First visit · Story
First visit in Green Hills: what an afternoon looks like
What it actually looks like when a family walks in.
Arrive with time in hand. The first ten minutes are always coats, looking around and deciding, and rushing them costs more than they take.
For a Green Hills family the trip works best folded into something else - the shopping that was happening anyway, a birthday that needed a venue, a Saturday that needed a plan.
Walking in
Leave a little early. A visit that ends while it is still fun is the one they ask to repeat.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
The middle of the visit
A first visit works best with no schedule attached to it. Come, see what the child gravitates to, and let that decide the hour.
Watch what they choose before suggesting anything. Children pick the machine that matches their temperament with no help at all.
The last ten minutes
Arrive with time in hand. The first ten minutes are always coats, looking around and deciding, and rushing them costs more than they take.
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.
What sticks
Leave a little early. A visit that ends while it is still fun is the one they ask to repeat.
A first visit works best with no schedule attached to it. Come, see what the child gravitates to, and let that decide the hour.
Questions parents ask
What should we bring?
Warm layers for the rink, and the usual drink and snack for afterwards.
How long should we allow?
An hour is a comfortable first visit for most families.
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 Green Hills
The drive back to Green Hills is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
Bring a snack for afterwards rather than during. Hungry children leave early and full children want to stay.
Agree the leaving time before you walk in, out loud, to the child. Announcing it later sounds like a punishment; agreeing it first sounds like a plan.
If you are coming from Green Hills, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
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.