Skate Frederick

Family of 4 visiting for the first time for public skate. Approached what appeared to be the front to purchase tickets where there is a short line, but no employees. I say appears to the front because there are no posted prices or «menu» to indicate. 5 minutes pass and there is no one. I go looking and finally find an employee at skate rental. I tell him there is no one at the front and he advised he is probably in the back sharpening skates. I ask if he can help, nope, go back and wait. Guy eventually shows, apologizes and is somewhat helpful since we have questions any first timer would have.
On to skate rental, this time he’s willing to help since it’s his department. Rental skates are always going to be a disappointment and these skates were no exception. Mine were the worst and barely functional. The rest of the family had decent enough skates.
Now skates are on and it’s time to skate! Wait, there is a hockey game going on. Turns out there is a second rink for public skate with zero signage on how to get there. Go through a door down a hallway and you’ll see it eventually. Poor design and again nothing that helps in the way of signage.
The rink was busy but not overwhelmingly so. The first door you come to says it’s the exit door (yippee, a sign!!!) but everyone is just using it to get on and off. Again, poor design. I estimate that 150 people were on the ice and there was 1 identifiable employee so there was nothing in the way of enforcement of rink rules or q&a.
Now on the the arcade! Some games are turned off and appear to have been that way for a long time. 2 separate machines eat our money. Get me out of this dump.
At least the kids had fun, until they couldn’t play the games…

Facility is really mediocre but I left my iPad there and another hockey parent turned it in. Gotta love honest peeps, and it was the local team so THANK YOU unknown parent.

This is the last real fun place for kids and teens to go in Frederick. Long gone are the days of the old school roller skating rink. :(But I’m grateful for Skate Frederick. Oh remember the days when you wish you were the cool girl, so once the slow music comes on and the lights are dimmed, you get to hold your bf or gf’s hand and skate around. LOL.
Don’t feel bad for me… I had my moment once in middle school and was quite disappointed by the clamy hands. lol.
Note: Bring your own skates! The rental skates always gave me horrible blisters! I would totally sock up and still got the painful blisters. :(
I can’t really speak to the current staff. Back in the day everyone was nice. Pretty much the place was staffed by young people, so it was all good. Skate Frederick has lessons and a store that has awesome outfits for ice skaters. There’s a party area. Hockey team.
Loved Skate Frederick, hated the prices. I remember only being able to go once in a while.

Let’s face it, the staff at ice rinks are never the most cheerful people in the world — and Skate Frederick is no exception. Other than Justin and Barbara (two instructors) everyone else, without fail, acts totally annoyed that you’re there, they’re there, or whatever. Guards (I use that term loosely) are not on the ice for the benefit of skater safety, but to practice hockey moves and chat up teenage girls. The ice here could be kept up a little smoother, but it’s okay. The snack bar is overpriced and it takes for-​freakin-​ever for the 2 or 3 teen employees behind the counter to fulfill an order, no matter how simple, so plan on a long line.
They offer loads of lessons, minicamps, hockey teams & birthday party packages. SF is one of the only facilities like this in the area, so of course they aren’t going to bend over backwards accomodating you with something as antiquated as Decent Service or Professional Attitude. When you’re a kid you don’t care about this kind of thing, but when you’re the parent and HAVE the kids using the place, it tends to piss you off a little.