Ice Skating at Grand West Casino, Cape Town

It was Sarah’s Birthday this weekend so we decided to try and go to Ratanga Junction for some gut churning and bad pizza, but unfortunately it was closed due to the weather..(it was bright sunshine) This does not bode well for the future of Ratanga Junction, seeing as we are in the middle of school holidays right now.

If you plan on going do check the website here, from a weather forecast although they don’t seem to pay attention to it themselves.

Instead we decided to check out the new ice rink at the Grand West Casino centre. My wife was born on the 7/7/77 and not a great day to visit the casino if you expect to find parking! So it was very busy and all the parents had dumped their kids in the ice rink/movies/coat check so they could get down to losing some money fast!

Apart from the gambling areas there are lots of things to do there. There is a replica of “The Castle” in strand street which houses a gigantic games centre with a mini roller coaster, dodgem cars and plenty of Chucky Cheese type amusements. We had a go on the out door go carts which were a bit slow for my liking, Talulah enjoyed them though.
There is also a large cinema and a mall style food court set under a highly trippy ceiling with clouds at dusk painted on it, which gave me an instant headache. Must be my catlike reflexes.

The ice rink is the rebuild of the original Goodwood ice rink, which has served Cape Town since the previous ice age and it was showing. It was much beloved, but looked like it would cave in at any moment. The new one is very swish indeed.

Entrance is between R15 and R30 depending on the session and if you have your own ice skates etc. The rental skates are good and don’t burrow into the marrow of your ankle bone.

There are the usual Torval and Deans, that zoom around the ice and freak everyone out, but there are plenty of helpful marshals to pick casualties up and zoom them to the first aid room. One poor girl fell on her face and spend a while separating her upper lip from her braces.

Grand West Casino is 15 to 20 minutes drive from Cape Town in the suburb of Goodwood, you can find a map here.