First visit · Ages
First visit with a 4 year old in Davidson
Age changes the answer more than anything else, so this one is written for a specific one.
Arrive with time in hand. The first ten minutes are always coats, looking around and deciding, and rushing them costs more than they take.
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.
How it lands at this age
Watch what they choose before suggesting anything. Children pick the machine that matches their temperament with no help at all.
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 to plan for
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.
What parents notice
Arrive with time in hand. The first ten minutes are always coats, looking around and deciding, and rushing them costs more than they take.
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.
Worth knowing
Watch what they choose before suggesting anything. Children pick the machine that matches their temperament with no help at all.
Leave a little early. A visit that ends while it is still fun is the one they ask to repeat.
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 Davidson
Families around Davidson 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.
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.
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.
Coming in from Davidson 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.
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.