Group visit · Story
Group visit in La Vergne: an hour, start to finish
The ordinary version of a visit, without the marketing gloss.
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.
Parents from La Vergne 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.
Walking in
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
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.
The middle of the visit
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.
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.
The last ten minutes
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.
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
What sticks
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.
Count on the drive home being the conversation. Children tell you what they actually thought about twenty minutes after leaving.
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.
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.
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 La Vergne
Weekends bring more of La Vergne out at once. If the schedule allows a weekday, take it; the same visit is quieter and the machines wait for nobody in particular.
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.
Tell a nervous child what is going to happen in the order it will happen. Surprise is the thing they mind, not the activity.
Nothing about the visit assumes you know the area. The centre is inside Opry Mills, which is signposted from everywhere in Nashville and impossible to miss once you are there.
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.