WinterSkate is the Cutest. Date. Ever…read more Outdoor activities are one of those things that make Twin Cities winters slightly more bearable. Rice Park is another one of those things, with its pretty twinkling lights... and the majestic Landmark Center backdrop doesn't hurt either. Together, WinterSkate comes to life as an outdoor rink right in the middle of St. Paul. This year, it's open from Nov. 26 to Feb. 5. They have a warming house for changing your skates and staying cozy. The rink itself isn't huge, but I basically just need room to lurch around like a Frankenstein and then fall... so I'm good. Best part aside from the fact that you have an instant date-night? Skate rentals are only $2 and the rink itself is FREE. So what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, winter has to come first. Thanks, Wells Fargo, for making winter a little more fun!

The opening of the WinterSkate rink in Rice Park is a kickoff to the holiday season for many of us…read morein St Paul. It's a free city event where you have the opportunity to see local figure skaters cut loose on fresh ice. After that, you can wander across the street for live musical entertainment. You can get a first glimpse of the upcoming year's winter carnival button -- and watch the official lighting of the Holiday tree (and all the other trees) in Rice Park, accompanied by fireworks. A perfect holiday night. Rice park is the perfect strolling park when you're on a date at the Ordway, Riverwalk Center, Xcel Center, or anywhere else in downtown St Paul. The skating rink also makes it a great stand-alone family destination in the winter from November (when the rink opens) to the new year when Rice Park hosts the annual Ice Castle.

There are eight sheets of ice here. I mean, nothing even compares to the Super Rink. Anywhere…read more If the world's largest ice arena - with ample parking, concessions, figure skating, youth, high school, college and adult hockey, clean locker rooms, youth and adult hockey tournaments, heated indoor viewing, the Herb Brooks Training Center and The US Women's National Team - if ALL THAT UNDER ONE ROOF doesn't impress, then nothing refrigerated will impress you. This is a premier facility. Solid and attentive staff. Great ice. Hotels, restaurants and shopping nearby (that wasn't always the case, but it's true now). Check out Twin Cities Gateway for lodging and info. There is a brewery blocks away and a nationally recognized curling rink just down the road if that's your thing. Also, there is a golf course, baseball and softball fields, and a zillion soccer fields here too. The Super Rink is one part (my favorite part) of the campus called the National Sports Center. A lot of places use the word super. This is indeed The Super Rink! If you like or love ice sports, this is your palace. If you read this far you deserve some trivia. DYK? The National Sports Center (NSC) was built at part of Gov Rudy Perpich goal to land the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Attended my nieces ice skating competition today. First time to the super rink and now I know why…read moreit's called the super rink! It's HUGE! The revenue has over 4+ rinks. A great snack and food area called the hat trick. I got a hotdog which was good. They even have real chick fil sandwiches available to buy! Mind blown. The place was very comfortable and it wasn't too cold. Lots of fun vendors selling stuff too.

Tips: - Rink access is on level 7 (top deck) of the parking…read moreramp. It's best to park at a higher level. - There are two parking ramps: - From 6th Street (21 East 6th Street) - entrance B - From Wabasha Street - entrance C - The parking ramp clearance is 6'3". My rental SUV had a few inches to spare. - If you are watching the Minnesota Wild practise, you need to sign a waiver. A few years ago, in September, I was invited to a Minnesota Wild practice session in the afternoon on a Saturday. Sadly, my Air Canada flight was delayed by three hours, which meant that I would miss it. Ugh! It took three years to finally get a similar invitation. Going to a Wild practice session tends to be for Wild season ticket holders and it's free. I said yes over a month ago. I flew into the Twin Cities on a Wednesday. The following morning, I attended the practice session at TRIA Rink. This rink is on the fifth floor of Treasure Island Center. It's not far away from where the Wild play their games at Grand Casino Arena. While flying into MSP, I got an e-mail from Wild customer service on event details, where to park, where to go, and more. It also said to print out a waiver form and fill it out. It's the only negative detail about this event. I realize that some details may change, which may be why this message was sent less than 24 hours before the event. However, had I got these details two days in advance, I would have been able to print out this waiver form. I'm at neither home, nor work. I don't have a travel printer. Luckily, I ended up printing a form at the hotel where I was staying. Still, I shouldn't have to scramble to find a printer. What the message didn't say is that if you don't have your waiver filled out, you can fill it out at the check-in table. Why not say that?! I had no problem driving over to this rink in downtown Saint Paul. I turned right from Wabasha Street, into entrance C of the parking lot (ramp). I took a ticket and proceeded up a bunch of levels. I parked on level 6. The entrance to the rink is level 7 (top floor) of the ramp. I pulled into a spot, walked a bit, and entered through the door. I walked down a few steps and saw the check-in area. A cheerful friendly man welcomed me. I handed my form in. He thanked me and said to head up the stairs for breakfast. Nice! The check-in area was across from the skate rental place. I walked up the stairs to the top floor of the rink. Continental breakfast was available, thanks to Levy Restaurants. There was oatmeal with fruit, pastries, muffins, and hot beverages. I had breakfast at the hotel at 7:30 am. It was now 10:30 am. I was able to down two fruit danish pastries and a cakey donut. They were all yummy, but the cakey donut wowed me the most. It was so good. What I like about TRIA Rink is that there are shorter bench seats for one to two people to sit down. I did just that, as it was me and my continental breakfast. Oh, I got hot chocolate. It was delicious. I loved every sip. It went well with my donut. Seeing the Wild practice was such a delight. Boldy came on the ice without any skates on. He was practising shooting pucks on net. Johansson joined him and they chatted off to the side for a bit. I loved seeing the Wild do drills and the camaraderie between players. Kaprizov. Zuccarello. Huges. McCarron. Nick Foligno (his brother, Marcus, was injured and wasn't there). Gustavsson. Wallstedt. Ericsson Ek. Fleury. I was so happy! Mats Zuccarello is one of my favourite Wild players. It was great seeing him practise right in front of me. The practice lasted an hour. We then headed to the Saint Paul Event Center on the third floor. Wild CEO Matt Majka was there to speak about his time with the Wild. The elevators were huge and efficient. Staff were great directing us to the event centre, which was huge and inviting. I frankly didn't care much for this part of the event. He had stories to tell, but he couldn't remember the exact details by admitting this fact, which was a downer. He wasn't a smooth talker, either. I guess it's also because I'm Canadian. The part about the US hockey teams winning gold at the Olympics went on for what felt like forever. I would have rather been back at the rink to stuff myself with more pastries and get a hot chocolate refill. Yum! Afterwards, I needed to use the washroom. There was one to the left. The women's washroom was impeccably clean and bright. Wow! I headed back to the fifth floor, to get back to the parking ramp. It was nice seeing a quiet rink before leaving it. One male season ticket holder commented that I had the right sneakers on today. I looked down. I was wearing Vans with Minnesota Wild green on parts of them. I thanked him and reciprocated. You scan the QR code on your ticket to pay for parking. You then scan your ticket to leave the ramp. I had a memorable experience. I'd do it again! (129)

We saw the MN Whitecaps play the Buffalo Beauts at a Sunday 12pm game and overall the experience…read morewas fun and positive. Despite being a professional game the atmosphere feels more like attending a casual college game. Which I appreciate. We paid $7 for parking ahead of time but if you stay even a minute after the end time on the parking ticket, they charge you $11 which is the current rate for 1-3 hours in the parking garage. Still not bad overall for attending a downtown event. Parking couldn't be easier to get in and out of, and was plentiful. Tria has clean bathrooms. The vending machines were all down and no concession stands (because then they'd have to check vaccination status and that was not done to attend the game). We were able to bring in our own water bottles. It's a no-frills casual arena in the heart of downtown St Paul. We had a great time. Bring stadium seat cushions if you have them-- the bleachers have no padding.

Had a good time ice skating here. I rented skates and spent maybe an hour going around. The loop is…read morenot super long but seems to be well maintained and is in a cute area.

Great fun on a most unique loop of refrigerated ice. Free to skate. Rental skates cost, but not too…read moremuch. Parking lot and nearby street parking is also free.

Good ice good service nice concession. What better place to play hockey than in one of Minnesota's…read moreoldest rinks

Came here for a roller derby tournament in July. It's usually an ice rink during the winter time…read moreand they de-iced it during the summer. There are two rinks, and the other one still had ice in it. There's an upstairs area where you can watch either rink from above. This was convenient as the that area was air-conditioned and the arena was super hot (it was the middle of July). The arena itself was very big, with lots of bleachers seats on one side of the rink. Makes me wonder what level of hockey teams play hear and how many people they bring.

This arena is basic. Single sheet of ice. Stands on one side and player bench area on the other…read moreside. Thing to note is that this arena is almost always cold. Really. There is a heated room at the north end with a decent view of the ice where you can stand in relative warmth, eats or drink from vending machines, and see team photos from the local youth leagues. In a state of awesome arenas, this is a perfectly functional arena in a convenient (for those in the north burbs at least) convenient easy to find location on Hwy 96. Added local bonus: great library across the street; indoor pool and water park at nearby Shoreview Community Center; a handful of restaurants within 1-2 mile drive. Bring gloves, a hat, and a seat cushion.

Run, play and have fun! What a great place for kids to run around especially in the winter months…read morehere in Minnesota. Lots of different sections/areas for kids to run around! It costs $12 for a daily pass for one kiddo. They have a location in Eagan and Woodbury. Some of the areas include a toddler only area, a bouncy area, some indoor playgrounds for littles through pre-teen, basketball court, soccer field, ninja gym, and an area to eat, relax with tables and chairs. They do have great vending machine options. They also have cubbies for shoes, coats, etc.

We visited for the first time in Jan 2024 on a weekday and had a bad experience that resulted in an…read moreER visit. My toddler is 2 and baby was 7 months at the time. We got there right in the morning at 9:30am and initially, my toddler had a great time bouncing on the inflatable bouncer. However, it got crowded very quickly. There was one kid maybe 4 years old named "Eli" (wearing green in the photo) who kept pushing other kids and whose mother was on her phone or yelling at her child on the sidelines (the only reason I remember the kid's name) without physically removing him from the situation. I saw this kid push 2 other kids who left the inflatable crying. He eventually laid on top of my daughter and wouldn't get up until I yelled "hey, you can't do that!" and ran over to them. My daughter was crying and obviously distraught. The mother there said nothing and did not remove him from the inflatable. Many of the parents of younger kids were respectful but I noticed the parents of older kids weren't. At the other play areas that my daughter could participate in - like the blocks - I noticed parents said nothing as their kids bossed others around and kept all of the blocks to themselves even if they weren't physically playing with them. In addition, there weren't a lot my toddler could play with besides the inflatable. The toddler play area is mainly for babies that can crawl and my toddler got bored of the area in less than 1 minute. The smaller slides are overrun with bigger kids and it was overwhelming for my daughter to navigate with other kids on it. And on the larger wavy slide, she was brave and tried going down herself, but it was too fast and steep for her and she hit her head on the side of the slide. The day or 2 after our visit, my toddler, baby and I caught the worst viral cold/flu we have had. I know we got it from the park because we did not go anywhere else that week. My baby was physically going limp in my arms and dozing off and I ended up taking her to the ER. I understand that the park doesn't have any liability for other kids' behavior or parents' supervision, or whether or not our children get sick, but I felt like the behavior was not acceptable or welcoming for us to want to come back and it seems like the culture of the park, based on other negative reviews here. The rule on the website states "Adults who fail to supervise their children in the play areas may be required to leave the park" but I don't see how this can be enforced with no staff on hand. The park also looked dirty and I'm not sure how often it is sanitized - and I wasn't able to locate a staff member to update them in real time. It does look great for older kids 5+ who are more assertive and are able to use all features of the park but for my younger kids, it wasn't a great fit. Constructive feedback: I do think the park can benefit from maybe 1 staff member on hand for safety and ensuring the Standard of Conduct on the website is followed, and maybe a large indoor swingset with baby/toddler attachments. Edit to add: Although one staff member was cleaning when I arrived, I looked and could not find anyone after the aggressive incident to voice my concerns. The woman whose child was aggressive was yelling his name and it was echoing throughout the park, so I'm sure if a staff member was present at the time, they would have heard what was happening. I did tell the child twice that he couldn't do what he did and I know the mother heard and still chose not to remove him from the situation. I admit I could have talked to her directly, but if no action was taken after her yelling at her child, I do think an external force was necessary to enforce the Code of Conduct. I wish I could have found staff at the time because I definitely would have addressed the situation real time.

Attended a Halloween Skating event this week and it was a blast. They have skate rentals and…read moretrainers. Overall prices felt very reasonable and it was so nice the prices weren't increased for the event. The Rink is well taken care of and ice was well maintained. According to their schedule it does look like they offer a decent amount of free skate time which can also be rare

Newer ice arenas don't often impress, you know, function over fashion. This is a really, really…read morenice new ice arena. One remarkable plus at the C.R.I.C. is the second sheet of ice, refrigerated ice OUTSIDE next to the main building. This outside ice allows for a unique playing experience. The main arena is huge, with some neat photos of the local hockey heros who went on to play in college or pros. The stands, are all on one side. This is a big arena with a large amount of seating. This would be a rocking place when full and loud for a rivalry game. There is a large heated lobby with concessions and a small yet useful skate shop. Wood beams inside make this place feel special. From this common area there is a glass view of one end of the ice. The building has rooms for meetings and birthday parties and other events. There is ample parking. Outside ice sheet next to arena is a major draw and pretty cool! Well done C.R. hockey people!