Group visit · Tips
Group visit in Opry Mills: practical tips
The things nobody tells you until you have done it twice.
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
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.
Before you leave the house
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.
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.
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.
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.
While you are there
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
Bring a snack for afterwards rather than during. Hungry children leave early and full children want to stay.
On the way home
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.
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.
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 Opry Mills
Coming in from Opry Mills 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.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
From Opry Mills the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
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.