Open session · Tips
Open session in Harrisburg: practical tips
None of this is complicated. All of it is the difference between a good hour and a difficult one.
Families spread out. One parent skates with the confident child, the other stays near the rail with the one who is still deciding, and both are on the same ice.
If Harrisburg 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.
Before you leave the house
The mix of ages on an open session is part of the appeal - and the reason to keep an eye out for smaller skaters when the rink is busy.
An open session is the unstructured version: no lesson, no lane, just the rink and whoever is on it.
When you arrive
It is the easiest way to find out whether a child likes skating enough for lessons, without committing to a course first.
Tell a nervous child what is going to happen in the order it will happen. Surprise is the thing they mind, not the activity.
While you are there
Families spread out. One parent skates with the confident child, the other stays near the rail with the one who is still deciding, and both are on the same ice.
The mix of ages on an open session is part of the appeal - and the reason to keep an eye out for smaller skaters when the rink is busy.
On the way home
An open session is the unstructured version: no lesson, no lane, just the rink and whoever is on it.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
Questions parents ask
Is a session structured?
An open session is free skating rather than a class.
Can parents go on the ice too?
Skating with a nervous child is usually the fastest way to get them moving.
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.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
Planning your visit in Harrisburg
From Harrisburg the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
Nothing about the visit assumes you know the area. The centre is inside Concord Mills, which is signposted from everywhere in Concord and impossible to miss once you are there.
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.