Group visit · Seasonal
Group visit in the winter break in Old Hickory
The season changes what a visit feels like more than you would expect.
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.
Families searching from Old Hickory 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.
Why this time of year
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
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.
What changes
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.
What to wear
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.
Warn a nervous child about the noise before you walk in. Knowing what to expect is most of the difference between anxious and curious.
Planning around it
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.
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 Old Hickory
If Old Hickory 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.
If it is the first time, do not also make it a birthday. Learning a place and celebrating in it are two different visits.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
For a Old Hickory family the trip works best folded into something else - the shopping that was happening anyway, a birthday that needed a venue, a Saturday that needed a plan.
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.