Group visit · Tips
Group visit in Gallatin: things worth doing differently
None of this is complicated. All of it is the difference between a good hour and a difficult one.
Teachers get an activity where children take turns without being told to, because the machines and the cars enforce turns by existing in limited numbers.
From Gallatin the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
Before you leave the house
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
When you arrive
It works as a reward trip, an end of term outing, or the indoor half of a day that has an outdoor half somewhere else.
For a class group the appeal is that the activity explains itself. No briefing, no equipment to hand out, no rules that take ten minutes to teach.
While you are there
Teachers get an activity where children take turns without being told to, because the machines and the cars enforce turns by existing in limited numbers.
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.
On the way home
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
It works as a reward trip, an end of term outing, or the indoor half of a day that has an outdoor half somewhere else.
Questions parents ask
Can school groups visit?
Call ahead and arrange it: +1 (615) 968-4925 or info@newlife-entertainment.com.
Is it educational?
Working an arm on levers is hand eye coordination, cause and effect and patience, whatever you call it on the form.
How do I get in touch?
By phone on +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925, or by e-mail at info@newlife-entertainment.com.
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 Gallatin
If Gallatin is home, this is the sort of place you end up returning to rather than ticking off. That changes what a first visit is worth planning around.
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.
Bring a spare layer even in summer. Malls are air conditioned, rinks are colder than that, and a cold child is a child who wants to go home.
Parents from Gallatin 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.
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
Anything time critical is worth a phone call first: hours are 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.