Oaks Park Roller Rink — Attraction in Portland

Pros: this has to be the absolute best skating rink I have ever been to. I learned tonight on my very first visit that this place has been here since 1902 and that it's the second biggest rink in the entire country. This place has great food and snack items. They have an amazing little skate store inside the facility selling skates and skating gear. The list goes on and on.

Cons: there is only one however it is a fatal flaw. I wish it went better as I made a long drive from from San Francisco bay area just to skate this place because I have read a ton of great things about this rink in the reviews. I ended up getting refunded for this session and not skating at all. If youd like all details please continue reading.

Management gave me every excuse as to why they don't allow hats or beanies to be worn without being clipped to the shirt. hats and beanies fall off and people run them over and fall "Kids knock them off then someone runs it over and falls" "We didn't even allow hats until 5 years ago" "If you don't want to pay for the clip I'll give it to you" They really went on and on only for me to spot 4 other people wearing hats without clips. The thing that bothers me about this situation is that it is not necessary for hats to be clipped to your shirt and most certainly not needed for my beenie that very clearly has a better hold to head than their clips does to any hat. Plus there are people constantly falling that are a far bigger hazard than any hat. I personally skate at rinks 3-5 days weekly at various locations all over the west coast and never have I experienced this. Typically most people understand that falling simply comes with the territory in the skate world. Other skate locations have skaters sign a waiver and educate their guests about basic skater etiquette several times per session with a short reminder over the intercom. (Fast and slow skaters were scattered all over together here tonight) The clip they will sell you for your hat is 5 or 6 inches long and is not practical to stay connected while moving your head around. I could easily remove my beanie, but then I'll be blinded from the sweat running to my eyes. I should also mention the heavy sweat drip from my head will certainly cause a true hazard when people skate over the scattered puddles of sweat. I find it sad that I must make this 1 star review on this rink that should be 5 star with countless highlights. I'm asking dearly to the person that made this rule take a little time to visit other skate locations to watch and study true skate culture and etiquette and possibly consider adopting the 2023 way of waivers and educating guests. Well over 100 years with this place being around I'm hoping you can hear me out. It may seem that I'm making a big deal out of something minor, however this isn't the first time I've been asked to make an adjustment that inconveniences me to just satisfy society's...

I bought my kids back to my hometown this week and wanted to share a few of my favorite childhood experiences with them. Little did I know that the roller rink was now the most stringent and boring place ever. They have an excessive number of rules that they have staff members patrolling the rink to enforce. It was not a busy day and my kids and I were 4 of maybe 30 people in the very large venue. I slowed down in an area where there weren't any other skaters near by to snap a few pictures of my kids and their cousins skating together and was immediatly stopped by a staff member telling me I couldn't have my phone out on the rink. So I went to the side to keep my phone on the outside of the rink while taking the pictures while my body was on the rink, figuring it was about potentially dropping the phone on the rink or running into someone. At this point the staff member came to me again telling me I couldn't have the phone on the rink. This didn't make much sense to me as I was taking steps to keep the phone out of the area where it could cause harm to take a picture while still remaining in a safe proximity to my young children (ages 3-10).

Every member of the staff was a miserable human who looked like they hated life. There were at least two talking and flirting with other patrons while skating. Another patron told my children they were not allowed to skate in the center (the backwards and trick lane) where they were practicing skating backwards (8,9,10yos). I'm sure they were concerned that they would collide in some way but they said it in a way that made my children feel threatened and scared.

My brother was told that he had to buy a hat clip if he wanted to wear his hat. It was very tight on his head I cannot think of any earthly reason why it would be a problem, it couldn't fly off him if you tried.

They kept talking to us and siting "the waiver." When I sign a waiver, I assuming that I am releasing the establishment from any responsibility if I am injured during my patronage. Instead they are using their very long fine print to tell you that you basically can't do anything but breath and skate quietly in a circle and you sign something stating you will do as much.

The constant worry that we would break some arbitrary rule and the staff would pounce on us made us uncomfortable and overwhelmed. There was no fun in it!

Please don't even get me started on the music. Suffice to say my kids did not need to hear about anyone's "pu$$¥ in my mouth" while skating with their family.

I loved skating here as a child, I learned to skate here, played with my friends and cousins, went on dates. It was fun and full of lighthearted joy. Now it's a depressing ode to the past where they refuse to let anyone enjoy themselves and everyone who enters is a...

This skating rink used to be so much fun. All of the vintage aspects and the homely feel were just so enjoyable. But, like all things, it had to be completely ruined. We now have to pay $5.00 to park our car. Yes, a penalty for choosing to go have fun there. There are no upgrades to the parking and in fact the road is in the worst shape it's ever been in, but yeah, still have to pay up.

Second, they now have a ridiculous waiver process that creates a line easily 40 people long... outside... uncovered... in the rain. Presumably somebody fell down and therefore had to sue someone so now we have to do this. But the problem is that their system is not set up to do this. We watched them search for our waiver and they had to go through seriously 10 screens on their 1 computer in order to find it while people behind us either waited out in the rain or were pulled in ahead of us. Just put a form out, have people sign it then move on. Not that hard. Waiting in this long, slow line made it so we didn't even get in until the session was 1/3 over. How is that acceptable? Then to make matters worse with this new process, they have absolutely no line management or signage. A couple ladies go around asking everyone and yelling through a bullhorn about prepaid and waivers and whatever else. People were being pulled in from the back of the line only to find out that, no, they had to wait in the OTHER line. That would make people fairly upset, understandably.

Well, we FINALLY got through this line and then the skate line, got changed, and got onto the skate floor... half way through the session. I kid you not... ONE lap in and we had to clear the floor for a "lesson." But... we're already skating. We didn't ask for a lesson. So another 15 minutes later, with the session 2/3 over, we can finally skate. It was pretty fun I guess but they now have so many rules that you just can not have any fun without being stopped and harangued about holding your phone (I'm a grown adult. I'll hold my damn phone if I want to), not wearing safety straps on hats, stopping for literally 5 seconds to pick your crying kid up off the floor, and generally for having any sort of fun.

I'm certain that the ONLY reason this rink is still in business is because it's the only rink in business. If another one opens up in the city, this one will go out of business instantly. ...