apparently its going to be 320 square metres, thats pretty big no?

my local rink is supposed to be only 56m x 26m it is a hockey type size

http://www.bristolzoo.org.uk/news/News1533

i have to go and view the animals while ice skating!

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starting at 28

Oh how exciting! I've never seen animals skate before .

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That's exciting!

I love zoos.

We went to a teeny tiny zoo in Des Moines, Iowa this year- and I was so amazed because the penguin exhibit was outside. I guess in places with winter they can do that sort of thing! No ice skating though!

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I think 320 sq m is on the small size... 56m x 26m works out to be about 1450 sq m.

Still, cool idea

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--renatele

Its only a small rink as there is only a very small site in the zoo for it, I will be working there as a marshall and have been told there won't be a zmaboni to resurface the ice, we have to use hand held scrapers i dont know how good a job they will do, will just have to wait and see. We have training days on sunday and tuesday so we will probably find out then.

Oh geez.....scraping is probably not going to work well. For small rinks, there are mini ice-makers/scrapers that are towed around on the back of a small little tractor thing. I seen tiny john deere tractor pulling one of these, and they work really well for tiny rinks.

Here's one of those mini zamboni things...

http://www.zamboni.ca/machines/model100.html

I dont think it will work very well, they called it 'scrape and spray'. I've seen those mini zambonis at a few shows, but i guess they are just trying to save money as its only there from 16th Nov-13th Jan.

Actually, you can get a pretty good surface with the "scrape and spray" method; I've skated on ice that has been done like that after a zamboni failure, and it's quite reasonable.

Gareth, you will get strong arm muscles from wielding a scraper and then hose!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

oh no, its gonna be small...

last year the few outdoors rinks i went on were awful, the ice was so rough, i hope its better this year, there are 3 public outdoor rinks in my city this christmas

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starting at 28

Thats good to hear Mrs Redboots, I just didn't imagine it being very good, or very quick!

That could be another advantage that will help with my doubles and lifts!! lol

Rockefeller Center hand surfaced a few days last year when the zam was busted. They had big buckets of hot water which the spread around with sqeegees on poles. It took a little longer, but they did a nice job and the ice was good.

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It's all about the dress!

I've only skated on a temporary outdoor rink once, at a Winter Fayre in the grounds of Warwick Castle at night. Supposedly a marvellous setting, except the small rink was so crowded that you could do nothing but stroke around for the hour (dozens of non skaters continually falling didnt help), and after our allotted period, all of the stalls set up in the ground were closed, so there was nothing to do except go home ...

A novelty, but not cheap. There is another rink being erected in Coventry opening next weekend, will stay at my regular rink though I think.

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yeah....I went to see a christmas ice skating show at a small rink once. And after the show, everybody had free skating there. It was ridiculous..... you could stroke forward at a snails pace and then you also had to watch out for everybody falling around you. Falling around you.....not so bad....what I don't like are those that fall and they grab anything that's closest to them during the process of their fall. That was the first and last time I skated at these shoulder-to-shoulder skating sessions.......was quite ridiculous really hehe

Quite. That sort of session is quite fun for the first ten minutes when the Great British Public is clinging to the barrier for dear life, and you and your friends are showing off in the middle, but once the GBP (or whoever else) gets up the nerve to let go, there's no reason to stay on.

I am planning to visit "Winter Wonderland" in Hyde Park when it opens, but won't skate. Unless I get a chance to go to a totally quiet session - 10:00 am in school time, for instance.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

There is going to be one at Marwell Zoo as well this year. It doesn't say the size though

http://www.marwell.org.uk/magicalwinter/default.asp

And one outside Winchester Cathedral! We were there yesterday and couldn't think why they were putting up what looked like beach huts in the close, then we realised it must be for a Christmas market! And they were advertising an ice-rink.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

They are putting up a tempory Olympic sized ice rink in Birmingham this Christmas.

YAY

Ive been to the rink at bristol zoo, the scraping isnt too bad, but i can't see it being done properly in the 10 mins we get to resurface The ice is also quite soft which is nice as im used to really hard ice, skating in a hockey rink.