Summer afternoons · Story
Summer afternoons in Charlotte: what an afternoon looks like
The ordinary version of a visit, without the marketing gloss.
By the middle of a southern summer, indoors stops being second best and becomes the plan.
The drive back to Charlotte is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
Walking in
School holidays make weekday mornings quieter than weekends - the same visit, half the noise.
The afternoon heat is exactly when children have the most energy and the least chance of being allowed to spend it outside.
The middle of the visit
An hour on the ice is the most literal way to cool a child down that exists indoors.
Go early if the choice is available. The first hour after opening is quieter than any hour that follows it, and quieter is easier for everybody.
The last ten minutes
By the middle of a southern summer, indoors stops being second best and becomes the plan.
School holidays make weekday mornings quieter than weekends - the same visit, half the noise.
What sticks
The afternoon heat is exactly when children have the most energy and the least chance of being allowed to spend it outside.
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.
Questions parents ask
Is it air conditioned?
Both venues are inside malls, and the ice park is a rink.
When is it quietest in the holidays?
Weekday mornings, generally.
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.
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 Charlotte
Families around Charlotte 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.
Check the day of the week against the closing time before you leave. Sunday finishes earlier than the rest of the week and catches people out.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
From Charlotte the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
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.