AZ ICE Gilbert — Local services in Gilbert

There aren’t many rinks in the East Valley, but this one is hands down the worst. Every time we go to public skate it’s absolutely mobbed, mostly with unsupervised children. It’s nearly impossible to get up to speed because there are so many people on the ice. You can almost guarantee you’ll see a conga line of children with skate guards at some point and tweens/teens standing in clusters making Tik Toks or taking selfies. If there’s a skate monitor on the ice, they aren’t obvious to other skaters and they don’t do anything. If you’re an adult who wants to skate without other people’s unsupervised children, you’re pretty much out of luck as adults only skates are only on weekdays, usually from 12-2 when people would typically be working.

Beyond annoying public skate experiences, we’ve seen lots of dangerous skating. Kids pretending they’re figure skaters and kicking backward without looking, sitting on the ice playing in the snow or making snow angels. Coming from the east coast, I’m constantly blown away by how badly managed/monitored this rink is.

The ice is also totally trashed, always full of scratches and dings, even after they zamboni, which doesn’t happen at every public skate. 2 hours of tons of people skating creates a TON of snow on the ice and makes it hard for even the most experienced skaters. If they do zamboni, when you get back on the ice they don’t have you reverse the direction you’re going in which is pretty typical at most rinks to prevent the ice from getting hammered - but frankly there’s no control over which direction anyone goes in anyway. People are constantly skating against the flow of traffic, kids pushing skate guards backwards, inexperienced skaters skating backwards without looking over their shoulders. This place is just a mess. Avoid if you’re looking for a decent...

Dress for winter, wear layers, coats, gloves and a hat. A pair of warm gloves makes getting up off the ice less painful. I like how this place operates. This was my child's first time on ice. His roller skating lessons paid off and he was able to easily skate around. Stopping was a different story. That takes a little different skill. We were there for a homeschool outing. Another family was so kind to have taught my son how to stop without faceplanting on the ice. Ice skates do not stop the same as Roller skates.

When we arrived, All the kids got a sticker that they had to put on their pant's leg. There are 2 ice rinks. We were directed to the left rink. The right rink had ice skating club lessons going on. On both sides the floor is covered by a rubbery carpet. There are benches, hockey box seating and stadium seating available. There are private locker room available to rent and a big party room too. There are video and crane games available too.

The time went by too fast, as we had a lot of fun on the ice. Some children gathered up accumulated ice shavings near the exits and made a tiny snowman. The rink discourages people wearing down the ice on purpose for making snowballs. But that tiny tiny snowman was very cute.

Vending machines are available for snacks and drinks. Water fountains are available. The restrooms are located in a hall between the 2 areas. They are Double doored and inside are warmer than the rink rooms. The bathrooms are automated. toilets' self flush,...

If you are a decent skater looking for a place to get your skate on, skip this place and go to the Ice Den in Chandler. Pricing here is reasonable and the people working the counters were friendly, but that's pretty much were the good ends. The rink was overcrowded chaos. People were not following any general rules and were skating in random directions or just stopped at a standstill in the straightaway taking pictures, there were no less than 20 large plastic skate assist devices being used by mostly unsupervised children of various ages who were also going random directions cutting across the flow of skating or backwards against it, leaving people scrambling to stop and falling in their wake. At one point I even saw two young girls lay down on the ice and pretend to make snow angels! The "security" person was useless and just skated around listening to earbuds oblivious to the chaos surrounding him. You may also want to bring your own skates as the rentals are not in good shape at all. If you enjoy a good obstacle course and a few games of chicken while trying to get any decent speed then this place may be okay for you, if you want to actually enjoy some good skating without the unpredictable melee then...