Pirates Cove Skating Rink S Orange Blossom Trl, Orlando, FL. Likely the location where the rink and Winn Dixie used to be. Source: Loop Net.
Pirates Cove Skating Rink S Orange Blossom Trl, Orlando, FL
Unrelated to the popular known miniature golf course with the same name in Orlando that is part of a chain, this one is Pirates Cove Skating Rink at South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, Florida.
And not related to that Disney ride and movies either! Savvy?
Pirates Cove Skating Rink was located in the Fairvilla Shopping Center (now known as Princeton Commerce Center) on Orange Blossom Trail and Princeton Street, from about 1975 - 1980. Fun fact, there was a bowling alley at the north end of the shopping center and a XXX theater at the south end. As kids, we would sometimes hang out at the bowling alley in between sessions on Saturday. We may have also hung out with our ear pressed against the side door of the theater. The skating rink was actually a converted Winn Dixie grocery store, and featured two concrete columns in the middle of the floor that you had to avoid hitting. It was only after the owner’s young daughter ran in to one of them headfirst that they put up thick pads to protect the rambunctious skaters. (She was fine)
Thank you Mark. (note, not me, another Mark! Haha).
This is what he told me in email along with 2 or 3 other rinks he found information and I found more. Thanks to him. This helped me to dig a little bit more.
I am glad the owner's daughter is ok. Good thing he put pads on. That is what I recommended since I started Dead-Rinks to put pads on posts, walls, and rails. If the trampoline places have pads all over, why not roller rinks? Safety! Pads will may help lower your insurance costs.
Two third of it was entertainment for the children and adults alike with a Triple X theater in the same plaza!? Bad mix. a Rotten apple in a barrel of good apples. Perhaps the operator of that plaza thought it is ok to have it as entertainment but that was a bad taste.
A Winn Dixie before that. Interesting. The plaza was built in 1957 according to Loop Net. Must be WD grocery store was there from 1957 to 1975. Not long by grocery store standards. 18 years.
I can see the plaza on Google Map that it is not doing too well. It is a dead plaza. Only 2 businesses are located in the plaza. Real sad.
The rink only operated for 5 years. If the grocery store and then the rink closed so soon, was it bad location? I see the neighborhood.. Must be retail and entertainment were not good location. For entertainment, most prefer to go to Disney World which was new at the time and in 1975..admission which was like 25 USDollars. I have my ticket stub somewhere. It was 25 Dollars! Pricy at the time. It is equals to 135.83 USD in 2022. (Disney World Max price is 159.00 USD not included the 6.5 percent sale tax). The price is much higher today at DW than the original adjusted for today.
Today, you need to be so big as Disney and Universal to survive and be that successful. There is a small theme park indoors in Orlando that is for sale.. Dezerland Park Orlando.
The Interior.
I do not know what floor material it was but it had two Columns on the floor where skaters were known to collide with. Originally no pads but after the owner's daughter's head injury on the post, it was padded wrapped around. Reminds me of Empire Skates where I skated. But no pads! I began my first skating in March 1978 and lasted about a month to skate post to post each weekend. I was glad to have those.. no "Walkers" to use which are called Skate Mates now.
The Exterior.
It was located in a Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Plaza with a Flatted Roof. It was where Winn Dixie was located. And since it was part of the plaza, Flatted roofs are common and this, the columns inside on the roof floor.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 60,865 SF/83,479 SF (entire plaza). Built: 1957 (rink in c. 1975) Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Still standing as plaza.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Plaza.
Roof: Flatted.
Acres: 6.5200 AC.
Organ: None.
Operated: (Overall)-- c. 1975 to 1980.
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Loop Net - Entire plaza.
Commercial Cafe - Plaza.
Email - Mark (12 June 2022).
Worth to visit:
You can see the plaza but nothing to see now.
DISCLAIMER:
Dead-Rinks and Mark Falso are not responsible for your physical and legal injuries you may have caused. Please always obey laws and regulations and property owner's signs. Some states allow purple paint on fence which means they even have guns on their property and have rights to shoot you. Please DO NOT attempt to enter property without permission!
For abandoned rinks, after you receive permission, do WEAR safety OSHA equipment including a safety glasses, pair of safety gloves, an orange vest or a jacket, and a construction helmet.
Thank you for understanding.
Date of issue: 12 June 2022.
For office use only: 1.
Disclaimer: The contents including words and photos above on this page and/or on any pages are purely educational entertainment purposes only. I provide what information from other websites, skaters, and operators and it may end up with differents results between two (or more) sources. It is not our responsible for errors we caused. All sources are shown on each page. All opinions and statements of mine are also stated and are for purely educational entertainment only.
Rinks that are closed are considered dead. Rinks that are/were sold and with new management names new name(s), the former are considered dead. Previous operating rink that closed but came back years later, are considered dead because the reopening is considered rebooted, nothing to do with the former.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved becomes property of Dead-Rinks and are watermarked but they are credited to you (or where the source is from). Thank you for understanding. To understand more about this, please go to this page: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7
And not related to that Disney ride and movies either! Savvy?
Pirates Cove Skating Rink was located in the Fairvilla Shopping Center (now known as Princeton Commerce Center) on Orange Blossom Trail and Princeton Street, from about 1975 - 1980. Fun fact, there was a bowling alley at the north end of the shopping center and a XXX theater at the south end. As kids, we would sometimes hang out at the bowling alley in between sessions on Saturday. We may have also hung out with our ear pressed against the side door of the theater. The skating rink was actually a converted Winn Dixie grocery store, and featured two concrete columns in the middle of the floor that you had to avoid hitting. It was only after the owner’s young daughter ran in to one of them headfirst that they put up thick pads to protect the rambunctious skaters. (She was fine)
Thank you Mark. (note, not me, another Mark! Haha).
This is what he told me in email along with 2 or 3 other rinks he found information and I found more. Thanks to him. This helped me to dig a little bit more.
I am glad the owner's daughter is ok. Good thing he put pads on. That is what I recommended since I started Dead-Rinks to put pads on posts, walls, and rails. If the trampoline places have pads all over, why not roller rinks? Safety! Pads will may help lower your insurance costs.
Two third of it was entertainment for the children and adults alike with a Triple X theater in the same plaza!? Bad mix. a Rotten apple in a barrel of good apples. Perhaps the operator of that plaza thought it is ok to have it as entertainment but that was a bad taste.
A Winn Dixie before that. Interesting. The plaza was built in 1957 according to Loop Net. Must be WD grocery store was there from 1957 to 1975. Not long by grocery store standards. 18 years.
I can see the plaza on Google Map that it is not doing too well. It is a dead plaza. Only 2 businesses are located in the plaza. Real sad.
The rink only operated for 5 years. If the grocery store and then the rink closed so soon, was it bad location? I see the neighborhood.. Must be retail and entertainment were not good location. For entertainment, most prefer to go to Disney World which was new at the time and in 1975..admission which was like 25 USDollars. I have my ticket stub somewhere. It was 25 Dollars! Pricy at the time. It is equals to 135.83 USD in 2022. (Disney World Max price is 159.00 USD not included the 6.5 percent sale tax). The price is much higher today at DW than the original adjusted for today.
Today, you need to be so big as Disney and Universal to survive and be that successful. There is a small theme park indoors in Orlando that is for sale.. Dezerland Park Orlando.
The Interior.
I do not know what floor material it was but it had two Columns on the floor where skaters were known to collide with. Originally no pads but after the owner's daughter's head injury on the post, it was padded wrapped around. Reminds me of Empire Skates where I skated. But no pads! I began my first skating in March 1978 and lasted about a month to skate post to post each weekend. I was glad to have those.. no "Walkers" to use which are called Skate Mates now.
The Exterior.
It was located in a Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Plaza with a Flatted Roof. It was where Winn Dixie was located. And since it was part of the plaza, Flatted roofs are common and this, the columns inside on the roof floor.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 60,865 SF/83,479 SF (entire plaza). Built: 1957 (rink in c. 1975) Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Still standing as plaza.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Plaza.
Roof: Flatted.
Acres: 6.5200 AC.
Organ: None.
Operated: (Overall)-- c. 1975 to 1980.
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Loop Net - Entire plaza.
Commercial Cafe - Plaza.
Email - Mark (12 June 2022).
Worth to visit:
You can see the plaza but nothing to see now.
DISCLAIMER:
Dead-Rinks and Mark Falso are not responsible for your physical and legal injuries you may have caused. Please always obey laws and regulations and property owner's signs. Some states allow purple paint on fence which means they even have guns on their property and have rights to shoot you. Please DO NOT attempt to enter property without permission!
For abandoned rinks, after you receive permission, do WEAR safety OSHA equipment including a safety glasses, pair of safety gloves, an orange vest or a jacket, and a construction helmet.
Thank you for understanding.
Date of issue: 12 June 2022.
For office use only: 1.
Disclaimer: The contents including words and photos above on this page and/or on any pages are purely educational entertainment purposes only. I provide what information from other websites, skaters, and operators and it may end up with differents results between two (or more) sources. It is not our responsible for errors we caused. All sources are shown on each page. All opinions and statements of mine are also stated and are for purely educational entertainment only.
Rinks that are closed are considered dead. Rinks that are/were sold and with new management names new name(s), the former are considered dead. Previous operating rink that closed but came back years later, are considered dead because the reopening is considered rebooted, nothing to do with the former.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved becomes property of Dead-Rinks and are watermarked but they are credited to you (or where the source is from). Thank you for understanding. To understand more about this, please go to this page: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7