Planet 51

Larry had to work Friday night. I was planning on bringing Maddy over to Shaun's but he called at about 2:00 and ruined all my plans with news that his son might have Swine Flu. And since I don't feel like spending Thanksgiving in the hospital with my asthmatic daughter and her Swine Flu I decided to keep her home.

Which left me with visions of serious cabin fever and two stir crazy kids. So I decided to take them to the movies. As luck would have it, Planet 51 was showing at the most perfect time. 4:45.

I got Maddy off the bus at 3:40 and by the time we were unpacked and settled in it was time to go. I'm so out of touch, I was surprised that the movies were busy on a Friday night. Dur. Hey, what do you want? When was the last time I was at the movies at night(ish)? Sometime in 2005 I bet. Anyways, I walk up to the ticket window:

Me: "Hi, 2 kids and 1 adult for Planet 51, please."
Ticket Guy: "For 3:35?"
Me: looking at my watch in a confused fashion "No, 4:45"
Ticket Guy: "$xx.xx" (I don't remember the price.)
Ticket Guy: being confused and pressing buttons "What did you want again?"
Me: "2 kids and 1 adult" Thinking this was obvious since here I stand, one adult, with my two kids.
Ticket Guy: "Oh I gave you 2 adults and 1 kid, you can get a refund inside.... if you want."
Me: "I want."

Which wasn't a big deal, I went inside and they gave me back my $1.50. But as I will find out later the new kid's ticket was for the 3:45 movie.

We got our dinner... er, popcorn. And headed down to theater 10 as I was told to by ticket taker man.

Pause:
There has to be a better design to movie theaters than the one they currently have. First you talk to a person with a microphone through bullet proof glass. Then you go inside and have your ticket ripped in half and be told what theater your movie is in. This seems kinda ridiculous. I have an issue having to talk to people on microphones. I don't think that is the best way to treat your customer. And the bullet proof glass? Not necessary. I mean, banks don't even use that anymore. And just because they are outside is no excuse. There are lots of places that take your money outside and don't feel the need to protect themselves behind 2 inches of plexi-glass. I would think some kind of set up like they have at the zoo would be better. Little booths where you talk to a real person, face to face, pay and then you go inside.

Play:
So I'm carrying my 115 oz drink, purse, sweater, 2 gallons of popcorn, two cardboard trays so the kids can have their own popcorn, AND trying to hold Connor's hand. I make our way to theater 10. We start to go in and the movie is already playing. Now, I KNOW we are not late. So I loudly and disruptively back everyone out of the theater and find a bench to put down all my stuff. I dig my ticket stubs out of my pocket and see that one ticket says theater 10, but the other two say theater 7. Ah. Ok, load back up and drag the kids over to theater 7. Phew!

The movie was ok. Only two bathroom breaks, which is fine. The story line wasn't all that. I could have written it myself. In fact it very much reminded me of the movie Space Chimps, if you've had the benefit of that fine film. I did have a full fledged panic attack half way through where I checked the time every 15 seconds for about 10 minutes. But other than that, it went really well.

By the time we got home it was practically time for bed. So that was perfect. I gave the kids a sandwhich because I think they were suffering from "popcorn tummy" (and you know what I'm talking about if you've ever had popcorn for dinner). Then off to bed!

The movies: a perfect way to kill an evening without actually having to spend time together.