Ball pit · Tips
Ball pit in Nashville: things worth doing differently
Small changes that make a visit go better, learned the ordinary way.
For younger visitors the pit alone is the attraction. Some never touch a machine and leave perfectly happy.
Coming in from Nashville 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.
Before you leave the house
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.
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.
When you arrive
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.
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.
While you are there
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.
For younger visitors the pit alone is the attraction. Some never touch a machine and leave perfectly happy.
On the way home
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.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
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.
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.
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 Nashville
A Nashville school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
Check the day of the week against the closing time before you leave. Sunday finishes earlier than the rest of the week and catches people out.
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.
Families around Nashville who have done it once tend to plan the second visit differently: shorter, earlier in the day, and with the machine the child liked in mind.
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.