastic rink.

I love that rink! It's so pretty and not too cold!

[RoaringSkates]

My favorite rink to skate on would be Bear Mountain, here in NY. It's outdoors, with a view of mountains and a bridge over the Hudson River. It has nice ice, but it's smallish and usually really crowded. So that makes it not my favorite.

My actual favorite is the rink in Yonkers. It's one of those semi-enclosed, semi-outdoor rinks with a view of the highway (yuck), pigeons pooping on the ice (yuck) and it gets cold. However, the people are so nice, the freestyles tend not to be too crowded, and it's a reasonable price. So it's my favorite.

My favorite "away from home" rink is the one downtown in Indianapolis, IN. I go there for work sometimes, and the rink is next to the hotel and the convention center, all in walking distance to restaurants, etc. The freestyles tend to be cheap (compared to NY prices!) and the ice is great.

[FSWer]

As a fan I would probily guess eitther Northford Ice Plivilon (sorry if I spelled those wrong) or ISCC. in Simsbury.

[florence]

my favorite rink is the one in courmayeur (ita) because it has very big mosaic windows that make the ice colored..it's very beautiful to skate there..

[CanAmSk8ter]

As a fan I would probily guess eitther Northford Ice Plivilon (sorry if I spelled those wrong) or ISCC. in Simsbury.

Have you ever actually been to Northford? Most of my teammates have skated there at one time or another and they don't have much nice to say about it. Supposedly it's got really hard hockey ice, which makes sense b/c it's really hockey-oriented now. I don't know if they have any figure skating ice at the moment.

My home rink is probably my favorite now because all my friends are there and the main Zamboni driver is really, really good. There are drawbacks but having all my friends there makes up for them.

[Tessie]

I'd say the Yerba Buena rink in downtown San Francisco. Lots of windows and natural sunlight looking into a park. Unfortunately, that day that I visited, I didn't bring my skates, but it was a fantastic rink.
I have to agree - I went there last june during a public session on a weeknight at about 7:00 PM perfect time after work. It was not crowded at all but it was a bit small. There ice was well suited for figure skaters.

On the other hand my favorite is a rink run by a family just north of Boston,. I've posted before that during public skating on weekdays it is free and there is no or not many "public" and on several occasions I have had the ice to myself!

[jazzpants]

I have to agree - I went there last june during a public session on a weeknight at about 7:00 PM perfect time after work. It was not crowded at all but it was a bit small. There ice was well suited for figure skaters.
8O Were you there on a Monday (all adult session) by any chance? If you did, you probably would have seen me and my primary coach there!!! If you were there on a Wednesday night, OTOH, you would have seen my secondary coach (but not me!) :P

[janet]

Blue B at 8-rinks in Burnaby, Canada is fabulous. 8-rinks is just what it sounds like it has 8 ice surfaces (well 7 and an indoor soccer field). So with all that ice there is one surface dedicated just to figure skating. It is nice and warm (for a rink) with heaters all down one side. The ice is nice and soft. There is no hockey glass, the boards are covered in dark blue fabric and running down the full length of the wall on one side is a beautiful painting (the world's longest canvas or something like that). There are rooms for off-ice training, a gym and a great restaurant upstairs.

Its my favorite place to skate.
Janet

[Melzorina]

The best rink I've ever skated on was the Hot Ice arena and Blackpool pleasure beach. It was sooo lovely and smooth, and I had it all to myself even though it's only small. Unfortunately I didn't plan to go ice skating and didn't have my own skates with me. (I'd just seen Hot Ice and has this magnificent urge to go skating!) I've always told myself I shall go back with my own skates, I once attemped to, yet it was closed, so I went on the Arosa rink, (A smaller, or should I say tiny, ice rink within the building of the arena) and wanted to cry because the ice was absolutley TERRIBLE! I hated it. My bedroom is bigger than the Arosa!

[sue123]

Blue B at 8-rinks in Burnaby, Canada is fabulous. 8-rinks is just what it sounds like it has 8 ice surfaces (well 7 and an indoor soccer field). So with all that ice there is one surface dedicated just to figure skating. It is nice and warm (for a rink) with heaters all down one side. The ice is nice and soft. There is no hockey glass, the boards are covered in dark blue fabric and running down the full length of the wall on one side is a beautiful painting (the world's longest canvas or something like that). There are rooms for off-ice training, a gym and a great restaurant upstairs.

Its my favorite place to skate.
Janet

chelsea piers used to have a restaurant in the parking lot. but once you got into the restaurant, you would not ahve thought you were in a parking lot. the food was good, there was nice views of the water, very clean and bright. whenever my mom and sister came to watch me skate when i was younger, we would eat there afterwards. but for some reason, they closed.

i guess if people are mentioning home rinks, i'll say chelsea is my favorite out of the ones i skate on. they have a pizzeria in between the two rinks, a cute skate guard, off ice training (if they still have it, but i think they do) and all the other parts of the piers. the bowling, roller blading, gym, and who knows what else. My only problem with it is that it's a too expensive, and the ice can get really crowded, especially public sessions when you have hockey kids getting power skating lessons.

for the ice, i'd have to say this rink that i went to with my friend in new jersey. i can't remember what it's called. but it's a covered outdoor rink. when we went there, we were teh only ones on the ice. course we also went on the coldest day of the winter. but they have a room where you can put on your skates and get hot chocolate, which they gave us for free since they thought we were something, going out in freezing cold weather to skate.

[Blosmbubbs]

Wow Janet that figure skating only rink sounds like a dream come true. I only wish we had one here where I live. That reminds me my favorite rink has to be Ice Castle lake arrowhead.

[Tessie]

8O Were you there on a Monday (all adult session) by any chance? If you did, you probably would have seen me and my primary coach there!!! If you were there on a Wednesday night, OTOH, you would have seen my secondary coach (but not me!) :P
Jazzpants - I was there on a Wednesday night (I believe it was an adult only session) way back in June. I was travelling on business. It was hard explaining ice skates in June to some of my collegues! :lol:

[jazzpants]

Jazzpants - I was there on a Wednesday night (I believe it was an adult only session) way back in June. I was travelling on business. It was hard explaining ice skates in June to some of my collegues! :lol:If you were there on a Wed. night, you were NOT on an "adults-only" session. Then again, since Sept, YB stopped having "adults-only" session and changed it to a public session, so the kiddies are now skating with us. Thankfully, most of the little kids are gone by 8pm (time for beddie bye!!!) and the only ones left are the older figure skating kids, who know better how to follow public session ettiquette at YB. So, even though I'm sad we don't have "adults-only" session anymore, I enjoy skating with these older kids! (Very polite and just plain "nice kids!") :)

[mikawendy]

I have heard that the rink in Breckenridge, Colorado, is really beatiful, with a view of the trees all around. I was planning to go there this summer but my piriformis was flared up from a stupid fall off-ice on my lunch break from jury duty. :evil:

[Figureskates]

Depends:

Outdoor Rinks: The Frog Pond in Boston and the Olympic Oval at Lake Placid

Indoor Rinks: Atmosphere would be the 1980 Rink in Lake Placid. For ice, it would be my home rink here since it really is geared for figure skating so the ice is not hard and you can get a good edge.