Winter afternoons · Guide
Winter afternoons in Old Hickory: everything worth knowing
This is the practical version - what it is, who it suits, what to bring, and what usually happens in the first ten minutes.
Dress for the room you are going to, not the car park you are crossing.
From Old Hickory the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
What it actually is
Winter shrinks the list of things to do with children to whatever is indoors and warm, or indoors and cold on purpose.
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.
Who it suits
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.
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.
What to expect
Dress for the room you are going to, not the car park you are crossing.
Let the child choose what to do first even when it is the thing you would have chosen last. The order matters less than the choosing.
Before you go
Winter shrinks the list of things to do with children to whatever is indoors and warm, or indoors and cold on purpose.
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.
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 Old Hickory
Families searching from Old Hickory 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.
Check the day of the week against the closing time before you leave. Sunday finishes earlier than the rest of the week and catches people out.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
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
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.