Chaparral Ice

I was skeptical of this place after reading the reviews posted on Unilocal and google about how its dirty and the ice is in poor condition. Here’s the deal, I played Ice Hockey in Ohio for years before coming to Texas. In Ohio there is a rink in every 15 mile radius from 1 rink, to 4 per location. If you want to play hockey, or your child wants to play hockey, this is your only option and it’s way better than the option I had as a teenager. The fact they have a gear shop and a league for every level of player is absolutely incredible considering we are in central Texas. The ice is amazing except some color showing through from the worn sand below the ice. Its cold? um… hello… its an ice rink. It smells bad? Well water literally touches everything inside that place so they’re doing a great job, compared to dozens I’ve been to up north. If i get wet and sit in my car once I have to smell that for a week. This place is beyond what I expected after reading reviews. The only place I’ve been to that is generally (all things considered) better than this place, was in downtown Cincinnati. If you want to skate every now and then but have a list of issues with this particular location, then maybe roller skating is for you. Some of the comments about the ice are pretty funny. The ONLY thing I would say about it is the rented skates should be sharpened more, but I’d say that about EVERY public ice rink. I refuse to rent skates, so I bought my own. For a beginner I’d say rented skates are probably better. That being said Dan Graesser is the man. If you want to give ice skating a solid chance, talk to him. You can get private lessons, group lessons, learn to play hockey, and get the lay down of every single piece of gear here. If you want to seriously get into it, even just to the point you want to come every Sunday, talk to Dan.

Brought my family here for a holiday outing. It gets stars for location, price, and service/​hours. It was easy to get to, easy to get in, and easy to just jump on the ice. It loses stars because they didn’t have skates in sizes for me nor my brother. We had to wear skates 1 size too small and our feet hurt SO much. We had to leave the ice early.

It’s an ice skating rink. Nothin’ too fancy fancy. Family friendly. They have lockers for 50 cents and a nice lil fireplace. The $ 4 off Unilocal deal is nice, too.

Pretty over crowded and kind of depressing to be honest. But it’s the only skating place around so I really can’t complain. Never got around to skating unfortunately too many people and the line never moved.

I recently went to Chaparral in Austin and was rather disappointed.. .. So very many reasons too! Where to begin? (one star for being available ice, one star because if all you want is to escape the outdoor heat and say you had been on the ice– here ya go!)
The ice is in bad condition. The zamboni helped– but they would need to run it twice as often to maybe have ‘good’ ice due to the poor conditions. Sadly that wouldn’t help the sad overall feeling.
Honestly the whole place is kind of run down and sad. It’s crammed into what seems like a small hole in the wall. The lighting is very poor and dim.
I’ve been to much nicer ice rinks — but sadly this seems to be the only public skate in Austin. As such it seems to me the management may feel they can get away with ’ whatever ’ because — who would know the difference? (and where else can one go?)
An example of this is that the skates our group rented seemed not to have well maintained blades. The girl at the counter seemed bewildered when a member of our group inquired about a replacement pair and stated that the blades needed sharpening. (The girl suggested the individual just needed to signnup for lessons, not that the pair of skates in question were nicked and lacked good edges) We are well aware that rental skates always pale in comparison to ones personal skates– and were not looking for much, just not teaspoons strapped to boots. (For reference the skater in question is a proficient experienced skater who non longer needs to retain personal equipment.)
Also there are no employee’s clearly on the ice monitoring the activities.
The single file line through the only entrance, which was partially blocked off was inefficient and slow moving. When a member of our group needed to retrieve an item from a vehicle she had to wait in the long line again as the right side of the door was blocked off. (Had it been myself, i would have just rearranged the blockade and walked through as we had already paid and donned wrist bands but she was too polite for that.) The whole set up is poorly and inefficiently concocted.
I realize that Austin is not a hotspot for figure skaters, or hockey players but frankly this rink is just sad– and if this is an Austinites only exposure to ice skating it is no wonder it lacks popularity in Austin (climate aside).
I would hesitate in placing someone in lessons at this location– because unless the ice is significantly & miraculously different during private ice times, it is unlikely one would achieve optimal results. There’s my raw .02

This rink is on the end of a strip mall and can be hard to find if you have never been here. While I don’t think the rink itself is temporary, it sure has that feel to it. The ice is thin and worn, which is unfortunate for anyone who takes classes here. Really it’s all Austin has to offer, but I’ve seen and skated much nicer ice.
There isn’t a concession stand, which is kinda lame for the kids. I will say that it’s nice to have figure skates as rentals instead of hockey skates. My daughter skates much better on those. There is a nice fire place in the middle, but the entire wait area is about 45 degrees, so dress warm if yo aren’t skating. Since it’s the only choice we get. We will come back in a bind, but prefer the ice at north woods in San Antonio.

Pro: Nice to get out of the 104 heat! That’s it. Cons: smells like feet! DIRTY, Rude lesbian at front desk is very condescending and generally miserable… not sure I wouldn’t be too, everything is run down, dangerous for young kids, walked in pro shop to buy skates and the dude walked out LOL! Very busy though, I will be researching costs to open proper facility tonight!

Bring a coat, gloves, and a hat… especially if you’re not skating. YOU WILL FREEZE! There’s a fireplace in the waiting area, but I’ve never seen it on. A past reviewer commented on the slow process of admission, thankfully they’ve sped that up. It’s now just a colored wrist band.

Be sure to bring a hoodie or long sleeve shirt, socks, and jeans. The customer service was okay. Not friendly but not rude either, but what I would like to make clear is that it is pretty dirty. :/​Its hard to miss the gunk underneath the ice on the edge.
I arrived on a Saturday, and as I was walking in, there were people laying down on the floor or sleeping. I wasn’t sure what that was about. ?? It was the first time I went ice skating. I did think that there were a lot of people, but I still had plenty of space to try it out.
I don’t know if I will come back. The only thing I did like was that you could skate until closing. You can pretty much be there all day.

The whole place is pretty dingy and, I’m no expert, but the ice doesn’t seem very well maintained. There don’t seem to be rules or anyone monitoring the rink during the public skate. Kids skating the wrong way are unnerving for novices. However, it’s cheap fun.

The party coordinator (Mindy) was so super helpful in making my daughter’s 8^th birthday party a huge success! We arrived early to set-​up with no hassle and were allowed to keep our space until public skating hours were over. Mindy was very accommodating, even plugging in our coffee maker for hot cocoa in her office!
The ice has been newly replaced and the rink looks great! The instructors were very patient with our group of inexperienced skaters and made it enjoyable for everyone!
Great place for a fun day out on the ice, an even BETTER place for a summer birthday party.

Not sure if this place deserves even one star. It is absolute chaos, and the fact that they expect to be successful having hundreds of people there taking lessons at the same time is just ridiculous. They should be ashamed by the condition of some of the children’s rental skates.
Last Saturday they had ONE person doing check-​in for all classes, and recommended that people arrive 30 minutes early for a 30 minute class. We arrived 40 minutes early, and barely made it. Disorganization on a grand scale. We will not make the mistake of wasting more time and money on this place. Rude instructors, horrible equipment, and huge crowds. No thanks.
Do not give them your money until they can properly maintain the place and equipment, and have a better (less crowded) environment for paying students to actually learn.

As with every shared resource in a city, you have to be very opportunistic and time your visit so you get the best experience. Here are some user tips from a regular weekend user:
1. If you want to avoid the crowds, go on weekdays during the public sessions (this is not possible if you work office hours) or weekends earlier in the session. The public skating times are posted on their website (hours shift slightly so always check before going). The lines always seem to form on the weekends after lunch time. So go early.
2. Find out when the ice is cleaned (just ask the front desk). The Zamboni takes 15 minutes to clean the ice, so you can lace up as it is cleaning. Then, hit the ice the VERY moment it is cleaned, so that you won’t have to suffer the dirty ice that people speak of. The ice gets dirty very fast as the kids love carving it up the moment it is cleaned. Within the first 10 minutes after it is cleaned, the ice is already very rough.
3. Especially in the summer it is not crowded and it is the perfect place to camp out when Austin is over 100 °F. In the winter it gets crowded as people start getting into a holiday winter mood.
4. Adult beginner lessons: the teacher is very supportive of adult beginners and you can practise as much as you like before or after lessons during the public skating sessions. There are enough beginners of all ages and levels (after all this is Texas not Canada) so you won’t feel awkward.
This is not a luxury place, but it’s not a snobby place either. Do I wish that we had a luxury ice-​rink a la Rockefeller Center in Austin? Yeah. But it’s Austin. And if you have your own skates, it’s only $ 6 to get in, so you get what you pay for. And Rockefeller Center is even more crowded.
This is definitely better skating than the tiny crowded rink at Whole Foods headquarters!

If you have young kids don’t bother going here. If they don’t already know how to skate don’t bother. They have equipment that would help but won’t let you use it. They’ll quip back that you should take lessons after they’ve already taken your money. Oh and no refunds.
I’d rather go roller skating at Skateland where they actually have customer service.
If I could give less than one star I would.

Not much choice when it comes to ice for hockey players/​teams.
The ice is in bad shape and the rink itself is possibly one of the dirtiest places on earth. I don’t think this place ever gets cleaned. Whose idea was it to put the name stickers all over everything? Horrible, makes the place look trashy. I guess if you’re the only game in town — who cares. I feel sorry for UT hockey and the other leagues that have to showcase this place when visiting teams come into town.

Went ice skating here several weeks ago. I went when it was empty on a weekday so the only rule they gave me pretty much amounted to not being a dumbass. It’s ice cold inside the rink so dress for Russian winter if you’re coming here. Staff was friendly, and someone would occasionally ask me if I was okay whenever I fell really hard — which happened a lot.
Would come again, nice price considering you have unlimited time there.

Had a great time with my girlfriend. It was just REALLY busy when we went and it was a little nerving to maneuver around all the little kids. Since it was busy though, there was free entertainment… HAHA
I also went for a private party with my fraternity and a sorority. We place broomball and it was pretty fun. A good social place for sure.

I recently had a birthday and wanted to treat myself to ice skating because I hadn’t done it in years (decades). As others mentioned in their reviews, the place was crowded on a Sunday afternoon with kinds (including a b-​day party). The ice hadn’t been smoothed for some time and the grooves made skating difficult at time.
I’m giving a three star rating because two seems a bit harsh given the fun I had.
Can’t say I was impressed, but it was a fun time. I’ll check out Playland next time!

Chaparal Ice is just OK for me. The people are totally friendly here, and while they are not totally broken, but they do need to make a couple of improvements, namely;
1.) LACK OF SPACE for changing, etc.
2.) eliminate the waiting in line to check in. Here check in is manual, and person needs to HAND WRITE a sticker that is then put on your kid.
On no. 1, they need to figure out how to keep people from putting their ‘stuff’ right in font of the communal benches. The definition of communal benches is defied here because most people who come here apparently believe that «Hey, if I put ALL MY KID’s SKATING SCHWAG RIGHT HERE… then NO ONE ELSE CAN USE IT!» For those of us who play by the rules of common decency, I find this to be a big nuasance.
On no. 2, these people need catch up to the technology of AT LEAST the last 20 years and get a barcode on membership cards (to allow people to scan in) — and then auto-​print a sticker that shows you paid for you or your kid.
This operation may be profitiable, but they are certainly NOT going to win any awards for Customer Service/​Experience!

Had a daily deal for 2-​person admission and skate rental for $ 12. Good deal! I’m glad that we got the deal and did not pay full price.
It was a Saturday, so there were lots of kids there. Ok, that’s to be expected, but they were skating the wrong way and one almost kicked my boyfriend in the face with her blade trying to do a trick! I was practically taken out TWICE by the same 6-​yr-​old girl! Where is the regulation, people? In fact, my boss broke her arm badly here. The reason why she fell? A child was skating the wrong way and tangled her up.
They did bust out the Zamboni in the middle of our skate, which made the ice more smooth. However, what was up with the music. They were playing the same 5 songs over and over, but sporadically. I made a beeline over to the Jukebox, but there was an error message on the screen. If I’m going to get my skate on, I at least need a steady stream of music!
Not a terrible experience, but not a good one either. I think it will be a while until I am tempted to skate again.