On Saturday evening, I drove my sister and I to the Philadelphia Film Society's drive-in theater at the Navy Yard to see Wonder Woman 1984.
Watching Wonder Woman soar through the air with her lasso is worth the price of admission, but the highlight of the evening was driving through Center City for the first time in months and observing how this COVID era drive-in functions.
For anyone who's interested in going, I made a few notes:
- Showtimes are posted here. I bought my tickets early, but oddly, the theater doesn't seem to sell out. There was a long line of cars as seen in the photo below and somehow the ushers found room for all of them.
- Tickets are e-mailed as PDFs to take with you to the theater. An usher will check them at the front of that line in the photo.
- The e-mail includes a PDF of Safety Guidelines. The gist of it is: Only be outside your car to get to the bathroom; always wear a mask when outside the car; keep all your lights off, including the brake lights. Also, no pets and no glass bottles.
- Show up an hour early. I got there an hour early and was fourth in line for the showing.
- The ushers will tell you where to park. There is no reserve seating or choosing your spot. Note in the photo above that fourth in line scores the first row, but on the left side. However, you can maneuver your car to be at an angle within your spot.
- The bathrooms are nicer than I'd expected. It's not the Hilton, but better than porta-potties.
- It was very cold. Warm footwear is essential. Also, winter jackets and blankets. Warm food and drink help too.
- The movie's audio is transmitted to the car radios. The reception isn't great. There's some static involved, but we could hear it well enough. I recommend taking a separate radio rather than using the car radio, especially because...
- WW84 is two-and-a-half hours long. By the time it was over, my car battery was flat dead. Fortunately, the ushers are prepared for this and had my car running within a few minutes. Good show.
