Tower crane · Story
Tower crane in Old Hickory: what an afternoon looks like
Not a review - a description. Here is roughly how an hour goes.
The crane rewards the child who watches before touching. A few seconds of looking at how the line moves is worth more than a minute of pulling levers.
If Old Hickory is home, this is the sort of place you end up returning to rather than ticking off. That changes what a first visit is worth planning around.
Walking in
It is the machine that teaches patience. Rushing makes the cable swing wider, and a swinging line never grabs anything, so children learn to slow their hands down without anybody telling them to.
If one child is nervous, let them watch for the first ten minutes without being asked to join in. Almost all of them join in.
The middle of the visit
Its reach covers a wide slice of the crate, so two children on different machines rarely get in each other way.
Older children usually prefer it once the novelty of the excavator has worn off, because getting a clean lift out of it is genuinely harder.
The last ten minutes
The tower crane works on a cable rather than a jointed arm. A magnet grab goes down on the line, closes on whatever it lands on, and comes back up - which sounds simple until the line starts swinging.
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.
What sticks
The crane rewards the child who watches before touching. A few seconds of looking at how the line moves is worth more than a minute of pulling levers.
It is the machine that teaches patience. Rushing makes the cable swing wider, and a swinging line never grabs anything, so children learn to slow their hands down without anybody telling them to.
Questions parents ask
How is the crane different from the excavator?
The excavator has a jointed arm that goes where you put it. The crane hangs on a cable, so it swings, and stopping the swing is most of the skill.
Is it too hard for young children?
Younger children enjoy the up and down of it even when they do not manage a grab. Most of the fun is in the line.
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 Old Hickory
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Old Hickory. 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.
Two shorter visits teach a child more than one long one. The second time they already know what they want to try, and that is when the good part starts.
A Old Hickory 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.