We do enjoy trying out new things in our local area! When there are new, kid-friendly events, we see if our children want to go and give it a shot. When I saw that Wheelie Roller Disco was coming to our area, I was interested! As a child, I spent a lot of time at a roller rink local to me, skating for years, but stopped when I was 14 or so. We have gone ice skating several times, which is very similar to roller skating in a lot of ways. Robin also got a pair of skates for Christmas a few years back, that she uses in the kitchen often, so she was pumped. Kai wanted to go to the gym and had no interest, and Amelia was cautions, but wanted to try something new.
The Wheelie Roller Disco had two different ticket prices; one with skate hire and one without. Robin brought her own skates, while Amelia and I rented. The actual venue was a school, where they had taken over a gymnasium, setting up some (very low) benches to get skates on or sit, a DJ booth, and lots of lights / projectors. This was a very good use of the space, though I had never been to a skate rink that didn’t have some sort of side bit to cling to, which we instantly knew would be a problem for Amelia, but we pressed on!
They had a variety of different sizes of skates, so it was easy to get a pair that fit us both. They also were selling some bottles of water (though they ran out quickly!) and crisps, at very reasonable prices. After they ran out of water bottles, they did give out cups and show people the water fountain, but we had our own water bottles so were all good. Once the skates were on, we started skating! Robin zipped about, as one would at her age, falling and getting straight back up. After a bit, I remembered how to skate and got into it too. Amelia did a very good job of skating a little bit at the start, but decided that she didn’t want to skate as it was difficult without the wall. The staff were very encouraging and gave a lot of tips to the new skaters, but Amelia ultimately decided she wanted to watch and listen to the music.
The DJ booth played a lot of fun music for kids, primarily from K-Pop Demon Hunter, but there were some games thrown in. YMCA, Get Funky, and the Macarena were all played with staff dancing along! They also set up a game of Limbo, which Robin went through about a dozen times, off towards the back. I do think the space was managed very well for what they had. There were a lot of younger children skating, and the lights were off for the majority of it, with the primary lighting coming from the neon lights along the side. This did make it a little hard to see, and towards the end, there were a lot of kids on the floor with their feet sticking into the “rink” which caused a few problems. I do feel after a few skate sessions this will be adjusted.
Overall, Robin had a fantastic time and has asked to come back again! Amelia said she liked coming, and might be more brave next time, and I had a blast. It really felt like something new, fun, and quite social too, even if it was a touch dark.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!
