Group visit · First time
Group visit in Salisbury: a first visit, step by step
The first time is the one that decides whether there is a second time, so it is worth getting right.
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
A Salisbury school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
The first ten minutes
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.
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.
What children do 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.
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.
What usually goes wrong
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.
Making the second visit better
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.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
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.
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.
Planning your visit in Salisbury
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Salisbury. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
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.
Bring a snack for afterwards rather than during. Hungry children leave early and full children want to stay.
Families searching from Salisbury are usually weighing one thing: whether it is worth the trip for an hour of something the children have not done before. The honest answer is that it depends on the child, and the rest of this page is about telling which.
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.