I've been going here practically every week since I moved to Baton Rouge in 2013, and haven't stopped since. Some weeks it would be back to back days non-stop. So you could say I have some experience with this place, spite my age. (Also I decided to write a more UPDATED review since a lot of the reviews are from 2020, with the exception of 1 or 2.)
To start off, this place isn't the nicest visually. If your just here to skate, or to bring your kids and enjoy the playground have at it. Not to mention the pretty big laser tag room they have as well, that I feel not many people know about. This place has been open well over a decade, and it doesn't make it any better that the government just decides not to fund places like these, leaving the facility to souly live off of people coming there. As well as covid tanking the amount of people they can have their at a certain time, you can say that they really cant renovate as much as I'm sure they want to. They have some rundown places, and I can agree that the arcade could definitely use a revamp, but if your complaining about a place that has a run down arcade, but you only came there to skate? I'd suggest going to Main event. The skate floor is very well kept together though, and I couldn't really say anything about it. Its by far the smoothest surface I can skate on. The rental skates are kind of bad I can agree with that. I doubt the get new ones, as to why I suggest everyone that goes to buy even a cheap pair of skates if you plan on going their more than just one time.
Moving away from that, the staff and management as a whole are nice people. They can help you with anything you are looking for, and they don't take foolishness to lightly. For an example, in the past 2 years, they've added 3 security guards and you now get your bags checked before you walk into the facility. To say they don't care about the people they house in there, is definitely a stretch. They care about your safety just as much as you do yours. The time it takes to get into the place does depend on what day of the week you go, and when you get there. Me personally, I can only talk about Friday - Sunday as that is the only days I've ever gone. To start off with Friday, they are open from 7:00P.M. - 10:00P.M. They are pretty packed on Friday nights, as a lot of teens go there on Fridays. But, if you get there 15 - 30 minutes before they open, you should be the line. So instead of waiting 30 minutes after they open to get in, you would only wait 30 minutes before they open, making sure you get the most out of your skating time. Now with Saturdays its a little different as they open, close, then open back up again following the Covid-19 procedures. They open from 1:00P.M. - 4:00P.M. and then close for an hour, and open back up from 5:00P.M. - 8:00P.M. Now if you are wanting to get a spot for Saturday, you won't have to worry when it comes to the 1:00P.M. - 4:00P.M. times, as its moderately low in capacity at this time. The only times you have to worry about is the 5:00P.M. - 8:00P.M. sessions. This is there most packed sessions out of the 4 days they are open a week, and you definitely want to get there 30 minutes before they open minimum to secure yourself a spot in line. Other than that, Sundays aren't packed, and its mostly families that go on Sundays. But if your looking to have a fun time and possibly meet some people, definitely go on a Friday or Saturday night.
Now as I hear some people have a problem with the speed skaters, and are concerned for the safety of not only themselves but other children. Now I'm going to be 100% transparent and say this is there biggest safety issue. As me myself being a speed skater, I have hit countless people, and have been hit by other people as well. I've ran into walls going faster than you could imagine, but thankfully walked away. One thing I can say on behalf of the speed skaters, is that we do care for the people we skate around. If we hit someone, I can guarantee we won't just leave you there on the floor. 9 times out of 10 we would turn back around, apologize and help you up, as we don't like to just bully people to the floor because we flew past them going faster than they are. Keeping that in mind, the speed skaters are Skate Galaxies most loyal customers. So for them to just completely take the fun out of our skating, and or kick us out would definitely damage their image. I'm also not saying that what speed skaters do is 100% okay either, I do believe we take things to the next extreme when it comes to "having fun" at the skating rink. We swerve in and out of people, jump over people, going 15+MPH etc etc. I will say on behalf of my self and others, we truly do care about you guys and the ones around us, and we take precautions every time we touch the skate floor.
Keeping all of this in mind, this is a really awesome place. I wish I could've wrote everything I wanted, but this sums up just the basics of Skate Galaxy! read more