Ball pit · First time
Ball pit in Goodlettsville: what happens the first time
Nobody arrives knowing how it works. That is fine - here is how the first half hour tends to go.
For younger visitors the pit alone is the attraction. Some never touch a machine and leave perfectly happy.
A Goodlettsville school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
The first ten minutes
A pit this size means the surface is never the same twice. Every scoop leaves a dent and every dent changes where the next one goes.
Go early if the choice is available. The first hour after opening is quieter than any hour that follows it, and quieter is easier for everybody.
What children do first
The crate the machines dig in is a proper ball pit - a deep bed of plastic balls, not a token layer over a hard floor. It is what makes a scoop worth watching.
Balls behave like a liquid until they do not. Dig a hole and the sides slump back in, which is exactly the physics children spend twenty minutes exploring without calling it physics.
What usually goes wrong
The colour is half the appeal. A bucket coming up full is a bucket full of red, yellow, blue and green, and it photographs well from the rail.
If one child is nervous, let them watch for the first ten minutes without being asked to join in. Almost all of them join in.
Making the second visit better
For younger visitors the pit alone is the attraction. Some never touch a machine and leave perfectly happy.
A pit this size means the surface is never the same twice. Every scoop leaves a dent and every dent changes where the next one goes.
Questions parents ask
How deep is the pit?
Deep enough for a bucket to disappear into it - the machines dig rather than skim.
Do children go into the pit themselves?
The machines work the crate from the rail. Follow the instructions the staff give on the day.
What are the opening hours?
10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
Planning your visit in Goodlettsville
Coming in from Goodlettsville with more than one child, the useful thing to know is that the room does not need to be rationed - there is more than one thing to do at the same time.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
Let the child lead the order of things. Adults optimise; children choose the thing that looks best, and they are right more often than they are wrong.
From Goodlettsville the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
The practical details
- XCAV ZONE — 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214: four child-operated machines over a ball pit.
- ICE PARK — 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027: a real rink with bumper cars on the ice.
- Opening hours — 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
- Phone — +1 (424) 387-6232 · +1 (615) 968-4925
- E-mail — info@newlife-entertainment.com
The two centres are at 433 Opry Mills Drive in Nashville and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd in Concord, open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM most days and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.