Drive-In Theater Etiquette

Families are flocking to drive-in theaters in record numbers. It is a perfect outing on a summer night. Drive-ins are inexpensive, fun, romantic and festive. My family and I jumped on the bandwagon and headed out to the drive-in to see a movie one evening last summer. It ended up being one of the more disappointing nights of our summer. We discovered that, while drive-in theaters are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, the manners of the patrons are taking a nose-dive.

Going to the drive-in is so relaxing that many people forget that they are in a public venue, not in their own home. As with all public activities, it is wise to remember there are others around you who deserve consideration.

Before drive-in season kicks off this spring, here is a list of etiquette tips for the modern family. Not only will you have a more enjoyable drive-in experience, but so will your drive-in neighbors.

Do not use an empty parking space for lawn chairs or sleeping bags.

Each family at a drive-in is allotted a decent sized space for their vehicle with room to spare to place lawn chairs. Upon arriving at the drive-in last summer, my family drove around for over twenty minutes looking for a space. Many spaces near the front were free of vehicles, but had become the temporary living room of a family with an adjacent car. Some of these only held one or two children, sitting in chairs or laying in sleeping bags, waiting for the movie to start. We asked a couple families if we could use these available spots only to be told that they were using them already. Just because you arrive at the drive-in early, does not mean you can hog as many spaces as you see fit.

Extra-large vehicles should park in a back row.

We have a Ford Escort, which is a small car. Today's highways are filled with larger vehicles and, so are drive-in theaters. This makes it hard for cars like ours to find a spot at the drive-in. We pulled into several spots, only to find that we could not see above the monster vehicle in front of us. We could see around moderately sized vehicles, like minivans. But, the gargantuan SUVs were another story.

The roof of your car is not a good place to store your snack containers.

People get snacks at the movies. That is a fact of life. Most people finish eating their popcorn about one-quarter of the way through a movie. For some reason, drive-in patrons then think it is okay to put their empty containers on top of their vehicle. The problem is, this becomes an obstruction to the people parked directly behind them. We spent half of the movie with an extra-large popcorn container in our line of vision. After a while, it was almost like we didn't see it anymore. Almost, but not quite.

Fresh air won't kill you.

We went to the drive-in on a beautiful night. There was a warm, gentle breeze that kept the mosquitoes away. The air was warm, not cold and smelled wonderful. That is, it smelled wonderful until the people next to us kept starting their minivan to run their air conditioner. Then it smelled like exhaust. We actually moved our car for this offense.

I understand having to run the defroster periodically on a damp night to keep the windows clear. I do not understand sealing yourself in a cocoon and choosing to run the air conditioner on a beautiful night. Not only does the exhaust smell disturb your neighbors, but the noise is distracting from the movie too. The funny thing was, our drive-in neighbors who were deathly afraid of fresh air would roll their window down about two inches every now and again to smoke a cigarette. The sad thing was there were children in the car.

My family and I will probably try the drive-in again this summer. But, we will go armed with the knowledge that we gained last summer. We will pack a picnic dinner, go very early so we can get a spot near the front and hope for more considerate drive-in neighbors.