What the centre is for · Guide
What the centre is for in Old Hickory: the practical guide
This is the practical version - what it is, who it suits, what to bring, and what usually happens in the first ten minutes.
The last one is the one parents actually buy. Children remember the day they drove an excavator far longer than they remember most afternoons.
Coming in from Old Hickory 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.
What it actually is
Educational is doing a lot of quiet work in that list. Levers, timing and patience are a curriculum nobody has to announce.
The centre describes its aim in four parts: inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational games and activities, and creating lasting memories.
Who it suits
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.
Bring less than you think. Coats and bags are the part of the visit nobody enjoys managing.
What to expect
The last one is the one parents actually buy. Children remember the day they drove an excavator far longer than they remember most afternoons.
Educational is doing a lot of quiet work in that list. Levers, timing and patience are a curriculum nobody has to announce.
Before you go
The centre describes its aim in four parts: inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational games and activities, and creating lasting memories.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
Questions parents ask
What is the centre aiming for?
Inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational play, and days children remember.
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.
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
If you are coming from Old Hickory, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
Bring a snack for afterwards rather than during. Hungry children leave early and full children want to stay.
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.
For a Old Hickory family the trip works best folded into something else - the shopping that was happening anyway, a birthday that needed a venue, a Saturday that needed a plan.
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
The two centres are at 433 Opry Mills Drive in Nashville and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd in Concord, open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM most days and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.