Open session · Guide
Open session in Huntersville: the practical guide
Everything below is the sort of thing you would want to know before the drive rather than after it.
An open session is the unstructured version: no lesson, no lane, just the rink and whoever is on it.
For a Huntersville 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.
What it actually is
It is the easiest way to find out whether a child likes skating enough for lessons, without committing to a course first.
If two adults are coming, split up rather than shadowing the same child. One at the rail, one free, and everybody has a better hour.
Who it suits
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.
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.
What to expect
An open session is the unstructured version: no lesson, no lane, just the rink and whoever is on it.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
Before you go
It is the easiest way to find out whether a child likes skating enough for lessons, without committing to a course first.
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.
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.
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 Huntersville
If you are coming from Huntersville, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
Families around Huntersville who have done it once tend to plan the second visit differently: shorter, earlier in the day, and with the machine the child liked in mind.
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.