First laps on the ice · Faq
First laps on the ice in Salisbury: the questions parents ask
Short answers to the things worth knowing in advance.
Twenty minutes is a long first session. Confidence grows faster over three short visits than over one long one.
Families searching from Salisbury are usually weighing one thing: whether it is worth the trip for an hour of something the children have not done before. The honest answer is that it depends on the child, and the rest of this page is about telling which.
The short answers
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.
Two shorter visits teach a child more than one long one. The second time they already know what they want to try, and that is when the good part starts.
The longer answers
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.
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.
Still worth asking on the day
Warm layers matter more than anything else. A cold child asks to leave long before a tired one does.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
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.
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 Salisbury
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Salisbury. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
Families around Salisbury 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
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.