The excavator yard · First time
The excavator yard in East Nashville: what happens the first time
Nobody arrives knowing how it works. That is fine - here is how the first half hour tends to go.
The yard is compact by design. Nobody loses a child in it, and that alone changes how relaxed an hour there feels.
Families searching from East Nashville 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 first ten minutes
There is no queue system built into the layout - the machines stand apart, so a family with two children can usually get them both working at once.
Parents watch from the rail, close enough to talk and far enough not to be operating the machine themselves, which is the point.
What children do first
The whole XCAV area reads like a small construction yard: four machines around one crate, everything at child height, everything meant to be touched.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
What usually goes wrong
The yard is compact by design. Nobody loses a child in it, and that alone changes how relaxed an hour there feels.
There is no queue system built into the layout - the machines stand apart, so a family with two children can usually get them both working at once.
Making the second visit better
Parents watch from the rail, close enough to talk and far enough not to be operating the machine themselves, which is the point.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
Questions parents ask
How many machines are there?
Four: a tower crane, a mini excavator, a claw excavator and a grabber crane.
Can parents stay with their child?
The rail runs around the crate, so parents stay within arm reach the whole time.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
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 East Nashville
For a East Nashville 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.
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.
The quietest hour of the week is the first one on a weekday morning in term time. The busiest is Saturday around midday.
The drive back to East Nashville is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
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.