Some families play board games together. Others take cruises to Alaska. Some families volunteer at homeless shelters while others take picnics. Today, my parents and I went movie hopping. You remember movie hopping, don't you? You were in high school and after going to the movies with one of your friends, he or she convinced you to sneak into another theatre before going home. You probably went into the movie after it had already started, but you still stayed until the end. Remember how exciting that was? Well my family does it on a regular basis and it was my parents that introduced me to "movie runs."
I've turned this family tradition of seeing two or three movies for the price of one into a day for myself to get away. I go to the movies by myself all the time and purchase one ticket. I then stay at the theatre all day and usually fit five full movies in. In fact, my record is seven movies in one day. Pretty impressive, don't you think? How do I do it? How can I see seven full movies in one day without leaving one early and going into another late? Today is your lucky day, my loyal readers! Today, I will tell you exactly how I do it and what my techniques are for not getting caught.
The first step is finding a theatre that is conducive to jumping from one room to the next without being noticed. Because of the recent downturn in the economy, it has actually gotten much easier. Most theatres are designed with two wings or hallways of individual movie rooms. Back when theatres could afford to pay more employees, they would have both of these wings roped off with ticket collectors at each hallway. This made it difficult to movie hop because when you're at home making a schedule, you don't know which wing a certain movie will be playing in. Once you're at the theatre, if all of your scheduled movies aren't in the same wing, it would be impossible to go into the other hallway without having a ticket.
Now that theatres can't afford to employ two ticket collectors, they rope off the entire lobby as soon as you enter through the front doors after purchasing your ticket. Once you get past that one ticket taker, you have access to either wing and depending on your level of comfort, you could easily go from one to the other without any problems at all.
Other theatres are designed as one big hallway which makes it that much easier to make your way from one movie to the next no matter what the economy is like. However, there are still movie theatres that are just too difficult to get around unseen. Finding the right theatre is the most important step to a successful movie run.
Once you know where you'll be spending the day, it's time to make a schedule. I always use Fandango to locate my theatre and look up the movie times the night before I go. It doesn't really matter what website you use, but I like Fandango because everything is organized nicely and they have the run-time for each show. This is crucial in planning your day. Once I have all of the movie times in front of me, I use a piece of scratch paper to start writing times.
I always try to start with the earliest showing and then do the math to determine what time the show will end. I then look for another movie starting no sooner than 15 minutes after the previous one is supposed to end. Just because a movie is scheduled at a certain time, doesn't mean it will actually start at that time. This will then will push the end time back which will mess up your entire schedule. You never know how many commercials or previews will be shown before the movie starts. You also have to take into consideration that the projectionist might not show up right on time. With all that in mind, never EVER schedule your next movie any sooner than 15 minutes after the last movie's scheduled end time. Sometimes I can make two or three movies fit together nicely, but then I can't get another one to work for an hour and a half after the third movie. This is no good. If this happens, start over with a different starting movie. After you've put together a schedule that works nicely, you're ready to go.
The next step is planning on getting hungry. When you sit in a theatre, other people will be eating popcorn and nachos. They will be slurping sodas and sucking candies. The smells and sounds will make you hungry. Trust me, you can't go all day without anything to eat. I've done it, but by the third or fourth movie, you start thinking about your stomach and you can't concentrate on the movie that's playing. I have found that buying a foot long sandwich at Subway is the best way to go. Keep in mind what vegetables you put on your sandwich. Pickles and tomatoes have a higher water concentration than lettuce and onions. This will cause your bread to get soggy. The idea behind getting a sandwich is that you can keep it in your lap for a few hours before actually eating it. You want it to be edible when you're finally ready to consume it. I always have the Subway employee wrap the two halves separately which makes it easier to sneak in and easier to eat in the dark without getting it all over myself. This way, I can also wait until the next movie before eating the second half. Occasionally I will sneak in a bottle of water as well, but that's up to you. Most theatres have drinking fountains in the hallways that you can use in between movies.
So I've got my schedule and my sandwich. Sometimes, I'll go to Rite-Aid beforehand and get some Mike & Ikes or Hot Tamales, but I don't do this every time. I always bring a light jacket too. No matter if it's winter or summer, sitting in an air conditioned building all day can get cold. I take a light jacket that has pockets on both sides of the liner so I can put a half of my sandwich on either side. I don't really know the rules of bringing food in, but I hide my food just to be safe. On any given day, I usually wear shorts and flip flops, but I always wear jeans and closed-toe-shoes when going to the movies to stay warm.
Once I get to the theatre and buy my ticket, I pay close attention to every detail as I make my way to the first movie. I take a mental picture of the guy taking my ticket because I know he may be on custodial duty later in the day. I look at the people behind the concession stand as well for the same reason. I try to find the manager and take notice of his or her habits of staying seated or making the rounds. When I hand the ticket collector my ticket and he or she tells me to go right, I always go left. I go halfway down the hallway and try to locate the rooms in which the movies on my schedule are playing. If I know the order of my movies and I see my fourth movie in the hallway on the other side of the theatre, it's easier to make a beeline from the third movie. You don't want to be wandering the halls looking at each marque because it makes you stand out.
So now that I know where all my movies are playing, I can just sit and enjoy each movie. When you make your way from one room to the other, you just have to walk with confidence. No one will stop you if you look like you know what you're doing. Don't make too much eye contact with the staff as you leave each room. Don't not make eye contact either. That will make you look suspicious. Sometimes when making your schedule you'll be forced to wait upwards of 40 minutes before your next movie starts. You can't go into the next movie that soon because the staff will still be cleaning it from the previous showing. You can't wait in the hallway either. In these cases, I will go into the bathroom and just stand in one of the stalls until I think the room is ready for new guests. I never try to enter a new room with more than 20 minutes until showtime.
That's pretty much it. Keep in mind that when you first start going to more than one or two movies at a time, you will get really bad headaches and your knees will hurt. You just have to stick with it and your body will adapt. You will also be forced to watch a lot of bad movies to get to all of the movies that you want to see. Now that you know my secrets, you should have no problem at all. Good luck and have fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment