Summer afternoons · First time
Summer afternoons in Smyrna: what happens the first time
The first time is the one that decides whether there is a second time, so it is worth getting right.
An hour on the ice is the most literal way to cool a child down that exists indoors.
The nearest of the two centres to Smyrna is the one to aim at - Opry Mills in Nashville - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
The first ten minutes
By the middle of a southern summer, indoors stops being second best and becomes the plan.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
What children do first
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.
What usually goes wrong
An hour on the ice is the most literal way to cool a child down that exists indoors.
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.
Making the second visit better
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 Smyrna
A Smyrna school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
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.
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.
For a Smyrna 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.
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.