Ball pit · Seasonal
Ball pit in Hermitage: what the school holidays is like
The season changes what a visit feels like more than you would expect.
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.
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Hermitage. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Why this time of year
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 changes
For younger visitors the pit alone is the attraction. Some never touch a machine and leave perfectly happy.
Bring a spare layer even in summer. Malls are air conditioned, rinks are colder than that, and a cold child is a child who wants to go home.
What to wear
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.
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.
Planning around it
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.
Decide how long you are staying before you walk in. A visit with an end time attached to it finishes on a good note rather than a tired one.
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.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
How do I get in touch?
By phone on +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925, or by e-mail at info@newlife-entertainment.com.
Planning your visit in Hermitage
Parents from Hermitage tend to ask the same first question: how long will this hold their attention. Long enough to be worth the drive, and short enough to leave while they still want more.
If it is the first time, do not also make it a birthday. Learning a place and celebrating in it are two different visits.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
The nearest of the two centres to Hermitage is the one to aim at - Opry Mills in Nashville - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
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
If a visit needs planning around a date, a group or a long drive, the centre is easiest to reach by phone: +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925.