Open session · Tips
Open session in Mooresville: things worth doing differently
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.
From Mooresville the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
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.
It is the easiest way to find out whether a child likes skating enough for lessons, without committing to a course first.
When you arrive
An open session is the unstructured version: no lesson, no lane, just the rink and whoever is on it.
Count on the drive home being the conversation. Children tell you what they actually thought about twenty minutes after leaving.
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
It is the easiest way to find out whether a child likes skating enough for lessons, without committing to a course first.
Agree the leaving time before you walk in, out loud, to the child. Announcing it later sounds like a punishment; agreeing it first sounds like a plan.
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 Mooresville
The nearest of the two centres to Mooresville is the one to aim at - Concord Mills in Concord - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
If two children are visiting together, plan for them to split up. Doing different things in the same room is the point of a room with different things in it.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
Coming in from Mooresville with more than one child, the useful thing to know is that the room does not need to be rationed - there is more than one thing to do at the same time.
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.