The view from the rail · Local
The view from the rail around Charlotte: worth the drive?
If you are searching from Charlotte, this is the practical answer.
The measure of a family attraction is not what the children do, it is what the adults do while they do it. Standing where you can see and hear them counts for a lot.
Coming in from Charlotte 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.
Getting there
The pace is slow enough to talk over. Parents end up chatting at the rail rather than shouting over a soundtrack.
Do not schedule anything immediately afterwards. An hour of concentrated play is tiring in a way that shows up in the car park, not in the room.
What you will find
Everything happens in one room. There is no wandering off to another floor and no moment of not knowing where they are.
Phones come out, and for once the photographs are worth keeping: a full bucket, a spin, a first lap without the wall.
How long to allow
The measure of a family attraction is not what the children do, it is what the adults do while they do it. Standing where you can see and hear them counts for a lot.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
Worth the trip?
The pace is slow enough to talk over. Parents end up chatting at the rail rather than shouting over a soundtrack.
Everything happens in one room. There is no wandering off to another floor and no moment of not knowing where they are.
Questions parents ask
Can I watch the whole time?
The activity is in one room and the viewing is from the rail or the boards.
Is it loud?
It is a children attraction rather than an arcade. The machines are slow and the noise is mostly the children.
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 Charlotte
From Charlotte the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
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.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
A Charlotte school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
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.