Kent Valley Ice Centre — Attraction in Kent

"Limited access Public Ice Skating sessions are available for all ages under Phase 2 of the new Healthy Washington reopening plan, but tickets must be booked online in advance. Once a sessions capacity is reached, no additional tickets will be sold. Due to COVID-19, anyone entering the facility must wear a mask and comply with the latest Healthy Washington guidelines. Social distancing is required at all times." This is on their website when you go and book a session on the ice.

Reality: They will sell you tickets at the door. The session capacity for the ice rink is 1801 people according to their fire code. 25% is 450 people. Does that make you feel safe? How can you social distance on an ice rink with 450 people? I didn't make this up, their manager told me this number. You agree to a covid waiver when you reserve a ticket online, but I saw no such thing for individuals buying tickets at the door. So if you want to be responsible and you are thinking this will be a safe place to go, you will be royally screwed if you do get sick. They will take ZERO responsibility. Many parents, kids, and other adults were not wearing masks. They made an announcement about it, but also stated that the staff on the ice would not be directly confronting those individuals.

Listen, I don't blame the company for trying to give back livelihoods to their employees and community. We all want things to go back to normal. I don't know who's fault this ultimately is, whether or not the ice centre is playing dirty but pretending to be strict but are actually kind of lax about it. Or is it Gov. Inslee's fault with pushing Phase 2 reopenings too quickly. This is also not an attempt to "cancel" the ice centre. I just want you all to be aware, YOU NEED TO DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE before attending. Do not take anyone's word, including my own.

You're paying $25 a person to skate w/ rentals. This is not refundable. You may think there will be social distancing, and heck, even have a majority of the ice rink to yourselves. If you believe that it is safe, and proceed to go, then find out its not. You're left holding the bag.

"But we can just call and ask how many reservations they have for that session"

I wish that was diligent enough, except for the fact that they sell tickets at the door and sell anymore after they hit their 450 people capacity (25%). So you will not have a true estimate of how many people will actually be attending.

My only suggestion would be to attend the first morning session. These are the least likely to be busy and you will be able to clearly see if people are wearing masks. Do not attend their blacklight events, where people can easily just take off their masks without being seen.

Be well,...

I wish I could share the wonderful experiences others have mentioned, but after five years of regular visits to Kent Valley Ice Centre, I’ve seen little more than a facility stuck in neutral offering the bare minimum while asking families to expect even less.

The name Centre suggests something elevated, a place of quality service and community. Unfortunately, that promise ends at the door. Did you see the no outside food sign?

In five years, we’ve seen no meaningful improvements to the facility or genuine support for youth hockey programs. The owner seems pleasant in passing, but leadership is nonexistent. The director appears disengaged, it may be time for him to retire, and the unpleasant older woman who often lurks in the front seems far less interested in serving customers than in telling them what they can’t do. Helpful? No. Hospitable? Not even close.

Customer service is consistently lacking. When you enter the pro shop, don’t expect a hello or even eye contact. The culture here is clear: the customer is an interruption. If you raise a concern, you’re likely to be told in an indigent and direct manner that your opinion doesn’t matter. And if you push any further or give them a heads-up that experiences like these are driving people away, the response is simple: “The door is behind you, and the street is outside.”

The facility’s rules are rigid, enforced with the charm of a traffic violation, and make little sense given the lack of amenities. Outside food is prohibited, yet the food court is NEVER open. This leaves families, especially those with kids skating for multiple hours, with no access to nutrition unless they smuggle it in or starve it out. Nevermind the tired parents surviving on fast food leftovers after working their jobs all day and making sure their kids get to the fun stuff. We're hungry too.

Bathrooms are another low point. Paper towels are regularly missing, and when your kid ends up with a bloody nose, good luck finding anything to clean up with. Again, don’t expect sympathy, just another reminder that your concerns aren’t welcome here or rather a focus on HOW the bloody nose occured.

Kent Valley Ice Centre is a place that runs entirely on its own terms. There’s no sense of investment, no community-building, and certainly no effort to make the facility a place families want to be. What could be a thriving center for youth hockey feels instead like a cautionary tale in poor leadership and missed opportunity.

It’s time for a change! New ownership, new energy, and a new commitment to the people who keep this place afloat.

Until then, come prepared, with low expectations, a full cooler in your car, and...

This facility has so much potential to be a bustling and highly profitable rec center. Unfortunately, the management is insufferable, rude, and apparently doesn’t care about making money because they will do anything before they treat their customers with basic respect.

First off, the google description of the facility is inaccurate. The cafe, sports bar, and video games are all permanently closed, and calling it a “pro shop” is a stretch. If you are an “elite athlete seeking high end training” do not come here, there is no high end training for either hockey or figure skating. It’s halfway decent for beginners but way overpriced for what you get. Go to kraken or sno king if you want good coaching and better prices.

Figure skaters there are treated like second class customers. They make up new rules every week when they don’t like something we do and they don’t comply with city laws, for example the senior policy. Some examples of these made up rules include: not being allowed to walk down the hallway where the drinking fountain is even to get water because apparently only hockey players can go down the hallway. Not being allowed to practice off ice jumps in the large and open lobby because “it could interfere with other skaters” except… wait… there are no other skaters because they are bad at advertising and no one wants to come here. And they pick and choose who they want to enforce these rules on.

This only scratches the surface of the poor treatment I witnessed and received. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ban me for writing this, it wouldn’t be the first time they banned someone for speaking out. But I don’t mind. They don’t deserve any more of my money. It’s clear that they don’t like figure skaters in general, for whatever reason, but if that’s the case then why even offer it?

They just lost at least 10 customers by banning guest figure skating coaches. This may not seem like a lot but for how few people skate here regularly, it is. I hope the management has fun going bankrupt because their little hockey team is not going to be enough to keep them afloat financially. I really hope someone buys out this facility because again, it has a ton of potential and could be an amazing rec center and could be really good for the city of...