Grabber crane · Faq
Grabber crane in Madison: the questions parents ask
Short answers to the things worth knowing in advance.
It is the machine parents underestimate. The long boom looks unwieldy from outside the rail and turns out to be the one children queue for twice.
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Madison. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
The short answers
Long reach means small movements at the controls turn into big movements at the claw. Children work that out fast and start moving in smaller and smaller nudges.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
The longer answers
The grabber crane has the longest boom of the four machines and a claw on the line, so it reaches the far side of the crate where the balls pile up.
Set against the other three, it is the machine that most rewards a plan: pick the spot, get the claw there, then close.
Still worth asking on the day
It is the machine parents underestimate. The long boom looks unwieldy from outside the rail and turns out to be the one children queue for twice.
If one child is nervous, let them watch for the first ten minutes without being asked to join in. Almost all of them join in.
Questions parents ask
What makes the boom different?
It is longer than the others, so it covers the far side of the crate and reacts to smaller inputs.
Can two children use machines at the same time?
The machines stand around the same crate and reach different parts of it, so more than one can run at once.
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 Madison
A Madison school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
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.
Feed them first. Every attraction in the world is improved by not being hungry in it.
For a Madison 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.
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
The two centres are at 433 Opry Mills Drive in Nashville and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd in Concord, open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM most days and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.