We received alerts on our mobile phones yesterday evening that Seoul was expecting heavy snowfall that was going to start late night. That was very welcomed news for us: because we’ve been in Seoul for a week now and only seen traces that the city had seen snowfall. As it was, there was light snowfall at least in the part of Seoul city we were. We want our money back LOL.
In any case, we wanted to find an opportunity for the kids to try ice skating, and there are at least several such facilities in Seoul. We’d initially researched and settled on trying the activity at the Olympic Park Ice Skating Rink on Day 16. The price per person, including rental of gear, was 4,000 won. However, we were unable to find information on when the Olympic Park rink was opened. So we went for our alternate venue: the Seoul Plaza Skating Rink – which is centrally located at City Hall station, and just one stop from Seoul Station.
The Seoul Plaza rink charges just 1,000 won per person, including rental of the skates, with the first hour of helmet rental included: that’s practically free admission. I assume that since the Seoul Plaza rink has been in operation since 2004, either they have found a way to be profitable through sheer volume as their pricing significantly undercuts the Olympic Park rink, or the costs of operation is possibly subsidized by Seoul city. In any case, the missus had read reviews that the equipment at this rink was old, hence she’d earlier on decided to try for the Olympic Park instead.
Our recce of the Seoul Plaza rink on Day 14 afternoon showed large crowds at the activity. We read later that the rink had just opened on the 20 Dec this year and will be opened for 52 days. We were also surprised to see that the rental gear looked pretty new and at least in very good condition. We’d arrived at an hour that ticketing was closed, and back at the hotel last night were unable to complete online reservations either. So, we decided to chance it early on Day 15 morning to see if we could get admitted for one of the morning slots. We got lucky: we arrived at 9:50AM, and was able to get in the opening hour slot of 10AM.
This was our first time trying out ice skating. Our comments!
There are two rinks: the normal one for most persons, and a smaller rink that is designed for beginners and children. This rink involvesa separate charge of 4,000 won, for additional learner gear, and we saw several adults learning there too.
The missus and both children all said that ice-skating was really tough, and each lost balance several times and landing on their butts. I decided to opt out of the activity: at my age, it’s hard to get up when I fall! We all admired those persons who knew how to skate, and were literally going circles round everyone else who was learning and struggling!
There are several staff in the rink, and the missus was especially appreciate that they were very watchful, and readily zoomed in the assist guests as needed. They also spoke English, which helped a lot as the daughter had a particularly nasty fall towarsd the end of our time block, and directed us to the first aid station to get assistance. Staff in the latter also spoke English and passed us pain relief cream (FOC) to help.
In all, this is also a recommended must do when you’re wintering in Seoul. The costs of giving the activity a beginner’s try is next to thing at 1,000 won per person. Do be mindful that you should try to book a slot online though, and if not, go early to queue up and get the slot you want. Beyond that, be prepared to fall until you get the hang of it!