Bellevue Ice Rink (Winter only) — Local services in Bellevue

The ice rink here is a fairly fun thing to go for, if you want to try out skating a bit in the winter time. It's a small rink and temporary rink in Bellevue Square Park, though, so don't expect too much. But for what it is, it works fine; you're able to skate in the rink, and you have staff to overlook it. They routinely run the zamboni on the ice, too, so they try to keep the ice smooth.

However, despite the attempts at running the zamboni, I do find that the ice quality is still pretty bad. It's better when they run the zamboni, of course, but I do find it's a bit uneven, and sometimes the zamboni misses spots. The spot where the Zamboni enters the rink had a bit of a wedge on the side of the wall, which makes it a little risky to fall into, but for what it's worth, I've not seen anyone get into trouble with it (just an odd quirk). So I think the clearing of the ice here could be done better, but I still appreciate it being done (I have seen many rinks just not do it). Also, I'm not sure if it's related to how they maintain the rink, but sometimes, the ceiling drips water, which is quite distracting.

I appreciate some of the staff keeping things orderly on the ice. Sometimes, I see some skaters skating way too dangerously (ie, going uncontrollably fast while almost out actually hitting people), and the staff is sometimes able to intervene and get them out. It may depend on the staff that's available to watch the ice at a given time, though, as I've also seem some staff do nothing.

I've been here both with the rental skates they give, and with my own skates. The rentals are really not good quality; the blades are very dull, so even experienced people will feel less control here. Still maybe okay to try, if you've not done skating before and just want to see what it's like, but in my opinion, you might want to try another rink for the rentals, since the rentals here may dissuade newcomers from continuing with skating after (it almost did for me, when I stated long ago). With my own skates, it's definitely a better experience.

Overall, still a decent place to try skating. It has some quality issues (ice is sometimes rough or not evenly zamboni'd), poor rentals, and there are nicer permanent ice rinks around. But if you're near downtown Bellevue, this is a convenient spot. You can somewhat make your money's worth with a season pass, if you go a lot (the pass is for unlimited visits). I find the best time to go it's near 10, when the rink is not as full. But if price is less of a factor, try one of the other...

I've gone skating here a few times and got a season pass this year, thinking it was a great place to have some unlimited after-work skating practice. It is aggressively mediocre.

The ice quality is the absolute worst part. It's always meh to bad. Sometimes it's difficult to even just skate forward - I see experienced skaters (including myself) struggling not to trip and fall over the divots, ice crystals, humps, and other irregularities in the ice. I feel especially bad for the beginners (in the terrible rentals); it's not really a great or magical first skating experience.

I have no idea what their ice resurfacing schedule is - most rinks post it so you know when to go, and they schedule their sessions around it. Here, they just kick everyone off the ice for 10-30 min. So you could've planned your day around going at a certain time only to lose a good chunk of it to ice resurfacing. Why not just schedule the resurfacing, rather than market the rink as continuously open?

It's a small rink, so even when it's not terribly crowded there's not a ton of space to move around. The wide-angle photos in the listing make it look a lot bigger than it is. I get that some people need the walkers to feel comfortable skating, but it feels like there should be a limit on how many are on the ice at the same time so you're not spending the entire time dodging them.

There are so many better-maintained (permanent) ice rinks around the Puget Sound region with nice ice that give you longer skating sessions for less money! Even when they're super crowded they are more pleasant experiences...

Employees were very friendly, and that's about the only reason why I gave it 2 stars. There is definitely a large amount of people, but that's to be expected of a public ice rink. My main concern was with the skates. As a figure skater, I think I'm decently qualified to comment. I used the rental skates because I hadn't wanted to carry around my own (had plans afterwards) and god, the rental skates have basically NO toe pick! This caused even me, a person with ice skating skills, to be almost completely unable to stop myself by using the friction from the toe pick when going backwards, and it also makes it much harder to not fall. Not to mention, the skates were so dull it was impossible to do anything! I couldn't even skate forward normally, and basically just did half swizzles the entire time, backwards and forwards. It was also really impossible to stop. I do understand that this is a public facility, but the almost nonexistent toe pick skates really, really bothered me. I would actually consider it a safety hazard, as I saw a lot of people sliding into dramatic falls that could have actually been prevented if the skates actually had a functional toe pick, and not the curved blades and minimal toe pick design that the rental...