The excavator yard · Ages
The excavator yard in Hendersonville: is it right for a 4 year old?
Age changes the answer more than anything else, so this one is written for a specific one.
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.
Families searching from Hendersonville 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.
How it lands at this age
The whole XCAV area reads like a small construction yard: four machines around one crate, everything at child height, everything meant to be touched.
The yard is compact by design. Nobody loses a child in it, and that alone changes how relaxed an hour there feels.
What to plan for
Parents watch from the rail, close enough to talk and far enough not to be operating the machine themselves, which is the point.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
What parents notice
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.
The whole XCAV area reads like a small construction yard: four machines around one crate, everything at child height, everything meant to be touched.
Worth knowing
The yard is compact by design. Nobody loses a child in it, and that alone changes how relaxed an hour there feels.
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.
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 Hendersonville
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Hendersonville. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Tell a nervous child what is going to happen in the order it will happen. Surprise is the thing they mind, not the activity.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
The nearest of the two centres to Hendersonville is the one to aim at - Opry Mills in Nashville - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
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.