What the centre is for · Local
What the centre is for for families in Charlotte
Written for families in and around Charlotte, who mostly want to know whether it is worth the drive.
The last one is the one parents actually buy. Children remember the day they drove an excavator far longer than they remember most afternoons.
Parents from Charlotte tend to ask the same first question: how long will this hold their attention. Long enough to be worth the drive, and short enough to leave while they still want more.
Getting there
Those are ordinary words until you watch a child work out a bucket for the first time, and then they are just a description of what happened.
The centre describes its aim in four parts: inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational games and activities, and creating lasting memories.
What you will find
Educational is doing a lot of quiet work in that list. Levers, timing and patience are a curriculum nobody has to announce.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
How long to allow
The last one is the one parents actually buy. Children remember the day they drove an excavator far longer than they remember most afternoons.
Those are ordinary words until you watch a child work out a bucket for the first time, and then they are just a description of what happened.
Worth the trip?
The centre describes its aim in four parts: inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational games and activities, and creating lasting memories.
Bring less than you think. Coats and bags are the part of the visit nobody enjoys managing.
Questions parents ask
What is the centre aiming for?
Inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational play, and days children remember.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
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 Charlotte
A Charlotte school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
Bring a spare layer even in summer. Malls are air conditioned, rinks are colder than that, and a cold child is a child who wants to go home.
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Charlotte. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
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.