We love going to the drive in! The one in our area is about a 45 minute drive away. It's open from early April to mid November. We go almost every weekend if I'm not working. It is hugely popular, cars start lining up over 30 minutes before the box office opens. Last year they had to rework the entry to get the lines of cars off the busy roadway leading to the box office. They added another screen last year too. Now they have 5 screens! The small old concession building was knocked down about 3 years ago & a beautiful new one was built with more concession lines & bathrooms to handle all the crowds. They have typical movie snacks plus pizza, burgers, hot dogs & fries. You get 2 movies for $9, all first run movies. They always have the latest family movies & blockbusters right from the opening weekend.
You can bring dogs but they must be on leash. There are no poles & speakers, you use your car or portable radio, but the sound is great. There are a few rules: you can sit outside the car but must stay inside your own parking space, no sitting in the spot next to your car. Hatches on SUVs etc must be tied down to the level of the roof so you aren't blocking the view of people behind you, must keep all the lights in/ on your vehicle off, no leaving garbage next to your car & most. Importantly: no smoking! They have smoking areas set up along the sides of each screen area but no smoking in, on, around the car parking areas. It is great as a no smoker to be able to sit in my car without someone smoking 2 feet away. In busy times they pass out garbage bags & twine to tie down the hatches as you enter. And they have employees walking the lanes enforcing the rules & helping with tieing down hatches.
You can bring in food & drink but no grilling. They do have free wi fi, but it can be slow & sketchy. On summer weekends, the box office opens at 7, people line up before 6:30 & the movies don't start until after 9. There is a nice atmosphere, we've seen several families come together, set up camping tables with spreads of food. Kids toss balls or frisbees & there is a small playground & a really mini putting area open before the movie. People play board games & cards, lots of laughing & music heard.
The drive in has been in the owner's family for generations. He is passionate about drive ins . He is onsite all the time tooling around on a Segway making sure everything is going ok. Forgot to say, on weekends in the summer especially, all the screens sell out. Hugely poplar place!
We usually get something to bring to eat, whether its fast food or something from home and we almost always sit outside the car in camp chairs.
