Carolina Ice Palace

Very nice, and real cheap for military! Great way to just let loose and warm up the legs. Skates are decent and well kept, the rink is smooth and fresh, though the bathrooms can get a little nasty. Still, very happy there's a rink in the area! They offer plenty of support beams for the new skater, and it's not so crowded which I think is a great thing.

I had never been ice skating before and was REALLY nervous. I'm really good at roller SKATING (not blading) but was coerced by friends.  We got a $2 off military discount, and skate rental is included in the price.

You trade in your shoes for skates and they also held my purse back there w/ my shoes for me. You can see everything back there so you know they're not going through it stealing anything, but then again you shouldn't keep your valuables with strangers anyways!  Anyway, I got my skates on with some help from friends and I waddled my way back to the rink for the first time ever wearing ice skates.  I got on the ice and WOAH.  It is not as easy as it looks!!!  Well after a few times around the ice, we finally tracked me down a walker!

The only complaint I had is that there were a lot of kids using adult sized walkers so those of us that needed one had to wait quite a long time to get one because so many kids were taking the big ones instead of ones their size.

Well once I got myself a plastic walker I was flying high!  I had a lot of fun here. I only fell once and the girls working came over right away to make sure I was ok! The staff was very friendly.

since I am clearly a skating novice, I can't say anything about the state of the ice or anything, except that once it gets rough it's tough, but I didn't really have any complaints! I'll be back for public skating.

The only ice skating rinks in the area that offer public skating times.  Snack bar for the kiddies, Penalty Box Lounge for the adults.  The bar food is pretty good - about what you'd get at an Fudruckers / Applebee's and beer is reasonably priced.  

As a hockey player and former rink rat, I have to bring this up on the condition of the ice:  The Zamboni drivers leave too much water on the ice when they cut it which makes it get rough too fast, this is more annoying for those of us who play hockey than it is for folks at a public skating session, but I just needed to vent.