Drive-in movies for families at MOTAT
We were given tickets to MOTAT’s Drive-In movie Hairspray to go with our family on a Saturday winter evening. The Drive-In movie was a fun night out for the whole family.
The family and kids were excited about seeing Hairspray on the big screen, whilst sitting in the car rugged up eating snacks.
It was the first time for everyone in our family to go to a drive-in movie. This was a novelty factor in itself for the kids, as it’s not often that they get to do something for the first time which is also a first for their parents!
Upon arrival at MOTAT the crew directed us to park up alongside cars that were a of similar size. We got asked if we wanted park facing the screen or to back our car in. We had decided to park with the car facing the screen, but looking around we could see a number of cars set up with the boot open and back seats down so people could lie down in the back to watch the move. The cars were lined up with the smaller cars at the front, SUVs in the middle and the taller vans and trucks at the back.
There were a number of food trucks available for those of you that wish to have a bite before the movie starts or during the movies. We enjoyed some hotdogs from Hotdogs by Fritz and fries from Double Dutch Fries. Popcorn from Organic Knowledge was also there, although we didn’t try this as we had brought some snacks with us too. MOTAT lets you bring your own food and non-alcoholic drinks from home to the event too.
The sound for the movie is broadcast over an FM frequency so you just use your car stereo to hear the movie. Everyone in our car could hear the film easily.
Before the movie starts you might want to check that everyone in the car can get a good view of the screen. We found it worked best for us if we put one of the kids in the front seat and one of the kids in the back seat. Those of you in the back seat will need to lean towards the middle to see and also if you are a tall adult in the back you also need to lean in to the middle or the top of the screen gets chopped of by the car roof. Below is the picture of the view we had from the car, so you can see we could easily see the full screen. Of course, you can move around during the movie, but when your car lights come on when you open your door, it can be distracting for the cards parked next to you.
The front windscreen of our car steamed up from the four us being in the car, even with our windows partly down, so bring a cloth to wipe the condensation off the screen every so often. Also remember when you have your window’s down that the car’s next to can hear what you are saying.
The cars were parked pretty close together, so we did wonder after the movie how long it would take for us all to exit MOTAT. However, we were pleased to see how efficiently and quickly the MOTAT team directed everybody to the exit in an orderly fashion.
Tickets cost $30 for the car and includes as many occupants as there are seat belts.
We certainly enjoyed the outing as a family and will be keeping an eye out for future movies for us to go too.
MOTAT”s Drive in movies are on until 1st August with movies showing Friday and Saturday night. The Saturday night movies are all kid friendly. The Friday movies aren’t all child friendly, so perhaps you could organise a babysitter and head out with your loved one. See the full list of movies showing here: www.motat.nz/events/drive-in-movies
Leave a Reply