First laps on the ice · Story
First laps on the ice in Landis: an hour, start to finish
What it actually looks like when a family walks in.
Twenty minutes is a long first session. Confidence grows faster over three short visits than over one long one.
Parents from Landis 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.
Walking in
The advice that helps most is the least technical: bend the knees, look ahead rather than down, and take short steps instead of long glides.
Warm layers matter more than anything else. A cold child asks to leave long before a tired one does.
The middle of the visit
A first lap is mostly about the wall. Children hold it, let go of it, grab it again, and somewhere in the third lap they forget it is there.
Tell a nervous child what is going to happen in the order it will happen. Surprise is the thing they mind, not the activity.
The last ten minutes
Falling is part of it and is less dramatic than parents fear. Ice is slippery at walking speed, which is the speed a beginner moves at.
Twenty minutes is a long first session. Confidence grows faster over three short visits than over one long one.
What sticks
The advice that helps most is the least technical: bend the knees, look ahead rather than down, and take short steps instead of long glides.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
Questions parents ask
What age can a child start skating?
Children start at very different ages. What matters more is whether they are willing to hold a rail and shuffle.
How long should a first session be?
Short. Twenty minutes of trying beats an hour of being cold and frustrated.
What should they wear?
Layers, long sleeves, gloves. Gloves are the item most often forgotten and most missed.
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 Landis
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Landis. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
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.
The nearest of the two centres to Landis is the one to aim at - Concord Mills in Concord - 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
Questions about a specific day, a group or a party are best asked directly - info@newlife-entertainment.com, or either of the numbers on the contacts page.