What the centre is for · Local
What the centre is for near Nashville
The local version of the question: how far, how long, and is it worth it.
The last one is the one parents actually buy. Children remember the day they drove an excavator far longer than they remember most afternoons.
For a Nashville 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.
Getting there
Educational is doing a lot of quiet work in that list. Levers, timing and patience are a curriculum nobody has to announce.
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.
What you will find
The centre describes its aim in four parts: inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational games and activities, and creating lasting memories.
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.
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.
Go early if the choice is available. The first hour after opening is quieter than any hour that follows it, and quieter is easier for everybody.
Worth the trip?
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.
Questions parents ask
What is the centre aiming for?
Inspiration and creativity, safety and care, educational play, and days children remember.
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.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
Planning your visit in Nashville
Families around Nashville who have done it once tend to plan the second visit differently: shorter, earlier in the day, and with the machine the child liked in mind.
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.
Warn a nervous child about the noise before you walk in. Knowing what to expect is most of the difference between anxious and curious.
Families searching from Nashville 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
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.