Wings Event Center – The Valley and The Zoo
3600 Vanrick DriveI hate missing my kids sporting events. Work sometimes gets in the way.
If I get a travel assignment, it’s really hard to turn down. There’s a lot of overtime involved in those assignments and it really helps pay for the sport that I was missing.
I got the opportunity to go to Boston last week for a quick assignment. We were only going to be gone three days but it also happened to be right during a really big figure skating competition for the kids.
I knew I was going to miss Friday. We would still be working at the same time that L was competing and fighting for a spot in to the National finals. I had my laptop set up to watch the live stream as we were working.
I really wanted to get home for the rest of the weekend though. L skated again at 8 AM Saturday morning. I couldn’t even catch a break and hope that she would be later in the day.
We left Boston around 2:30 PM. I asked my colleague if we could try to drive all the way home. I’d do all the driving but I told him if he felt to exhausted to continue, book a hotel room and we’d stop.
We made it all the way.
I got in to bed at 5 AM Saturday morning and my alarm was set to go off at 7:05 AM. I just needed to close my eyes for a couple of hours.
I got up a little after 7, got B up, stopped at Dunkin’ to get him breakfast and then we headed to the rink.
This all worked out because we were hosting the competition. Last Chance for Solo Dance.
The competition was supposed to be at Wings West but there’s some issues there right now so we moved the competition over the Wings Event Center. Not the main arena though. There was NuWay Combat event there.
We took over The Valley and The Zoo.
The Valley and Zoo rinks are part of the Wings Event Center Complex. Both of these rinks were added on much later. The Valley, which was known as the Annex at the time, was added in 1989. The Zoo, originally known as The Cube, was added in 1997. Both spaces can operate independently of the main arena and they’re both a couple of hidden gems when it comes to ice sports in the area. Instead of going through the main doors, doors 1 and 10, you actually go to the north where there is a walk way that leads you to doors 7 and 12 and get you in to the two additional rinks.
The door system can be kind of confusing to people visiting the rink for the first time but all of the doors are pretty clearly labeled and there are wayfinding signs near the arena so you get to the right places.
We typically use The Valley when we use this rink for practice. That entrance is Door 7. If takes you into a lobby area between the arena and The Valley. This is typically the main entrance for ice sports using these rinks.
For the competition, we were using Door 12 as the entrance. The sign here is for The Zoo but it actually brings you in to “The Overlook.” There is another entrance that leads you right to a set of stairs that takes you straight down to ice level but those are almost always locked unless the rink is being used for curling.
The Overlook is a huge lobby area and was perfect to use for competition. There was plenty of space for registration, awards, several vendors and plenty of room to sit and hang out outside of the rinks.
There are windows with rail seating that looks out in to the overlook. This was a pretty popular spot to do make up and hangout throughout the weekend. It’s out of the way but it’s still a comfortable spot to sit.
The Zoo rink has been used almost exclusively for curling for the last ten years or so. It’s an NHL sized rink and there is a little bit of seating in there if it needs to be used for hockey. We used this rink for practice ice all weekend while the competition was held on The Valley.
The Valley rink is also an NHL ice sheet. This one has a pretty big seating area though. There are just under 1400 seats in a bleacher style set up. This rink is used for hockey, figure skating and even K-Wings practices when the arena is being used for something else.
Access to The Valley for spectators comes from the lobby areas. There are doors from The Overlook but there is also a pretty large lobby area with large windows that overlook the rink. There are pub style tables set up along the windows. During practice times, the skaters take over this area with bags and parents typically sit at the tables. You can watch practice without having to go in to the cold rink.
We didn’t really use this rink a lot until Wings West went down this summer. My kids actually love skating here though. They both say the ice feels better and the sound system is way better than West. Music is so important to figure skating and they have so many speakers in this rink that it sounds good from anywhere in the rink.
The Valley has a it’s own concession stand. It’s pretty similar to what you’d find in the arena.
The menu is pretty typical concession stand food. Candy, popcorn, pretzels, etc. The usual. They also have beer which I somehow didn’t get the entire weekend. I think I was too tired all weekend to even think about getting a beer.
Other than drinks, we hit the concession stand several times for B. He just can’t pass up the candy. I would typically get the large Coke. I was on two hours of sleep on Saturday so I really needed some caffeine. The cost for that was $5.
B got a couple of the Icee’s each day. I think he typically asked for the lemonade flavor. These were $6.
We also ate a couple of times. It was easier than leaving for food and there were signs all over that we weren’t allowed to bring outside food in like we typically do at competitions.
B really liked the cheeseburgers. They were really simple concession stand type cheeseburgers. They come plain but there is a condiment bar right next to the concession stand to top as you’d like. The cost for the cheeseburger is $11.
I would go for the chicken tender basket. This item was two chicken tenders and fries. The tenders were just frozen tenders in a bag but man, they tasted good. The fries were the same but I was so hungry at the times that I ordered these that everything tasted so good. The cost for the tender basket was probably the best deal at $7. There was a lot of food and it would usually hold me over until I had to make a run to get something for someone else.
The Nest is another feature in The Valley rink. Many years ago, it was a Burdick’s but they closed that down around the time J and I went to our first K-Wings game not long after moving here. Now it’s used as a private party space and, for our competition weekends, the judges room.
We were a little bummed when the competition had to be moved from Wings West to The Valley but this actually worked out way better than we could have imagined. There is so much room at The Valley and The Zoo and the amenities are great. We won’t be able to host this competition at The Valley next August because there isn’t usually ice in this early. It worked out really well this year as Wings makes repairs to West. We’re actually hosting Solo Dance Nationals next year and had planned to do it in the arena but now there’s talk of moving it to The Valley because this was such a great place to host a figure skating competition. It works great for the fans, the competitors, the judges, and everyone else invloved. We’re lucky to have such a great facility in Kalamazoo.
SW Michigan Dining 
Trackbacks