I enjoyed my first ice skating experience. The blades were heavier than I expected. I was able to skate without assistance, until I fell after three children ran into me. I felt like I was in a freezer, but I had fun. Staff were friendly, there were ample restrooms to use, and the popcorn tasted descent. I recommend this place, but I also recommend protective gear for beginners. read more

Polar Ice Raleigh - Skating Rinks Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

My grandchildren love this place! I've been here several times to watch them do hockey practice, figure skating and open skate. They are learning so much and have enjoyed coming here for years. It's a great place to learn! I only wish they would improve the sitting area where you watch from. The bleachers are oddly made so there is no where to put your feet accept on the bench where other people are sitting. I've never seen bleachers like this anywhere. It makes it quite uncomfortable especially when attending an event. read more

Polar Ice Raleigh - Skating Rinks Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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Nice rink but way too cold! My son's toes are numb during one hour hockey practice. 8 sat to watch and couldn't last more than 30 minutes. I was wearing boots, a sweater and a jacket. When I asked about why it's so cold, they said that when the temperatures outside dip too low that the current heating system isn't up to par. Time for some major updates. read more

Love this rink! Awesome place! It is very big so it is very good for public skating! I recommend it to everyone who wants to ice skate! read more

Polar Ice Raleigh - Ice hockey game, ice hockey - Skating Rinks Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

It was very fun skating here, but the skates kill my feet but when you get use to it, it's super cool! I loved seeing everyone skate and it's a great experience for friends. Dress warmly! Wear gloves! read more

This is a cool place, better than the Cary one for sure. But it's located on the other side of Raleigh so for people living in western wake and rtp, it will take you a long drive. For parents waiting for your kids to practice skating, you may go to triangle town center or Costco shopping center nearby to spend your time. But overall it worth the travel. read more

Friendly staff, clean restrooms. My kid is taking lessons, no prior skating experience and she's doing great. Don't forget a coat, it's cold around the ice (if you aren't skating)! read more

Polar Ice Raleigh - Ive skating - Skating Rinks Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Not only is the facility exceptionally dirty and there is zero care for it, but one day a friend and I showed up for a Stick and Puck (open hockey for people who don't know), and the doors were absolutely shut. Now, it was 11:15am and the stick and puck started at 11:45am. Players always arrive early to put gear on, pay, etc. And on top of that, a line is beginning to form at the door. At least half a dozen people, and myself, are sitting outside the rink doors waiting to get in. It finally hits 11:45am and no one is there. Not one employee. We all waited a bit more and finally at 12:15am, the two owners show up. Their excuse? "Oh sorry, our daughter got married over the weekend and we've been busy..." It's Wednesday. C'mon. So, they gave us each 2-free skate passes for next time we wanted to go to a Stick and Puck. Fine. Cool. So my buddy loved the ice and he wanted to try it again so we went back a few days later. We brought our free skate passes and showed up to the window to pay. The same owner guy takes the passes, gives us a confused face, boldly looks us up and down and goes, "Where did you get these? Who gave these to you?" My friend and I both look at one another confused and respond, "You did, sir... the other day when you both were late..." and it seems he realizes suddenly that yes, he did give those to us to make up for his tardiness but he suddenly goes, "Nope! These are the old management's passes. Sorry guys. You'll have to pay." Wait... what?! We ended up paying just for the mere fact my buddy took off work and all and I wasn't going to drag us to another place. But overall, this place sucks. I can not believe the management here operates at this level. It's really astonishing. Showing up late to a Stick and Puck because of a wedding isn't an excuse valid enough to matter to your customers. Close the rink if you're that tired. But don't penalize us for wanting to skate and then backtrack because you want to make $20 off of two people. What a joke. Glad I stopped going here from other stories I've heard as well. read more

Old school. Nothing has changed in ice houses since I went to them as a kid. Obviously the price is different but same feel, snell, workers, & clientele. I like it that way. read more

Polar ice house was fun! Wish there were more open skate times, or that the open time varied through the week.

We gave my granddaughter an experience for Christmas-Learn to Skate Camp. We were extremely impressed with the organization and staffing. She had a blast as did the whole family when we joined her for open skate on the first day. The kids are already asking "When can we come back?!" read more

Ice skating in this humid spring weather is a perfect and fun way to escape the heat. The rink is large and open for all ages. They do not allow public skating at all times of the day, so be sure to check out their website for the hours. Also, if you are going during the spring/summer season, don't let the weather outside fool you into not dressing properly, it is cold in the rink. However, it was not overbearing, I was fine with a thin sweater and pants. This is a great place for the wee little ones. There are stackable buckets to help them skate around with support. read more

Polar Ice Raleigh - Skating Rinks Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Ice rink is great. Parking lot needs lines painted on it! Ridiculous. Gets super crowded, but the parking is so screwed up cause there are no lines, so cars are weirdly spaced taking up way too much too much room. Ladies room is disgusting. Only two doors on stalls actually shut and latch. read more

The only saving grace is they had ice to skate on, but just barely... It was clear they had lessons or something just before open skating but didn't bother to clean up the ice. The front entrance area especially was completely chewed up. The staff is beyond inattentive. It's clear most would prefer to be somewhere else. Just getting their attention as they stand around the lobby area is difficult. On the ice it was worse. There's no clear staff presence on the ice to mitigate injuries. The equipment rentals were in poor condition. This is based on my own and the rest of my parties experience. Almost all the laces were completely chewed off at the ends making them too short to know properly. The one set of laces we got that weren't too long were about 1.5 ft too long and needed to be tucked into the skate. The skates themselves have seen better days. I suggest bringing large socks because the inside of the skates are all if not most of the padding. The real cherry on top was the song choices for open skate. The people on the ice were about 75% children with some as young as 6 (guessing their age but VERY young). Despite this, the songs played were a lot of explicit hip-hop beats. Pretty sure an eight-year-old doesnt need to hear about grinding on hoes at an ice rink. I cant imagine ever going back... read more

It's been ages since I've been on the ice. I use to frequent the Iceplex all the time in my younger years especially to watch my friends play hockey. It's always nice to find something different to do on a Saturday night. I don't know how often they do open skates on Saturday evenings but I had a chance to check it out this weekend. Open skate started at 7:30pm there were no lines and for $11 you get skates and a couple of hours of fun and exercise. Young kids working the skate rental weren't the friendliest but not a big deal. I got my skates on and was ready to hit the ice. Luckily this night was pretty empty so it was a perfect chance to get comfortable on the ice again without being bombarded by people. I wish they would have zamboni'd the ice before open skate, it was obvious they just had a hockey game before we arrived, and the ice was a little choppy. There were a lot of families and kids pushing buckets learning to skate. Overall a pretty tame night on the ice and I really enjoyed it. After ten years of being off the ice I think I might take this sport up again. My friend takes adult lessons here and they are reasonably priced. Ice skating is great exercise! I can't wait to come back again soon. **There are also a lot of adult hockey leagues and pick up games here if hockey is your sport. read more

It would be a gross understatement to say that I'm not much of an athlete, but ice skating happens to be one of the only physical activities in which I have any sort of natural skill. That said, I'm always trying to convince people to go with me, and there are actually several ice skating rinks in the Triangle. The Iceplex isn't my favorite, mostly because they host so many practices and events that it's hard to find a time when it's open to the public. The weekends are the only time that I can really go, and they're open to the public for like two hours on Friday night and two and a half hours each on Saturday and Sunday. It's just not really worth it for me to drive 30 minutes and pay a $7 admission price (plus $2 for skate rental) for two hours of skating. The facility is well-maintained and they offer a ton of lessons and classes, but if you just want to free skate and play around for a little while, you're better off visiting one of the Ice House locations. read more

Of all the ice rinks in the area, this is the best (for me)... The Iceplex is about 15 minutes away from where I live, *right* off the beltline on the other side of Raleigh. I currently play in two leagues there and can't complain much about anything. The only real thing that comes to mind was last season (Summer '09) they were lackadaisical with the stats. Normally I wouldn't care, but a large portion of our $3500 team fee is allocated to these statistics. Also, entire games never appeared in the system, now thats a problem. I'd like to think that the complaining I did to Russ fixed the problem, and this season has been much improved. The staff is nice, fun to hang around. Russ runs the leagues and does a fair job officiating. I'd say that in the last 2 years, questionable calls have bounced each way - which is about all I can ask. Now the most important factor, the ice. I'm quite pleased to say that it stays in about the same condition year round. Occasionally after a general skate I kill myself on the jagged ice while sprinting (not really, I suck) to the loose puck. But all-in-all the ice is good. Its certainly WAY better than the Cary Ice House where at times they have had the sublayer concrete exposed in the corners (yes, that is correct). A lot of guys on my team rave about the Factory in Wake Forest. This is another great establishment, but its location puts it outside of the amount of travel I would like to do for games (hence the parenthetical "for me" above). So Iceplex it is! read more

We did hockey camp there and it was incredible I recommend coming here changing rooms are okay in room 2 the bathroom is weird when you flush the toilet the shower water comes out read more

I came down here when my sister was graduating from Duke in Durham. I came down to the Sticks and Pucks session for $8 on a Friday morning. A couple thoughts; first, the ice arena wasn't terribly crowded. I got there shortly before noon and the people who wanted to do Sticks-n-Pucks were already on the ice. The people at the front were very cool and obviously allows the guys to get on the ice even sooner than scheduled. Nontheless, we got the full 90-some minutes on the ice, which is the best deal that I've seen in awhile down here at least south of the Mason-Dixon. I mean, $8 to get on the ice for 90 minutes is much better than $10-$15 that you may pay for an equivalent amount of time in some other places. The quality of the ice was also pretty good, no complaints there. They like to play their 80s and 90s rock music, which made me feel like I was Patrick Swayze in Youngblood, minus the mullet. I just have a feeling that this kind of music was written for hockey and for rinks like this (It just had a distinct 80s feel to the whole atmosphere). The locker rooms were a bit small, at least compared to what I have been used to. There isn't much of a pro-shop either, aside from a couple vintage jerseys available for purchase (It's no Perani's, but few places are). Overall, It's not a fancy rink by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you're a passer-by or someone looking to get some ice time, check out the IcePlex for sure. read more

We were invited here to attend a birthday party for a 4 year old. My son was very excited and did have a good time. A few things they can improve upon for those wishing to have a party there, especially during free/public skate would be to cordon off an area for the party goers. Especially if they are small. Also, it would be helpful to know the smallest size the skates come in (childrens 8), as I had my two year old with me and she could not skate. The rink is big and the people working there are friendly enough. Enough that we will be back to get on the ice again. read more

It's a nice sized rink. I took my daughter a few weeks back to try skating to see if she would like it. They have stacks of plastic buckets which you can lean on to help if you aren't used to the ice which she found helpful. I signed her up for lessons which she likes. My wife signed up for lessons too and she's enjoying going as well. It's an OK atmosphere - not bad, not overly festive. I'd say if you want to have a good time skating this is a good choice. read more

Okay so I have been Ice skating for about 25 years (in Wisconsin) so I know what to expect. For starters, the people at the skate rental booth was VERY RUDE, not only to me but to my children. The skates were old and beat-up to the point my son's foot was showing in the back. There was no area for food(many places I have been to had food) but they did have over-priced vending machines. As soon as we started skating about 35 mins in they had to clean the ice(which the place just opened 25 mins prior). They had no real skating support for the little ones just buckets that were broken. Overall- My children had fun just being on the ice and having this new experience. I just wish Raleigh Iceplex would clean this place up and stop charging people $8.00(plus $3.00 rental)per person for a 2 star facility. The way this place looks and is being operated they should only charge $5.00 for everything. read more

I love this place and go there all the time! I also do not see the reason for bad reviews. The staff may just be laid back, but they have been super-nice once you get to know them. I feel way more welcome here than any other rink. I have taken classes here and the people the people were more than helpful. It is always fun and the ice is usually good. I bring my own skates and I don't have much confidence in rentals. I have been going to this rink for years and love it! read more

Ugh, this place is pretty terrible. First off it is absolutely FREEZING in there, especially when it is cold outside. It is literally so much colder than it needs to be. Now I understand that ice rinks need to be cold in order for the ice to stay frozen, but there is absolutely no need to keep it as cold as they do. I've been ice skating in rinks much warmer and the ice is perfectly fine. It is not enjoyable to skate when I am numb. Secondly, this is supposed to be a fun place to take the kids, and it even advertises that it is a great place to come during track-out. Well when we took our track-out kids here for the open skate and they had a decent time but it was nothing special. There was no music playing, which I think is essential in an open skate. There were not enough buckets for the kids who didn't know how to skate to use, and the staff was getting very impatient when giving them their skates. I just feel that if they are going to make this an enjoyable place for kids, then there should be pleasant staff, a little bit of music and a much warmer rink. We will go back again with work because it is a cheap, easy field trip, but I would never go on my own to this rink. read more

Okay, not sure why all the bad reviews. First off, they have 3 different kind of skates. Hockey, and then two types of "figure skates". The blue ones which people claim are ratty have been around since I was a kid. I originally got the newer ones but opted to trade them out for the older blue ones after a few laps around the rink. The rental booth people simply asked why and after telling them the blue ones were stiffer and gave my ankles some extra support, they traded them out for me. No questions asked. The price of $8 to skate, + $3 to rent skates all tax already included is pretty decent. It's less expensive than our local Polar House. One thing that I didn't like was open skate was from 8-10. By the time we got there and got our skates on it was almost 9:15. 45 minutes to skate for $22 is kinda expensive when you consider other comparable 45 minute activities. However, that was of no fault but our own so I can't knock them for that. Just know, get there 20 minutes before open skate so you have time to pay, get skates, and get them on. Another thing I didn't like was that by the time we got there and got on the ice, there were some places that were already pretty bad. The ice needed to be cleaned Bad! And the amount of people leaving trails with the buckets they provide to help you skate didn't help either. Although I am kind of glad that they didn't clean the ice while we were there because it would have knocked even more time off of us being able to skate. Overall it was a good experience. Staff was friendly and the other customers were friendly as well. read more

Probably one of the worst ice skating rinks in North Carolina. It took them 40 minutes to sharpen my skates, the staff would not answer my questions, and the ice was horrible. I would recommend going to another ice skating rink. read more

Had a party there for my 'tween daughter and 20 of her friends during public skate hours on Saturday. What great fun and so easy! The staff at the front desk were very nice and helpful, as well as the manager Cindy. I was a bit concerned about bringing such a large group on Saturday public skate, but it was not problem. I had the girls get there early so they could grab skates and go. They had a blast.! I spoke with Cindy about the music (as mentioned in an earlier review) and she said she does her best to bring new appropriate music. Music was "Pop" appropriate on the day we were there. Skates were fine, though I always recommend bringing your own. The buckets were available for those who weren't confident on the ice and are such a great idea. No wall hugging! The only suggestions that I would have is to keep the entire rink open during public skate. (About 1/3rd was cornered off for lessons.) Also, use the PA for fun things like special/birthday announcements. There was an engagement on the ice and it would have been fun to hear it announced over the PA. We've had a lot parties at different places and this was the most fun and not crazy expensive either. read more

The Iceplex is the best place to ice skate in the Triangle Area! Olympic size rink, very well maintained. We went to the Iceplex with a group of elementary age kids. Melissa, the Iceplex groups coordinator, made things very easy and fun for us. She gave us an interesting little science lesson, let the kids climb on the Zamboni for photos, and gave us a skating lesson. Then there was free skating time, with helmets and stackable buckets for the kids to lean on, making it the safest experience possible for first time skaters, which most of our kids were. The only down sides were that some of the skates were pretty beat up, and it was pretty chilly in the rink area, but we were forewarned to dress warm. Anyway, the kids had a blast! read more

Great rink - the only Olympic size rink in North Carolina. Prices are lower thank most in the area. The pro shop staff is very helpful ... overall highly recommended. read more

The employees there are assholes. The manager is a ass to anybody. The nicest people could get fussed out for the littlest thing. I was kicked out for over a week, just because I fell on the ice in front of the office. When I was trying to work on my skills. I do not recommend iceplex for any business. If you decide to go there I highly recommend not to. You just might get kicked out. read more

We are at the Ice Plex every week for hockey, stick and puck or public skate and we love the Ice Plex and the staff. The coaches for the U6 and U8 leagues teach the fundamentals, encourage good sportsmanship and make sure everyone gets plenty of ice time. We just had a birthday party for our son and could not have had a better experience! They provided good pizza, giant ice cream sandwiches, awesome goodie bags, a large cake and a lesson for our new skaters. They did all the set up, decorating, and clean up in a large party room and it simply could not have been easier! It's a super value for the price. Thanks to Dale, Cindy and Shawn for making it such a great experience! The rest of the staff is always friendly and helpful. They Zamboni the ice on a regular basis throughout the day and keep it in good condition for hockey, figure and public skating. They keep stacks of buckets on hand for new skaters to use to keep their balance which is not available at some of the other rinks in the area. They have both hockey and figure skates available. We've used both and have had no issues getting a pair to fit unlike other rinks we've visited. They also have a nice skate shop right at the rink for those things you just need when you're a skating parent. I highly recommend the Ice Plex for a fun family outing or a super birthday party! You can't go wrong! read more