The Rinks – Westminster Ice

This place loves to «train» their hockey kids at 7am on Sunday mornings and 8 pm on weekdays, outside their building directly across from my apartment complex. I am truly frustrated with hearing their booming music and cussing, screaming, laughing when I’m trying to relax on my mornings or evenings off.

2 hours of public skate for 1 adult & 1 child: $ 9 and $ 7 respectively. $ 6 Bobby the seal rental. The additional $ 3 fee for the public skate confuses me but I didn’t realize it until I left & came across the receipt. 50% off for Disney castmembers is a sweet deal too!
The hubs said the ice isn’t the smoothest but my little man is just starting, so its all relative on how familiar you are with your skating abilities. I saw an adult male eat it while he was out there and the employee was quick to respond. Another employee ran out with a bag of ice a few minutes later.
The arcade is great for a quick thaw if you are watching and not actively on the ice. I like that they have a in-​rink shop to get pucks, tape and limited apparel options. My 18 month old scored on a $ 2 and change rubber puck. That was definitely a score for me since he got to practice his stick handling while his big brother got his skate time in. :)
Other than the previously mentioned gripe about the ice surface the only down side is all of the ugly Ducks logos but it is what it is. Hehe. GKG.

Kids ice skating lesson.
My wife likes to sign my son up for Saturday sports activities. Gym time, basketball, baseball, etc etc. This time around it’s ice skating. It keeps him occupied (and I think she does this to get me out of the house as well, lol).
The Rink is huge! It’s COLD, super COLD!
It’s summer and their’s a heat wave outside, but inside, Brrrrr…
The class was cheap. Less than $ 40 for 4 classes (once a week for 45 minutes for 4 weeks) and they get a pass for 3 free sessions of ice time.
The instructors were very nice. The class started with about 14 kids with 3 instructors. They did their best to contain the munchkins. But usually one would get away and do his own thing, Yes, that’s mine. lol. Instead of pushing the chair to help them balance themselves. My boy would sit on the chair backwards and scoot around the ice. When I asked him why he was sitting, he said «Chairs are for sitting» who can argue with that. lol
This is a very busy place. A lot of classes going at the same time with varying skill level. So it does get hectic in there.
Parking is huge. But like I said, there are a lot of people here so it does get full fast.
Tip: Bring a jacket. You’ll thank me for it later. lol
I would have no problem going back here. I might get a private lesson for the boy instead of a group one. Or else he will be on that chair scooting to the far end before one of the instructor notices he’s gone. hahaha.
2015 Review #175

A lot of fun. It can get crazy crowded though with kids flying all around you and I wish there were more public sessions available without as many kids running around but still a lot of fun.

Don’t do stick time. They charge you $ 15 per person and then only let you use ¹⁄₆^th of the rink.

This review pertains to a birthday party we had hosted by The Rinks –Westminster.
From start to finish everything was covered! We purchased the gold package which meant everything you’d need for a party was included; food, decorations, paper products, drinks, goody bags, skate rentals, party room, and private lesson for just our group.
The group lesson was considerably more in depth than I expected which was wonderful. Three of our guests had never skated before and two of the three left completely independent skaters. Our instructor knew just the pace, and skill level to attempt.
Our host Harley was very sweet and great at her job. She answered all of our questions and quickly met each need we had. If we have another party there I’ll be sure to request her.
I’d been a bit nervous because the information letter indicated there would be a charge for parents, but this turned out to only apply if they wanted to skate. Thankfully we were not charged for adults present in a supervisory role.
The two pizzas that came with the package were more than enough for the ten guests. There was no custom making pizzas as indicated in the literature, but that was fine with us. We were given three drinks choices, plus a pitcher of water, and these were refilled as needed.
Couple things to make a note of (but I didn’t feel warranted a star deduction:) There is a DVD player and sound system in the party room, so you can bring a movie or playlist. We weren’t informed of this, but thankfully we live very close and just ran home to grab our own. There are prize bags provided with a fold up 3D Zamboni and an assortment of candy. We didn’t know, and had prepared our own prize bags.
The best part was not having to clean up before or after! With four kids times thirteen years of birthdays, we are always looking for a great place to have a party, and this topped them all. Thank you!

Nice rink. Easy parking, super chill staff. Good ice. Great place for the family or just the ladies. Pickup for ladies is suspended over the summer but should be back in the fall.

This is a great place to ice skate. It has music, a big rink, and it’s next to a pizza joint!

Nice place to cool down on a warm night! And watch some hockey!
Bring a blanket if your just watching. It gets really cold. Very friendly staff.
If you are going to public skate and are thinking of renting skates, get there early to get a comb size of 6−7−8 because they will run out.

Didn’t like the staff they were rude but the iceskating was fun

The former Westminster Ice Palace has since gotten a new paint job, courtesy of the «The Rinks» takeover. And unfortunately, now also seems to skimp on the public skating hours. As in, for an ice rink, there’s roughly only one to two hours of public ice on any given weekday.
Prices before skate rental ranges from $ 6 (children) to $ 9 (adult) for a two hour session. Which isn’t terrible, but consider coming there at the top of every session to get your money’s worth. There’s no discount if you come an hour into any public session. Expect to pay the flat rate. No half-​sies.

Lots of kids there who will make you envious that your parents didn’t put you in ice skating lessons.
Arrived around 1pm and skated for less than one hour. We had a Groupon deal that included rentals. The staff was friendly and quick.
Make sure to check the public skating hours when planning your trip. Also, bring a sweater or jacket if you are prone to coldness.

So you want to cool off during this heat and you’re thinking…
I’ll go to Starbucks and get a Grande Frap?
I’ll go to the library and read since they have AC?
I’ll go jump in the pool?
Wrong, wrong, and wrong!
Starbucks cost time, gas, and money
Library is full of chatty high school kids
Chlorine water, well you know how difficult that is to scrub off
So as a past parent of the kids on ice classes, I’ve been here numerous of times. I kid you not, even if it’s 100 degrees outside, it will feel like a bone chilling 50 or less here. So prepare to take a jacket.
They have so much going on here, it’s hard to keep up. That’s the good and bad thing about here. The good thing is, you can probably just come here and chill on the bench with something to read and get out of this redonculous heatwave we’ve been having. The bad news about this place is that if you do sign up for a class here, it’s more than likely they will share the size of the rink with another few other classes.
Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t share the rink, I just think they pack them here like sardines. Even the classes prior to ours the hour before is pretty jam packed. So if you come late, be warned since you will encounter about 200 people trying to exit while you’re trying desperately to get into your class on time.
The classes here are okay. I don’t feel that they’re too expensive but I also don’t feel they take the time to train the kids here. I do believe the ratio of instructors to the kids are just way too much. Oh, the skates do run big so make sure you get a size smaller than current. They don’t carry ½ sizes so make sure you know that too.
But at least, you can come here and cool off and even if you’re in enrolled in the class, with all these people moving around, I’m sure they’re not even going to notice who you are while leaching off the coolness in their ice rink.

I noticed an old review by Tony M saying Hutch the hockey director did not care about parents concerns at the rink regarding hockey and to go play elsewhere. I played hockey at the Anaheim rink for years and it was always good. I would advise parents to have some understanding of the schedule pressure on rinks and programs. When I was a kid Sunday morning at 6 or 7 was your ice time and or late night games or travel to far off rinks. Anaheim ICE is a great rink with good skating times and Westminster has improved dramatically since the Rinks took it over. I knew Hutch, skated on a team for a season with him. He is a good guy and the rinks are lucky to have such a high caliber player in charge of the hockey program there.

My daughter has been figure skating since age five. We have been to several rinks around here. Westminster Ice has the best skating instructors and the most friendly staffs, kept us coming year after year.

Got to play in a pickup game here. I’ll get to the official in a moment because I won’t let that change how I feel about the rink.
The rink was well kept and has that ice hockey arena smell. I had to rent some shin pads, which they didn’t charge me for. Awesome.
The other players there were awesome and the staff was rad.
As for the officials. Wow. Learn the rulebook. I play defenseman and I’m bordering on being an enforcer/​goon. Charging is taking 2 strides. From the back circle to the boards is ONE STRIDE! How can that be 2 strides? Also learn what offsides is. If a forward has both skates in the attacking zone, THEN the puck comes in… Offsides.
But I digress.
Good rink. I’ll skate there tomorrow and I want to have them sharpen my skates as well.

I remember when this place was «ice palace» still! Staff is very helpful and will answer anything about hockey/​skating. Some of them only know figure skating and some hockey only. But they actually know what they are talking about. They also have a US Skates shop inside that can help you with your skates/​products.

Did not refund money for video game that stole a quarter from a kid. They said that they did not own the games and the games were «play at your own risk.»
Also, the vending machine stole a dollar from my mom. Silly mom, she put a second one in hoping it would work the second time. Then when my mom asked for a refund, they only refunded one item and not the second.
The skating is nice although the ice gets really rough at the end of the skating sessions.
Too, there are more experienced skaters (figure and hockey) taking lessons there on center ice. They are rude and belittle new skaters and cut them off at high speeds causing the new skaters to fall.
Snacks are way overpriced; bring your own.
Past visits: One time, a few years ago, we saw Philadelphia Flyers practicing here day before their game vs the Ducks. That was cool. Another time, there were players playing hockey and kids at the glass. A shot hit the glass and shattered in the face of the kids. A few girls got glass on the face, but were not hurt. The hockey puck just barely missed a kid, and only because he was short and it flew over his head.

I had the opportunity to play three games of hockey here over three days, and all in all, this place wasn’t too bad. The ice itself was surprisingly good. The puck traveled well and my strides while skating felt pretty fluid. There were hardly any inconsistencies on the ice surface itself. The boards were quite lively in terms of the puck hitting them.
The player benches however, I had some issues with. If your bench is quite occupied and you are coming off the ice to make a quick change, be very careful where you set your skate down once you swing your leg into the bench. On the ground are about 3 or so metal board holders that are pretty large in size that can put a nasty divot in your freshly sharpened skates if you aren’t careful. And with the pro shop not being open during peak game hours (as mentioned below) you’d better have one of those handheld skate sharpeners with you just in case. They are also a bit of a hazard if you forget they are there and happen to trip over one of them.
The four locker rooms are clean and just a tad too small for a full size team. All of the locker rooms do share one shower and bathroom area with each other, which is a plus.
The pro shop I never got a chance to check out because it seemed to be closed very early on the weekend. There was a pretty big tournament going on at the time so anyone who perhaps forgot a piece of equipment, needed some tape, or needed a skate sharpening was surprisingly SOL!

My first time on ice was not as bad as I thought it might be. I just knew I was going to fall as soon as I got on there. With absolutely no previous experience or training, I couldn’t possibly stay up. But somehow I managed to go round and round and round while staying on my feet. Sure, I was a little wobbly at times, but overall I survived. Until I decided I was getting out of the rink. Five feet from the exit area, I finally fell. That’s what I get for stopping!
Up until this point, I had seen many employees skating around during the open skating. During my brief meeting with the ground, I had two of them come over and make sure I was okay. They were very nice (and I was very okay).
They were having their grand opening and were very busy while I was there, but all of the employees were very nice and helpful. The ice rink itself is not new (used to be Westminster Ice Palace), but the skates were. I don’t like the idea of renting nasty shoes, and lucky me, I got to break in a brand new pair. Of course, part of that was luck (not all of the skates are new), but mainly it’s because they just opened.
The only thing I didn’t really like was getting hot chocolate in our shoes. Part of the skating group skating before us included a group of kids from the Boys & Girls Club. There did not seem to be enough supervision for the kids because they were all over the place, climbing under my leg while trying to tie my laces, crawling all over the stands, knocking over hot chocolate into our shoes. I don’t know if there’s really much they can do about that, but I would hope that there would be some guidelines for group supervision.
Oh yeah, the other thing I didn’t really like was THE COLD! But hey, what else would you expect, it’s ice! Wear gloves and a beanie!
In addition to recreational skating, they also have practices, games and parties. I think they are affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks. There was a Duck skating around with us. The kids skating around loved it. He even waggled his butt at us.