Winter afternoons · Occasion
Winter afternoons for a group visit in Nashville
The occasion changes the planning more than the activity does, so this is mostly about the planning.
Winter shrinks the list of things to do with children to whatever is indoors and warm, or indoors and cold on purpose.
From Nashville the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
Why it fits the occasion
On the Nashville side the answer is the opposite - a warm room, a deep crate of balls and machines that do not care what the weather is doing.
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.
How the day runs
Dress for the room you are going to, not the car park you are crossing.
An ice rink in winter is not the contradiction it sounds like: the cold is the attraction rather than the problem, and it lasts an hour rather than a day.
What to arrange first
Winter shrinks the list of things to do with children to whatever is indoors and warm, or indoors and cold on purpose.
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.
Small things that help
On the Nashville side the answer is the opposite - a warm room, a deep crate of balls and machines that do not care what the weather is doing.
Dress for the room you are going to, not the car park you are crossing.
Questions parents ask
Is the rink cold?
It is a real rink, so yes. Layers and gloves make the difference.
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
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Nashville. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
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.
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
If a visit needs planning around a date, a group or a long drive, the centre is easiest to reach by phone: +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925.