Summer afternoons · Compare
Summer afternoons in University City: how it compares to other indoor days out
There is no shortage of indoor options. The useful question is which one suits your particular child.
The afternoon heat is exactly when children have the most energy and the least chance of being allowed to spend it outside.
The drive back to University City is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
What it does differently
By the middle of a southern summer, indoors stops being second best and becomes the plan.
Bring less than you think. Coats and bags are the part of the visit nobody enjoys managing.
Where other options win
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.
How to decide
The afternoon heat is exactly when children have the most energy and the least chance of being allowed to spend it outside.
Bring a spare layer even in summer. Malls are air conditioned, rinks are colder than that, and a cold child is a child who wants to go home.
The short version
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.
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 University City
The nearest of the two centres to University City is the one to aim at - Concord Mills in Concord - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
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.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
Families searching from University City are usually weighing one thing: whether it is worth the trip for an hour of something the children have not done before. The honest answer is that it depends on the child, and the rest of this page is about telling which.
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.