Skate the Sky

We recently visited the rooftop ice-skating rink at Ponce City Market in Atlanta, and while there were definitely some highlights, the overall experience left us feeling pretty disappointed. First, the good stuff—the view from the rooftop is amazing. Beyond the ice-skating, there are fun family activities like mini-golf and games, which add to the festive vibe. The ice-skating itself was a fun and unique experience, especially being up high with such a great backdrop. Now, onto the not-so-good part. We had a reservation and arrived on time, but they still made us stand in line for quite a while. By the time we made it up the elevator, got our skates on, and hit the ice, 15 minutes of our skating time had already passed. To make things worse, they didn’t let us make up the lost time, and we were actually asked to leave the ice early. What was supposed to be a full hour of skating turned into maybe 30 minutes at best. The staff was not accommodating at all, and it felt like they just didn’t care about the experience they were offering guests. To add to the frustration, the website didn’t mention anything about arriving early. They made it seem like you’d be able to walk right in at your reserved time, but clearly, that’s not how it works. Overall, while the rooftop and activities are cool, the lack of organization and customer service left a bad taste in our mouths. If you plan on going, arrive at least 20 minutes early, and manage your expectations about how much actual time you’ll get on the ice. It’s a fun idea, but the execution needs some serious improvement.

It is a fun place, there is a game room, a bar, there are restaurants, the ice rink is small but super special, and everything is on the roof of the shopping center, ample parking. And in the December season the igloo are super special. If you go to Atlanta don't miss it.

So you pay for both access to skating and the skyline park, and they're both so fun! It's definitely for beginner skaters, but since we're in the South most people don't skate a lot, so it's a lot of fun. The rink is a little small but fit everyone fine. It's nice they sold hot drinks there too. I loved the park bit with the golf and games, however the slide was closed. To be fair it was extremely cold so I don't know if it was because of that. It was still a ton of fun. Food and drinks were ridiculously expensive but we ate dinner elsewhere before so we didn't need to buy anything. I loved it and so did my partner.

It was $300 for the igloo rental and dinner. (Not including alcohol) the dinner was okay there wasn’t anything wrong with it but it wasn’t anything special. Definitely not worth $100. The server was extremely nice and did a great job. However there was nothing to do. The igloo had nothing inside of it other than chairs and blankets and there was an ice skating rink but that was it. It was over priced for what you get honestly. Inside the building had some games like uno and Jenga, super boring. Also the ice skating rink is really small and not well maintained. The igloo smelled extremely strong like plastic as well like they didn’t let it air out. Just don’t waste your money.

This place and the staff were awful. Me and my friends went to go ice skating, not knowing that this place also had games that you could play too. So first we had to pay $15 just to go up to the top of the deck to not do anything but sit there, and you had to pay $15 to skate and play games. We got on the ice at around 8:15 and were forced to get off at 8:50 for them to “clean the ice”. They did not even clean the ice, people got on immediately. So we decided to play the games that we were promised, we get to the lobby to find out the games were closed at 9pm! We ended up spending $30 just to skate for 35 minutes! Do not come here unless you want to waste your money.

Don’t buy an 3pm igloo and expect to use much of your skating time window (3-3:50). The admissions office OPENS at 3pm. So, you have to wait in line, get your wristbands and finally make it up to the roof (~30min). At about 3:40, we get on the ice... enjoy your 10-15 minutes of ice skating. It really felt a bit like a scam. Logistically, the Skate the Sky operation needs some help. Food and hot chocolate, included with the igloo reservation were ok, but certainly not timely. Overall, I think the $ spent on this experience could be better used for a really nice dinner at an upscale restaurant. Overall, I would not recommend this for the amount of money charged. The whole thing should be revamped to keep the customer’s experience in mind.

Getting to the roof was entirely too difficult. None of the elevators allow you to go up without an escort which is ridiculous because then you have to track down an escort to bring you up. We went on an entire maze around ponce for half an hour until an escort finally came down and allowed us up. By the time we got up there our Igloo time was up. I was very annoyed and don’t think I want to go to Skyline again if it takes that much of a hassle to get to the roof. It should be simple. You get on the elevator, you press the floor you want, the elevator takes you there. End of story.

The rink is much smaller than I expected. For $30 you can ice skate for 50 minutes (on a tiny rink), play mini golf (on a tiny course), and play carnival games that you have little chance of winning! If you shoot hoops, you might have a chance at the basketball one. There's also a tall slide and a "tower" ride where you pull your own selves up with some kind of pulley. You can take pictures of the city from there, and then you slowly glide down. $30 might be worth it only for kids who will have fun skating. The skates are made from cheap hard plastic. Mine had definitely seen better days. Adults may find the price not worth it.