Summer afternoons · Seasonal
Summer afternoons in Opry Mills: the winter break plans
Same room, different month, different day out.
The afternoon heat is exactly when children have the most energy and the least chance of being allowed to spend it outside.
For a Opry Mills 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.
Why this time of year
By the middle of a southern summer, indoors stops being second best and becomes the plan.
Let the child choose what to do first even when it is the thing you would have chosen last. The order matters less than the choosing.
What changes
School holidays make weekday mornings quieter than weekends - the same visit, half the noise.
An hour on the ice is the most literal way to cool a child down that exists indoors.
What to wear
The afternoon heat is exactly when children have the most energy and the least chance of being allowed to spend it outside.
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.
Planning around it
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.
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.
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 Opry Mills
If you are coming from Opry Mills, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
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.
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.
If Opry Mills 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.
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
Questions about a specific day, a group or a party are best asked directly - info@newlife-entertainment.com, or either of the numbers on the contacts page.