Group visit · Tips
Group visit in Salisbury: things worth doing differently
None of this is complicated. All of it is the difference between a good hour and a difficult one.
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
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.
Before you leave the house
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.
Bring less than you think. Coats and bags are the part of the visit nobody enjoys managing.
When you arrive
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.
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
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
On the way home
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.
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.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
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 Salisbury
If you are coming from Salisbury, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
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.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
The nearest of the two centres to Salisbury is the one to aim at - Concord Mills in Concord - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
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.