Centre ice · Local
Centre ice around Davidson: worth the drive?
The local version of the question: how far, how long, and is it worth it.
It is also the best place to watch from the rail: the whole rink is between you and them, and every lap comes back past you.
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Davidson. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Getting there
Space in the centre is what lets a child try a turn. Near the boards there is always somebody to avoid; in the middle there is only the turn.
The middle of the rink is where the wall stops helping. Getting there is the milestone every new skater sets for themselves without being asked.
What you will find
It is also the best place to watch from the rail: the whole rink is between you and them, and every lap comes back past you.
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.
How long to allow
Space in the centre is what lets a child try a turn. Near the boards there is always somebody to avoid; in the middle there is only the turn.
The middle of the rink is where the wall stops helping. Getting there is the milestone every new skater sets for themselves without being asked.
Worth the trip?
It is also the best place to watch from the rail: the whole rink is between you and them, and every lap comes back past you.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
Questions parents ask
How long before a child leaves the rail?
Some in the first session, some in the fifth. Neither is unusual.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
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.
Planning your visit in Davidson
From Davidson the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
If two children are visiting together, plan for them to split up. Doing different things in the same room is the point of a room with different things in it.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
Nothing about the visit assumes you know the area. The centre is inside Concord Mills, which is signposted from everywhere in Concord and impossible to miss once you are there.
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.