Group visit · Guide
Group visit in University City: everything worth knowing
This is the practical version - what it is, who it suits, what to bring, and what usually happens in the first ten minutes.
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 University City. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
What it actually is
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.
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.
Who it suits
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.
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 to expect
Group visits are worth arranging in advance so the centre knows how many are coming and when - a call does it.
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.
Before you go
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.
If it is the first time, do not also make it a birthday. Learning a place and celebrating in it are two different visits.
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.
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 University City
A University City school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
Warn a nervous child about the noise before you walk in. Knowing what to expect is most of the difference between anxious and curious.
Do not schedule anything immediately afterwards. An hour of concentrated play is tiring in a way that shows up in the car park, not in the room.
For a University City 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
Anything time critical is worth a phone call first: hours are 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.