Group visit · Occasion
Group visit in Kannapolis: planning a weekend afternoon around it
Here is how the day tends to run and what is worth arranging in advance.
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.
Nothing about the visit assumes you know the area. The centre is inside Concord Mills, which is signposted from everywhere in Concord and impossible to miss once you are there.
Why it fits the occasion
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.
How the day runs
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.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
What to arrange first
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.
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
Small things that help
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.
Let the child choose what to do first even when it is the thing you would have chosen last. The order matters less than the choosing.
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 Kannapolis
If Kannapolis 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.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
Bring a snack for afterwards rather than during. Hungry children leave early and full children want to stay.
The drive back to Kannapolis is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
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.