Double Feature At The Drive-In: Monsters U and Iron Man 3

I don’t know about you, but it’s been ages since I’ve been to a drive-in movie. I don’t even know if there are any in Minnesota. Well, about 10 miles from my parent’s house, there’s a drive-in here in Virginia. Small little town and they have a drive-in!

While we were in Williamsburg visiting family, I knew the boys wanted to see Monsters University so I figured the drive-in would have it. The bonus was, Iron Man 3 was there and I hadn’t seen it yet, and it was part of a double feature with Monsters U! It’s actually more cool because Buddy has been wanting me to see Iron Man 3 with him since it came out a couple months ago!

So, my brother showed up after work and we decided to bring him along! I really should’ve thought/planned this little trip out better, but by the time we got home from Williamsburg, I had a lot going on!

I figured we could all sit in our respective seats in the car and watch the movie facing forward. If we decided to watch from the back of the car, the seats would fold down and we’d sit there. Yea, that wasn’t going to work.

First, the people in the 2nd row can’t see the movie so it wouldn’t work facing forward. We had the trunk facing the screen and I dropped the seats, but only two people fit inside comfortably for this kind of thing. So, my brother called my dad, and dad brought us folding chairs and pillows.

I had the foresight to bring snacks, but not enough for two movies. I also didn’t bring any drinks. My brother said they frowned upon bring food in, but it was allowed so I tried to be balanced. I bought a drink for the boys and they had my snacks…for the first movie. Second movie the owner of the drive-in said the pizza was half off! So, I bought a massive pizza and a med pop for $10! And the pizza slices, you had to use two hands to hold just one! I’m telling you, it was huge!

So, what was the drive-in like? Well, there was a playground in front of the screen and a patio type swing if you chose to watch it that way. I had flashbacks to Grease! When you drive into the area, you’re asked to turn off you lights.

The people we parked next to brought their dog and so did another family. There were kids everywhere! The people in front of us had a Ford Explorer and when it started getting dark, every. single. time they opened the doors to the car, their driving lights would turn on this bright orange and blind us for like 30 seconds! We had to keep covering our eyes, and they couldn’t seem to stay out of their car! I finally went and told them that every time they open their doors their lights blind us and we can’t see a thing! Needless to say, they stopped going in and out of their car.

lol And it doesn’t end there. The people to the right of us were watching the movie on the other screen. Not sure how that worked since they weren’t near a speaker for that movie. Well, about every 10 minutes they’d turn their car on for about 5 minutes or so. The exhaust fumes came directly into our car because of the humidity and the breeze. Seriously, HOW do you not consider the people around you?! Get this, they were actually there with the people sitting in front of us in the Explorer. Two adults watched the opposite screen and a couple of adults and all of the kids watched the same movie as us.

Well, since it was a double feature, I figured I couldn’t watch the next movie with them turning their car off and on so I asked them if they were staying because if they were I’d like to switch spots with them because of the exhaust fumes. Thank goodness, both sets of cars left after the first movie! The rest of our movie side didn’t seem to have any issues. We were the lucky ones. hahahahaha

What I found interesting is, with all of the speakers on both sides, you don’t hear the opposite movie being played! They have the standard old fashion hang-on-the-window speakers and we just laid it over the seat. My brother and I turned up the speaker by us that wasn’t being used so that we could hear the movie on the folding chairs.

After Iron Man 3 was over, the drive-in owner came back on his speaker, which I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying because the PA system wasn’t the greatest. What I did hear was that we should stay for after the credits because there was an extra, small scene. It was cool to have someone give you that kind of heads up!

It’s interesting to note, there are only about 9 drive-ins in VA and only one of 366 operating nationwide. There use to be 153 drive-ins in Virginia and almost 5,000 nationwide. All of Maryland only has one! Drive-ins have been fading away and it’s such a shame. They’re really worth the cost of the movie and experience. Honestly, more freeing than sitting in a theater! The kids can be out of their seats, you can have your own food and pop, etc. It was $8/adult and $5/child so the same price as a theater. For me, that becomes a no-brainer! And that was for a double feature!

When was the last time you did a drive-in?