Drive-In Movies

Nicole has always had problems going to the movies. We tried to take her to the dollar theater to see movies and she has a hard time with the dark, the amount of people at the movies, sitting still, being quiet, and not crying super loud during the movie. She has gone to a couple movies with her cousins and Matt and seen the whole movie, but we have also taken her to the movies and had to leave in the middle of the movie because she was having a meltdown.

So, we thought the drive-in might be a solution to her movie problem. She would be able to be in her comfort zone (her own car), she can wiggle and move around as much as she needs to, and she can make a little bit of noise and ask questions during the movie without bothering everyone watching the movie.

So, we made a big deal to Nicole about going to the movies. We went to the store beforehand and let her pick out snacks and we drove up to West Valley City to the only Drive-In even remotely close to us. She was really excited about it, but the drive was a challenge. If Nicole is in the car for more then 10 minutes, she starts to whine and complain about how everything is SOOO far away.

I was also really excited to go to the drive-in because I have never been before. I've always just done the regular 'ol movies. So, we went to see Despicable Me 2/Percy Jackson. It is always a double feature. We knew the kids would like Despicable Me and we hoped that they would fall asleep and we could watch Percy Jackson together (ah the best laid plans).

The drive in movies start really late, and we had heard that we needed to be early to get a good spot. Turns out that if you go on a weekday to a kids movie, you really don't have to be that early. Possibly, weekends are different.

Anyway, we were there way early and we parked backwards and folded away the back seats and took out the pilot seats so the whole back of the van was like one big bed for us to lay down and watch the show. We put down a bunch of blankets so it was a little more comfortable then van floor. We also set up our pilot chairs at the back of the van so that we could also sit in those outside the car if we wanted to. It was relatively comfy. The movie started at 8:45pm, which is already past the kids' bedtime, but they were wired and excited to be doing something new and they had no problems staying awake for the movie.

It all turned out so well. A lot better then we thought it would considering Nicole's past experiences with movies. Nicole and Dan were able to wiggle all over and be talkative and they loved the movie. The only backfire to our plan was that they did not sleep. They stayed awake all the way through the movie and then were still awake when Percy Jackson came on around 11:30pm. Which is when things broke down. Percy was just too scary for my little kiddos and we had to leave about 20 minutes into the movie. But, other then that, it was a total success. We would totally go again.