Did you know that drive-in movie theatres still exist? They are becoming harder and harder to find. Believe it or not Pennsylvania was home to the 2nd drive-in movie theatre, which opened April 1934. Something about being able to take the kids to a drive-in sounded like a lot of fun for the whole family. We decided to do some research and found out that Haar's Drive-in was only about an hour away from Lancaster. The list we found did have over 30 drive-in movie theatres in Pennsylvania, which I never would have thought there would have been that many still in business, but there are and we were glad we decided to experience it with our boys.
'Planes' was a movie my boys have been seeing commericals for, for a long time and have been asking to go see. Being 'Cars' fans I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to go to Haar's Drive-in. At Haar's Drive-in they show two movies in a night, typically a kid movie followed by an adult movie. This works out perfect as the second movie was 'Grown-Ups 2' and the kids were passed out by then and we were able to enjoy a movie in peace without needing to hire a babysitter.
When you arrive a Haar's Drive-in you get to pick out your parking spot for the movie and those wth SUVs, Vans & Trucks are able to park in the first two rows and last six rows. Cars are park in the middle, this is done so that everyone can see the screen. I walked around the facility to see if I could find a bad spot to park and honestly I couldn't. I could even still see the movie while waiting in the bathroom line. The facility is still in very good shape. Get there early though if you want to get in the front two rows. We got there at 6p and the gates were open even though the website states 6:30p. We parked in the 2nd row in the middle and feel that was an awesome spot.
Upon arrival we headed to the snack bar, which we found a good array of items at reasonable prices. They have hot dogs, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pretzels, pizza, ice cream and more, they have just too many options to list. Definitely not your typically movie theatre food and everything is made to order and was very good.
During the downtime people play games, throw frisbees and just spend family time together. The 1st movie starts at dusk, which was around 8:30p, when we went this past weekend so we had about two and a half hours before the movie started. Definitely bring something to entertain the kids before the movies or they will drive you crazy as I saw some parents were not prepared.
Once the movie starts you need to turn your radio station to 101.1 FM to listen to the movie over the radio, they don't have any speakers setup. You are not allowed to run your car while parked so you must bring a portable radio with batteries in order to hear the movie. Don't rely on your car's battery to run the radio the whole time. Some people used their car radio and had to be jumped before they could leave for the evening.
Overall we really enjoyed our experience at Haar's Drive-in it was defiinitely a unique experience and I know we will be going back again. If you would like to find out more information about Haar's Drive-in you can visit their website at haars.com for more information regarding upcoming movies.
