Mid-South Ice House — Local services in Olive Branch

I have been here several times with my children and friends for a night out to do something different. The last two times I have been there I have had my youngest child with me. She was 3 on the first visit and 5 on the recent visit saturday night. On the first trip with her they had several wire walkers on the floor for the younger crowd and she had the time of her life being able to ice skate with her 4 older siblings. Well they have updated to a plastic scooter as they call them. When we arrived they had a big sign up that said NO SCOOTERS. We see where they are charging more money for the scooters even though non were available. When we reached the floor there were 4 scooters on the wall being guarded by a employee. There were two 14 yo plus teenage girls on the floor being used, after already reading a post that the scooters were for 3-8 year old patrons. When I inquired about a scooter on the wall I was told to get on a waiting list. It was 8:00pm. So I go to the front office and asked to be put on the waiting list. The girl was polite but the boy in the front office could have cared less that I needed help. When I went back to the floor another upset father with a autistic son said he had paid someone leaving for their scooter. (Keep this in mind, they didn't know the person was leaving) I was told to go back to the office at 9 to pay for a scooter after they cleaned the floor etc. After using the Zamboni there was 9 unattended scooters. The two teenagers were unable to get their scooters because they had not paid for them. The manager comes and tells me again the scooters are rented for the night and they will be to the bottom of it in ten minutes. He has to find out which ones are turned in and I find out that my name has been removed from the no longer existing waiting list. Then they announce they are allowing us over the intercom to rent scooters and when I go back to the office I am told that the manager has NOT given the OK to rent them out!!!! Finally the girl gets me a ticket from the concession stands. I go to get the scooter but because they had not written the number on the wrist band I was still unable to get a scooter. I was told to go to where you get the skates to get a number written on my band....The people at the skates asked how they were to know I had paid for the scooter when I had NO PROOF!!!! Finally when I screamed they wrote a 2 on my daughters wrist and at 9:30 she was finally able to skate unassisted for 30 minutes before they closed. WHY NOT JUST TAKE A DEPOSIT FOR 30 MINUTES OR SO AND YOU GET IT BACK WHEN YOU TURN IN THE SCOOTER SO EVERYONE GETS A CHANCE????? WHY HAVE A KIDS POLICY WHEN TEENAGERS ARE ABUSING THE SYSTEM? WHY BE RUDE? WHY NOT HAVE A SYSTEM IN PLACE SO YOU KNOW WHEN SCOOTERS ARE NOT BEING USED THAT OTHERS CAN PARTICIPATE? After sending countless people there to enjoy a night out with something different to do I will start keeping my mouth shut...

mid south ice house review

Staff yelled in my kids’ faces when we were checking in to pay “GET OFF THE COUNTER” when we were just feet apart and I was right there. My child put her hands on the countertop and hoisted herself up as kids do, waist resting in the edge of the counter and feet dangling a few inches off the floor. There were no signs posted and no one had asked her not to do that yet. I would have expected and welcomed a simple “Please get down, we don’t want you to get hurt.”

We moved to the skate rental place to select skates for two kids. When the first received skates, she sat immediately at my feet to begin putting them on. The staff member, different from the first, put on an angry tone and raised her voice: “DONT SIT ON THE FLOOR. WE HAVE CHAIRS FOR A REASON!” At this point I was like, “What is going on here?” but I didn’t say anything.

A few minutes later, I was in the lobby with the kids. I was on my phone trying to figure out how to register them for the Learn to Skate program when I heard over my shoulder my child ask if staff could turn on the fireplace (it’s July!).Staff yelled at my child when she asked if they could turn on the fireplace. “No, it’s too hot.” My child said, “It’s not hot in here.” and then staff responded with a high-volume irritated “I SAID NO.”

A different woman on staff yelled as we were walking out. I was headed into the restroom before we left and my child followed me but jumped up on the rim of the bleachers. Staff, standing shoulder to shoulder with both me and my child, raised her voice and yelled “GET DOWN FROM THERE RIGHT NOW!”

Listen, I know kids try our patience. My kids aren’t perfect. They were breaking rules we didn’t know existed (not on purpose, but still.) I get to yelling phase after three or four respectable requests in a regulated tone. “Can you please get down? We don’t want you to get hurt” is the first response. Always.

We stayed 90 minutes and spent $60, but we could have stayed 3 hours. The two women were immature, impatient, and unprofessional. My advice to them is to find a job in a venue that doesn’t cater to children, because it’s obvious they don’t care for kids.

I’m glad I couldn’t figure out how to register for classes. Even though we’ve been a handful of times over the years, I don’t think we will be back. There are too many options for kids’ activities in the Memphis metro area for us to voluntarily spend our money to be...

would be five stars except the owner is now mandating masks on the ice as well during public skating , regardless of vaccination status.

I understand little kids cannot take the vaccine, so why not only mandate masks on the ice during day time skating sessions so that you can make all your patrons happy?

Leave the night time slots as mask free on the ice, since the clientele for those time slots are 99% people who are capable/allowed to get the vaccine.

Masks for all , before vaccines were available, made tons of sense and I supported that, when it was occuring. but now? There has to be a way to make all patrons happy.

And then, go the extra mile to advertise that you have different rules for different time slots. This way people understand what to expect when they make a trip to the rink to go skating.

I should note that I used to come here twice a weekend to skate. now I'm not coming at all until this rule is rescinded or modified to something more...