Winter afternoons · Ages
Winter afternoons with a toddler in Bellevue
Age changes the answer more than anything else, so this one is written for a specific one.
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.
If you are coming from Bellevue, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
How it lands at this age
Winter shrinks the list of things to do with children to whatever is indoors and warm, or indoors and cold on purpose.
Dress for the room you are going to, not the car park you are crossing.
What to plan for
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.
If two children are visiting together, plan for them to split up. Doing different things in the same room is the point of a room with different things in it.
What parents notice
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.
Winter shrinks the list of things to do with children to whatever is indoors and warm, or indoors and cold on purpose.
Worth knowing
Dress for the room you are going to, not the car park you are crossing.
The quietest hour of the week is the first one on a weekday morning in term time. The busiest is Saturday around midday.
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 Bellevue
The drive back to Bellevue is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
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.
Bring less than you think. Coats and bags are the part of the visit nobody enjoys managing.
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like Bellevue. 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
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.