Ride these indoor bumper cars in any kind of weather! 
 

If you missed your chance to take the ice rink bumper cars for a spin when they debuted at Bryant Park, here's your second chance to bump, glide, and slide—this time, inside. The bumper cars operate on one half of an indoor ice rink, so neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from swift bumping on their appointed rounds.

Riders must be at least 7 years old and wearing flat-soled shoes. 15-minute sessions are available on a first-come-first-serve basis for $13 per ride, and can be reserved at the main customer service desk at Aviator Sports. Ice rink bumper car sessions are offered on Friday nights from 7:30–10:30pm, on Saturdays from 2–5pm and from 7:30–10:30pm, and on Sunday afternoons from 1–5pm.

Queens and Brooklyn parents—especially parents of older kids—know Aviator Sports as a one-stop shop for active kid fun: There's an arcade, a climbing wall, a massive gymnasium, and two regulation sized indoor ice skating rinks at the facility, located in a refurbished former airplane hangar operated in partnership with the National Park Service. There's also food (and a bar) on-site, so you can definitely make a day of it with skating, jumping, and climbing after your ice bumping. 

Now for the downside: While there's a giant parking lot for those who can drive here, Aviator Sports isn't exactly the easiest place to get to by public transportation. It's right on the Q35 bus line, though, which you can catch from Brooklyn College or Kings Plaza. (If you've ever taken the subway to the bus to get to Jacob Riis Beach, Aviator is located along the same route.)

Aviator Sports and Event Center is located in Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn at 3159 Flatbush Avenue.

Photos by the author