The Wollman Rink
Written: Jan 24 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun, fun, fun
Cons: Chaotic
The Bottom Line: A New York must
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| gollygumdrops's Full Review: Central Park |
New York gets cold, very cold. It also gets windy which, when it's cold, makes it colder. You can either hide under the duvet some time in December and refuse to come out until April, or you can get out and make the most of the cold.
New Yorkers have two skating rinks in Central Park to help you make the most of the cold. The Lasker rink at the north end of the park converts from a swimming pool in the summertime. It is however, less popular, and less safe particularly at night than the Wollman Rink.
The Wollman Rink is one you've probably seen before, even if you've never set foot in New York City. It's the rink across which the baddies chased our hero in Home Alone 2, and is currently on the silver screen in the romantic comedy Serendipity. It is located at the south end of Central Park, between 62nd and 63rd Streets on the East side, just a short stroll from Bloomingdales. In the summer time its’ concrete base is used for in line roller skating.
The queues to get in can look pretty intimidating, particularly during the festive season when skating here is the thing to do, and the place to be seen. However the queue moves along at a fair old clip and you shouldn’t be waiting for more than an hour even on New Years. Security is surprisingly tight for a skating rink, with metal detectors, bag searches and pat downs.
The rink opened in 1950 following a gift from Mrs Wollman, but is now in the hands of Donald Trump. He last took it over in 1986 and put serious money into renovating it then. He plans on spending $4m on it over the next ten years, so expect some improvements. The first will, I hope be to the shoe handling facilities.
We picked up our rental skates (sensibly sized in European and British sizes so I didn’t have to order Side Show Bob size shoes), but this is not where you leave your shoes. This seems not only to create extra work, but must surely make it remarkably easy to steal skates. The skates are good, reasonably new and firm.
Your shoes should either be left in a locker, for which there are insufficient padlocks so very few are ever available, or handed in at the ‘pro shop’. Right now there is no pro shop, just a desk and an empty room. We queued only to be told that we needed a separate ticket for this and so should queue again. That wasn’t going to happen, so after a full and frank exchange of views the chappie on the counter took my money and our boots, giving us a receipt ticket.
The rink looks superb, with an excellent view of the New York midtown skyline, dominated of course by Mr Trumps tower. Christmas decorations further enhance the area. This year the people of Vermont sent a giant Christmas tree in memorial of those who died on September 11. It was decorated in patriotic red, white and blue with the extra significance of red ornaments to represent the firefighters, white ornaments represent the civilians, and blue ornaments for the police officers.
It’s a good sized rink, shaved every 90 minutes or so to ensure a top class skating surface, although the staff go on to quickly cut up the ice before each session. It took me the best part of an hour to inch around the outside of the rink, taking itty bitty baby steps, but my happy skating companions whizzed around safely as there is a strict one way policy to minimize accidents. Skating guides are on hand to rescue people splatted on the surface and to calm down racers and lunatics.
It’s a superb place to meet people if you are a poor skater, just lock onto someone cute looking and skate right into them. What better way to start a conversation than thanking someone for rescuing you? Music plays day and night, and the evening have a definite romantic air.
Off the ice there’s a small café selling hot and cold snacks and drinks, and this only gets really busy when the ice is cleared for scraping.
The return of the shoes was a stressful experience. We joined a giant queue back at the ‘pro shop’, only to hear rumours that our shoes could be returned, but the queue was for dropping off shoes. I left a companion in line whilst I headed up to the front. The rumours were true. No extra shoes could be dropped off because they had no more bags to put them in! Having taken huge amounts of abuse for queue jumping I explained to my main tormentor that if I got my shoes back he could get the bag they were stored in and stow his shoes. This caused a mini rebellion, and I apologise to anyone who was hurt in the ensuing stampede.
Handing over my ticket I waited while being stared down by an angry mob. After 10 minutes, laddo came back and asked if I could help him find our shoes! I went back in the storage area to find bags and bags of shoes piled high on the floor. No, they hadn’t used any numbering system. They had just dumped the shoes. At this stage walking home in ice skates seemed like a smart idea. Eventually I found our boots, having resisted the temptation to try on some of the more spangly ones available!
Shoe storage aside I’d wholeheartedly recommend a trip to the Wollman rink for an unforgettable New York experience.
Hours: October through April
Mon, Tues 10am-3pm
Wed, Thu 10am-10pm
Fri-Sat 10am-11pm
Sun 10am-9pm
Pricing: October through April
$7.50 for adults ($8 on weekends and holidays)
$3.75 for seniors and children under 12
$3.75 skate rental
$2.75 lock rental + deposit $4
Phone number
(001) 212 439 6900
Web Site
http://www.wollmanskatingrink.com/
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
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Epinions.com ID:
gollygumdrops
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Location: Slicker, Dishevelled, Pursuits
Reviews written: 74
Trusted by: 85 members
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Do something nice for yourself today.
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