IceBar Surfers — Attraction in Gold Coast City

Manipulative, abusive staff, everything was poor quality, the room is tiny, their low resolution cameras are aimed so high childrens heads are cut off in most photos, cups were plastic, cocktails were awful and made with cheap alcohol, hockey puck was thin and useless, gloves were manky and worn out and ponchos do next to nothing to keep you warm to get you out as quickly as possible. Room was colder than necessary, most likely to get you to leave quickly. Everything felt cheap and tacky, like every possible corner was being cut to maximise profit. Despite other reviewers posting photos clearly taken on their phones, when I pulled my phone out to read an email in the holding room (where you can hardly see anyway) the staffer opened the door and got in my face and began abusing me, telling me I was being sneaky and setting a bad example for my kids?? Our kids were so scared of her they immediately wanted to leave, after 10 minutes. So, despite the fact they literally tell you before payment that you can get photos inside, you apparently can't, and if you do need to use your phone you should expect abuse from a nasty mean girl on a power trip. We were later told you can only take photos of one person at a time for $12 each, which we were not told at all prior to payment, or at all during the 'experience'. No pricing or terms & conditions are displayed, offered or made available at the front desk before payment. You are given a price and an eftpos machine. Then the random rules kick in. When I made a complaint I received a generic email that took zero responsibility for the misleading and abusive behaviour. Overall, a horrible experience and insanely poor value. I have made a complaint to the ACCC for deceptive conduct and would encourage others...

Very cool concept but not enough to warrant a return. I, unfortunately, was under the impression that this was a real bar that you could walk into whenever you liked but it’s worth noting this is definitely a tourist attraction.

Entry is $45 per person and you get 1 free drink. You’re given a parka, gloves and there are uggs available if you prefer to swap out your footwear. I wore brogues and I was perfectly fine.

You are asked to wait until a group forms. We waited approx. 10-15 mins. You are dressed and taken in all together. I was surprised by how small it was. If you have 4 people in there at the same time it’s not too bad but when you have a group of more than 4 people it’s challenging to move around and experience the space because there are maybe 2 seats in there. You can see one, where a mat is placed on the ice in my first photo.

We got a drink each. One was amazing, the other was hard to finish and we left after approx. 20 mins in there. You are given 45 mins to spend but, again, it’s hard to do much when there’s more than 4 people in there. It was totally silent until someone noticed the music wasn’t playing and switched it on. The sound was awful, very muffled.

We played air hockey - the puck will not stay put or slide like a regular table but we made it work. We took a few photos and left.

Staff were very friendly and helpful. Overall, my partner and I had a good (short) time but we paid almost $100 for a place we wanted to leave after 20 mins. A couple who came in with us left even earlier.

It’s a really cool, unique idea but would have been better if it was a real bar first and a tourist...

This is a cool, fun concept. Something different. Took the kids to enjoy something we don’t have back home. Visited on a weekday evening during school holidays and luckily we were the only ones in the bar at our time slot so had full run of the room.

There is jenga, connect 4, ice hockey, noughts and crosses to enjoy during the 45 mins whilst inside. It is quite a small room but can accommodate up to 30 people at once, although I think this would be very crowded.

Kids loved the cameras set up and taking lots of photos. The QR code to access photos afterwards is a great way to look back through and select a keepsake to buy in your own time. Personally I would’ve liked to have a printed photo option to buy on the day rather than just the digital copy afterwards.

The cost for an adult of $45 includes a cocktail and the cost for children of $22 includes a mocktail. It’s not cheap but also not unreasonable.

The venue provides appropriate cold weather protective clothing but I’d still suggest wearing warm clothes underneath as the kids had only shorts, tees and dresses and were quite cold, so had to go out of the room a few times to warm up.

We enjoyed our visit as tourists and would recommend for people wanting to experience something fun...