SanTan
FAMILY FUN
April 4 - April 17, 2015
1
United skates: Childhood staple still a blast for families Story and photos by Kimberly Hosey
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What’s inside Page 2 SanTan Family Fun Calendar
Page 3 Calendar Listings
Page 4 Celebrate the ‘50s with the RAD sock hop
After some continued nagging (I mean, “polite asking”) from my son last month— and in a throwback to a staple from my childhood and that of many parents in the Valley—we went to Skateland for the first time. Like its Mesa location at 7 E. Southern Ave., Skateland Chandler at 1011 W. Ray Rd. offers regular family skate sessions on various days of the week—from times for younger kids and a chance to meet “Frozen’s” Elsa and Olaf to family skate, lightsout and late-night skating sessions. We chose a weekend family skate session, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. As we entered, we paid admission and purchased tickets to take to the rental counter for skates. Admission varies depending on the session; we paid $6.50 each. Roller skate rental is separate; skates are $3.50 while inline skates are $4 to $4.50 to rent. Because you buy the tickets at the admission window, it’s a good idea to know up front what you’re renting unless you want to make another trip through the front line. After renting our skates (it had been years for me and never for him, so we figured starting with inline skates might be pushing it), and taking a kid-appropriate amount of time to lace them up (read: forever), we finally hit the skating floor. My son is many things, but he’s not graceful. He teetered, shuffled and slowly rolled forward. “Bend your knees,” I told him. No dice. I zoomed past him, lapping him half a dozen times. (Waiting for him was too babyish, he said.) “Seriously, David. Lean a little forward, see, and bend your knees while you skate.”
David Hosey, 12, shows off tickets he won in the arcade at Skateland Chandler.
was smiles. It’s a little hard to stay sad when you’re zipping around with your friends, under colored lights and walls with blacklight murals, rocking out to “Let it Go.” My son, for his part, eventually started gliding—actually skating—around the rink. Awesome! Able to skate beside him and actually move forward, I asked him what made the difference. “See that lady over there?” he said, pointing to a skater who skated as though she was—and may have been—training for roller derby. “She told me to bend my knees.” Sigh. Fine. As long as he gets it. We skated a few more rounds, together this time. He turned out to be great at turns, and I “impressed” him by skate dancing to Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”—right before pinwheeling my arms and almost falling on my rear end. Dignity had nothing to do with it when my school trip skating partner accidentally ran me over, and dignity has nothing to do with it now. I think that might be how it always goes, when you’re renting footwear. So fun, in fact, that we decided to pay for the next session, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. In between, we hit Skateland’s arcade. The only downside we encounSkateland offers several birthday packages, with paper goods, pizza, soda, tered was that about half tokens, skating admission, a host, a trip to the DJ booth and more. Photo by the machines were out of Skateland Chandler order, but workers were happy to refund eaten toStill nothing. kens, and we were all over a skeeball game I skated what seemed like 100 laps, but and a “ticket jackpot” machine that paid off was probably only 15 or 20. Turns out I big-time for my son. Giant wad of tickets can literally skate laps around the average in hand, he hit the prize counter, where the 10-year-old skater, even if it did take me medium- to higher-ticket prizes are actually until my mid-30s. I seem to remember decent, and collected his bounty just in 10-year-old me spending an awful lot of time to start the next session. time on the This one was much like the last, but rink floor. with younger kids, and that was because of And most of these kids did too. Everythe theme. “Let it Go,” “Fixer Upper” and... one fell at least a couple times, except the “Mom, is that a dubstep of ‘Do You few experts who shame us all, and all I saw Want to Build a Snowman?’”
Roller skates and inline skates are available for rental at Skateland’s Mesa and Chandler locations.
I believe it was. Yep, “Frozen” was the theme of the session, complete with an appearance by Elsa and Olaf, who strolled around and posed enthusiastically with the kids, especially a couple birthday parties there especially for the theme and occasion. Birthday packages include a party host, admission, a trip to the DJ booth and moment at the mic for the birthday kid, pizza, soda, tokens and more. Skateland accommodates a wide range of ages, from slightly older geared parties for younger teens, to “Skate Mates” (available for rent for $5), skating aids for younger skaters new to the activity. Parents might have been a little worn out, but every child I saw, of any age, was having a blast. Yep, this is the Skateland I remember. The only difference was the songs, but I guess I have to get with the times. Skateland has locations in Chandler and Mesa, and their schedules are available online, including open skate sessions and special events. Skateland also offers lessons and special sessions for homeschooled students, adults and church groups and more. Kimberly Hosey is a freelancer for the SanTan Sun News. She can be reached at news@ santansun.com.