Piney Orchard Ice Arena — Local services in Odenton

at about 2:15pm on 7/19/23, i had a very disappointing experience. my dad and i are visiting family here from florida, and we usually like to skate every wednesday at our local rink. we didn’t bring our skates, but assumed it would be okay to rent at whatever rink we came to here. we were sorely mistaken.

registering online was incredibly tedious, but we eventually got it figured out. once we arrived, there was a woman working who seemingly wanted nothing to do with us. she eventually took us to the rental area, and after trying on several pairs in both of our sizes, not a single skate has even the slightest edge. some of the blades were completely destroyed as if they had been used on concrete.

we tried to step on the ice, hoping we could at least skate a little, but it was impossible to find an edge. Now, i am not a professional by any means, but i know how to skate pretty well. These skates made it feel like i had never stepped on the ice in my life. it was borderline dangerous how difficult it was to even move 5 feet.

we asked the woman at the front desk if anyone could sharpen any of the skates, and she claimed not a single person there knows how to work a sharpener. i found this very disheartening for two reasons: 1: the idea that nobody who works there knows how to sharpen ice skates is deeply concerning. 2: someone there most likely does know how to, but simply didn’t feel like it.

we then asked for our money back, and the woman said she would get her manager. the general manager then comes out of her office and says she’ll refund it. we tried to explain to her what had happened, and she could not have been more disinterested in anything we were saying. the entire time we were trying to talk to her, she was talking over us saying “okay, bye. okay, bye. okay, bye.” we eventually left, and needless to say, will not return.

my dad and i were both very excited to skate here, but unfortunately, that did not happen. i hope that someone there will consider how dangerous and hazardous it is to have skates that bad, but until then, i would recommend finding a...

They totally should get 0 stars. The lady who answered the phone was rude and the “ Business Manager” who said nobody was higher then her was even rudder! Their booking process is not clear. I went over it several times and checked off all of the boxes that there were to book for a session with a child and an adult. It wouldn’t even let me pick anything more. So naturally I thought okay they charge one admission to get in and charge for skate rentals or it price adjusted because they see I live in P.O (okay great). I actually had a question on how the process worked as we never been and decided to call. When the lady answered and I asked her if she seen our reservation she said yes your good to go, no wait no your not, wait yes you are, then says okay for one person. I told her ‘no two. She proceeds to say you NEED to go back and add another admission. I said well to my understanding it was covered through one as it wasn’t any other option. She proceeds to say do you pay for one person to get into the movies (WOW). Continues to tell me well that’s what it is here. I asked to speak with a manager who I think her name was Diana “the Business Manager” jumps on the phone and says what do you need! Appalled by that I say excuse me whom am I speaking with? She says it again not one time but 3 then ask her associate what does she need. Never answering my question until the phone mutes and I’m guessing was told what I NEEDED. Her attitude was rude, condescending and defensive after reiterating what the issue was. Her response was a matter of fact of I’ll just refund your money and cancel your session you can go somewhere else!!! Wow” whoever is the owner of this establishment needs to find better help and actually people that know how to deal with people! So your right I will go somewhere else gladly and I will let everyone else know to go somewhere else as...

This was a really disappointing experience. My son and I are visiting my parents from out of town and figured it would be nice to get some ice-time in while we were here. We came to the 2-4pm public session on Wednesday, 7/19.

I grew up playing hockey at the Columbia Ice Rink, but they’re closed for the summer. I remember when Clay Carr opened the Piney Orchard Rink, and I was excited to skate here again after so long away.

My son and I each tried on multiple pairs of skates, and we were unable to find a single pair that had even a usable edge on the blade. Because the pro shop was closed, there was no one available to sharpen the skates, so we decided to get a refund and call it a wash.

When I mentioned to the manager that it was unsafe to have skates so dull that even someone like me who’s been skating for most of their life can’t use them, she simply said, “Okay, bye,” and retreated back to her office. I get that it’s a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of summer, but that is no excuse for the dull skates or the attitude of the manager. Next time we come to town, we’ll definitely bring our own skates, and we’ll find another rink...