The excavator yard · Ages
The excavator yard in Hermitage for 4 year olds
What works brilliantly at one age is a shrug at another. Here is how it lands at this one.
The whole XCAV area reads like a small construction yard: four machines around one crate, everything at child height, everything meant to be touched.
Coming in from Hermitage with more than one child, the useful thing to know is that the room does not need to be rationed - there is more than one thing to do at the same time.
How it lands at this age
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.
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.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
What parents notice
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.
Worth knowing
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.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
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.
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.
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.
Planning your visit in Hermitage
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Hermitage. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
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.
Families searching from Hermitage 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
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.