Stranded at the drive-in.
Branded a fool.
What will they say?
Monday at school!
Or in this case, Monday on the blog…
A few weeks ago, my husband saw on Facebook, info about a drive-in movie at the Brentwood Centre, Essex. It was for one of my favourite ever movies – Grease. He told me the tickets were £20 per car, and would I like to go?
I said yes without hesitation, because, 1) I’ve always wanted to go to a drive-in movie and 2) it’s GREASE! That’s like, the perfect movie for a drive-in!
My friend had seen about it too, and let me know she was going with her family, so it was something we were all really looking forward to. Sadly, whilst the movie was awesome, and the atmosphere during the songs was brilliant with car lights flashing and horns being tooted, everything else was a shambles, and many took to Twitter to have a grumble – ourselves included.
I learned many, many years ago when attending a hospitality course, that when someone has a bad experience, they will tell 10 people; if they have a good experience, they’ll only tell one other person. Now, this was back in the mid 1990s, and society has changed. In 2014 we have social media amplifying everything, and so, you only had to follow the hashtag #EDIM to see what others were thinking, and that it wasn’t “just you” who thought so.
I don’t complain on Twitter as “something to do” but because I have a genuine complaint. If something is great, I’ll say so, if something is bad, well, ditto.
The tickets from the organisers of this event (Essex Drive-In Movies) had this as the description…
Does anyone live in Brentwood, Essex? Well if you do, you would already know that the area doesn’t have a cinema!
Probably pretty shocking for all those film buffs out there and rules out any first date cinema experiences. So I am sure the locals will be pleased to know the first ever Essex Drive In Movie Cinema is coming to Brentwood this year.
The event will cater for up to 1,000 cars watching the classic Grease on an outdoor 60ft screen.
This is definitely a great family experience, the perfect date or just grab your best mates.
Gates / Door Open at 16:30 pm to use all facilities:
Funfair
Bar – Themed Cocktails
Food Stalls
Shisha Lounge
Live Music
VIP Lounge
Celebs
Press
The Film will start at 21:00 pm.
So driving in, will be the new going out!
Look out for Films Al Fresco and keep up to date on www.essexdriveinmovies.com
TICKETS NON RE – FUNDABLE.
There were standard tickets available for £20 per car, and VIP packages available for £100 which is described as:
Red Carpet Film Premier Treatment. VIP access to all areas. Prime view (3rd row). Opportunity to mingle with celebs. VIP Goody Bags. 1 free meal of your choice for all car members. 1 jug of pimms for your car. Brochure. *THIS TICKET IS FOR ONE CAR, REGARDLESS OF OCCUPANCY!
So that description is all we knew about the event, and from the list, it sounds good. I personally found the idea of having alcohol for sale at a drive-in movie a bit off – I do not drink at all and drive, I’d rather not take the risk. However, there are non-drivers to consider etc. I guessed that celebs would consist of people from TOWIE.
A day before, there was some info on Essex Drive-In Movies Facebook Page giving a few more details:
Rules: Please Note: All persons entering the field will be searched prior to entry to prevent alcohol and/or food being brought into the event. The site holds a strictly no “bring your own” food or drink policy on the grounds.
On Site Facilities: There is a marquee with fresh food outlets, fully licensed bar, e shisha lounge, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, ice cream van, popcorn, a fun fair and much more. ***Please Note: THE ARE NO CASH POINTS ON SITE! PLEASE BRING CASH!
And finally, sadly their website was not up to date with information, which would have been nice to see before the event.
With all the facts that I had at hand before the event and shared with you, let me now tell you our experience…
Before leaving to go to the Brentwood Centre, I was really quite excited to be going to watch Grease at a drive-in…
Excited to be watching my fave film Grease @Essex_Drive_In this eve! Look forward to blogging about it too! — Purple Pumpkin Blog (@MsPurplePumpkin) August 9, 2014
I’d texted my friend to see if she was there yet and she replied back telling me that they were waiting in their car in a queue – for 45 minutes already. She suggested we get there soon because of the lines. We had planned to arrive a little later, but took her advice. We got there around 5:30pm and joined the line of cars. There didn’t seem to be much movement, so I just turned off the engine and waited. I checked out Twitter to see what was going on (it’s the source these days for up to the second information!) I saw mentions of 5 loos, £3 bottles of water and £8 burgers. I know that you pay a premium for food and drink at events, but those prices were ludicrous! Whilst waiting, we saw a line of cars driving OUT! I shouted over and asked “are you leaving??!” and they said “yes, it’s shit in there, complete rip off!” This did not bode well, coupled with the tweets I had read, as well as my friend’s account of what was inside.
Oh dear @Essex_Drive_In lining up to get in and people are LEAVING?! #EDIM — Purple Pumpkin Blog (@MsPurplePumpkin) August 9, 2014
We inched slowly along, and I saw a couple of (who I could only assume were security) to ask what the hold up was as we hadn’t moved for a while. At this point, the line we were in started to roll forward, and he sarcastically said “well you’re moving now” and walked off. Charming!
Another security guard said “no food/drink/drugs” but didn’t feel the need to search the car. Phew…I had a contraband bottle of water, that I always have with me no matter where I go. Hubs did panic about the chewing gum box on display…!
When I think just how quickly you get directed where to park when doing a car boot sale, the procedure here was slower than a snail walking through treacle. They were only letting three cars in from each of the four lines at a time. Ultimately, once we did get onto the grounds, it was clear to see why – we saw only two guys trying to organise hundreds of cars. I did see a couple of days before on the event organiser’s Facebook page asking for volunteers – maybe these were the only two?
So with my criticisms/complaints, I’ve put my own ideas in with my review – I didn’t want to say what was bad and then not offer something in return…I think it’s the party planning side of my brain that works like that!
Idea #1 – Hire experienced car parking management staff. You could also either drawn out parking bays with spray chalk (if the venue allows it), or place a cone at each spot and remove them as they get filled. This would keep everything orderly. You could hear and see how disgruntled patrons were and in the end, people just drove where they liked and parked wherever.
We were on a tiny bit of a hill, so our car was raised. I’d read that the screen was 60ft, but also saw mention on Twitter that the screen wasn’t that big. Of course, me being me, I have to find out the facts and I checked out the suppliers of the screen. It would seem to me that their largest screen size is 40ft x 20ft, so a bit of a porky pie of 60ft perhaps?
We were maybe 7 or 8 rows back, and had a decent view of the screen. Sound would come in the form of tuning our radio into the assigned FM band.
Once parked up, I texted my friend to ask where she was – in the line for over prized pizza – was the response, so we walked over to find her. She’d already been waiting for half an hour, and we all had a good chat and discussion about the facilities – or lack thereof. And we were not the only ones, as you could hear complaints all around.
If we look back to the description of the event towards the top of this post…funfair, I am probably not the only person who thought it would be more than just the one adult ride… there was a bouncy castle (out of shot) and not sure what is under the canopy that you can see, just next to the sling trampoline thing. Oh and there was a kiddie’s car merry-go-round type ride as well.
If you know the movie Grease, you’ll know the grand final scenes at the funfair with the big wheel, side shows etc. I’m sure many were expecting something similar!! I did see a couple of mentions on Twitter about the lack of rides. If you were there from the start, 4½ hours is a long time to kill with barely anything to entertain you!
Idea #2 – If you promise a funfair, then provide a proper funfair and not just a suggestion of rides. Take into account your guests – are they adults, are they kids, are they a mixture of both? Make sure you’ve got rides/attractions suited for your audience.
We thought it prudent to nip to the loos before the lines got too long – especially as there were just 6 toilets (1 was for disabled guests) for all these people. The description tells you that they will cater for up to 1000 cars…even if only 1 person was in each car, that is 1 toilet per 166 people. But most cars I saw had 2 – 5 people in them. If we go somewhere in the middle of that, 3 per car; 3000 people = 1 toilet per 500 people. Clearly, not enough. And by 7pm, they were pretty gross, having run out of loo paper and lots of wet tissues and rubbish on the floors of them.
So, again, I’ve done a little research to see what I can find online… The event ran from 4.30pm until the film finished, but it was announced that they had a license till midnight, so 7½ hours. Let’s round that up to 8 hours, for arguments sake and easier maths:
8 hour event + 3000 people = 26 toilets according to that link that I found when I searched for “how many portaloos per person?”
So only about a quarter was provided. People know that they will probably have to line up for toilets, but 6 toilets was just an insult!
Idea #3 – Provide enough toilet facilities, so that guests don’t have to see others going for a whizz up a tree because they got bored waiting…
This is @Essex_Drive_In right now #EDIM pic.twitter.com/JDti9cCSLw — Purple Pumpkin Blog (@MsPurplePumpkin) August 9, 2014
When we got back from using the lav, my friends were still waiting to buy some pizza. The problem with the stall was that they were cooking pizzas to order – a fab idea, if you have the ovens and staff to cope with all the customers! The other food stall was a van selling pulled pork sandwiches, and the line for that was just as long and seemingly non moving. I believe that there was also someone selling burgers in the marquee, but I also heard that they ran out of food and left.
Now, prior to writing this review, I’ve been reading Essex Drive-In’s Twitter feed and Facebook pages, and a lot of things have been said – by people who went and by the organisers. I saw mention from the organisers that they didn’t set the prices of the food; however, my argument back to that would be, you would have known prices before booking said vendors, and perhaps asked yourself if £3 for a small bottle of water is an acceptable price, or if £8 for a burger is okay to pay at an event where families might be 3, 4 or 5 in number – that’s a lot to pay for food and drink, especially if bringing your own was not allowed.
There was a distinct lack of food and drinks available – 4 stands in total - pizza, burgers, pulled pork and doughnuts. I read on Twitter that some people were queueing for 2 – 2½ hours!! The only drinks available were water, bottles of regular coke, Pimms, and I saw girls walking around selling test tube shots! There may have been wine and beer at the bar under the marquee, but again, we didn’t venture in there.
There were a couple of ice-cream vans, but I had also read that they were not allowed to sell drinks, so as not to compete with the facilities at the bar.
One stand that did get it right was Krispy Kreme who were selling Grease themed doughnuts for £12 a tray – pretty good value for this brand, as they’re doughnuts are expensive anyway! Because the goods were boxed and ready to go, it was the only stand I saw that didn’t have a line for it!
Idea #4 – Provide enough food vendors to cater for the number of guests! Make sure there is a decent selection of options and cold and hot drinks. If you are not allowing people to bring their own food/drink (which I think is a bad idea in the first place, in my humble opinion) then cater for everyone!
Idea #5 – Allow people to bring their own food/drink. Not everyone is happy to eat junk food (burgers/pizza), some people may have dietary requirements etc, unless you can cater for every eventuality (impossible!) then the option for people to bring in food/drinks is not a bad thing. Museums, theme parks, zoos etc all allow you to bring your own and people do still buy from stalls!
Idea #6 – Provide litter bins. It’s all good and well saying don’t leave litter – but provide somewhere for it to go!
Okay, back to the pizza, which we eventually got to the front of the line for. With a margarita pizza costing £5, and a pepperoni £5.50 (there were I think 2 other topping choices, up to £6 or £7), it was £11 for my husband and myself (we got pepperoni) the pizza was good, it was thin crust and about 6″ Our friends had 8 in their party – that’s minimum £40! Plus drinks – I dread to think how much they spent all together!
By now, it was getting quite chilly, so instead of sitting on the grass, we retreated to our cars – nothing much else we could do! A shisha lounge doesn’t really appeal to a family market. A VIP lounge (which was just a fenced off area in the marquee) didn’t apply. There was face painting, but again, didn’t go into the area where that was, and the funfair was a bust. I think more people got more pleasure out of writing on the Mini that was near the toilets (don’t worry, pens were provided for that job!) and you could see the disgruntled feelings scribbled all over it.
Oops, nearly forgot about the popcorn – there were tiny bags for sale, 4 bags for £5. Funky flavours – rhubarb & custard, cola cubes, strawberries & cream and lime sherbert, which were different and tasty (but expensive!) At the cinema you want a huge tub of salt or sweet popcorn to share!
Idea #7 – Sell regular popcorn…you can’t visit the movies without a box of it. Just sayin’!
At some point before the film started, a local dance group performed. What would have been nice would have been a camera filming it and showing it on the screen. I’m sure many didn’t see them dance at all.
Celebs turned up. Celebs = some of the cast of TOWIE and some other people that I just don’t know who they are. They got the VIP treatment, up front in the [one of the sponsor's] BMWs, with food and drink brought to them. I found a short article online…reading that, it sounds like a great night out, but sadly, it all fell flat, and the food, entertainment and organisation was not what we were expecting at all – and was the opinion of lots of other people. If it took as much as 2+ hours to line up for and get your food, imagine how long it would take to get to your car!
Idea #8 – Don’t make promises you can’t keep! People will get annoyed, people will complain, and people may not give you another chance. As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. I would rather have had less expectations, which did well, than high expectations that failed.
Okay, so I’m done now with the disappointing parts of the event, and onto the main focus – the movie itself.
Prior to the film starting, they ran through some safety procedures and what to do in an emergency. You were asked not to drive out during the film, and that at the end, they would be guiding cars out from the back to the front and to wait so it wasn’t a messy exit.
They also announced that there was going to be a 20 minute break in the film. I could almost hear the collective groans! I even read on Twitter (yes, it’s my source of info whenever I go to an event!) that this announcement had tipped them over the edge and that they had left. A shame, as that break didn’t occur, and to be honest, I’m not sure why a break was actually needed.
Idea #9 – Advise patrons to not turn on their lights during the film. Yes, during the musical numbers, flashing lights and horns aplenty, but not directly shining in your eyes (both headlights and brake lights) they are a distraction, and downright rude!
As I said at the top, Grease is one of my all-time favourite films, so we cranked the radio up, reclined our seats and watched the movie roll on the big screen. I’m pretty sure I annoyed my husband by reciting the lines as the film went on (habit, I can’t help it!) and sung along with all the songs!
It was brilliant when Greased Lighting came on and people were flashing their lights, putting on their hazards, and honking their car horns! And I do hope everyone else was doing the hand jive when it was the school dance!
The awesomeness of the film and the atmosphere when it started and especially by the end, with people getting out of their cars, dancing and singing, is what saved the day, but I didn’t have any doubt about that. Grease is such a feel good film (with such a great moral to it – change yourself to win the man/woman of your dreams lol), with a great cast and great soundtrack. It’s such a classic and a great choice of film for a drive-in.
I’ll share the final song, We Go Together because it is one that everyone knows! Even if you don’t know your rama-lama-lama-ka-dinga-da-dinga-dongs from your chang chang changitty chang sha-bop, you will always sing along!
Fortunately, leaving the grounds was a lot less stressful that getting in, although people did ignore the from the back leaving procedure. There seemed to be a lot more staff guiding cars out, not sure where all those guys where when they were guiding cars in. We were home within 20 minutes. Many people ignored the driving out during the movie rule, with at least 5 cars around us leaving before the end.
Of course, there has been lots of people writing about the night on Twitter and Facebook, I added to my initial review, and Essed Drive-In wrote the following on their Facebook page:
Unfortunately in life and especially in business, bad news spreads faster than good news! We are taking a moment to share some our guests who had an AMAZING time!
The whole team worked EXTREMELY hard to bring Essex something that had never been done before which we think should be appreciated & admired!
Next time will be bigger & better and you can either join us or watch us!
I have no doubt they worked hard to pull the event together. Organising something of this scale will take a lot of work, research and organisation, and of course they want to focus on the good things that were said. I like to think I have given a constructive review/criticism , both here on my blog, on Twitter and on Facebook, so naturally, I replied to the above with this:
Of course, there will be hiccups, but, from the complaints I’ve read (including our own) as well as hearing about – and seeing – people driving OUT, the event was poorly organised. Yes, the film was awesome, it was a great atmosphere, but the rest was a let down. As in all business, we live and learn from our mistakes, and I hope that you do take on board all of the bad points too.
I expected a response, and was granted one. I was shocked by one line which I have highlighted…
We have addressed many times now on FB and Twitter that ALL feedback will be taken on board. To us this was a dummy run to see if it can be done again and whether to even do another one- hence why we have no other dates. If it didn’t work we wouldn’t do it again. But unfortunately not everyone has seen or heard all of the amazing feedback we have got and people who can’t wait for us to do it again! x
So, my final word was this…
Hadn’t realised this was a dummy run, and to be fair, perhaps you guys should have let everyone know that? If people had known that we were guinea pigs for your event, then maybe people would have been more understanding? I was very much looking forward to this, and I will always stand by the fact that the film was brilliant and the atmosphere for that was electric, but everything else, from where we were standing, was sub par. I am not moaning for the sake of it, I’m hoping that a better event will come in the future. Looking at Twitter and Facebook, it looks to me that a lot of the amazing comments are coming from people who had VIP tickets, celebs, or those who won tickets, and not the regular joes who had to line up for a couple of hours. I am writing a constructive review on my blog, as before we even left our house, I’d tweeted how excited I was and how excited I was to be able to blog about it. I’ve always wanted to go to a drive-in and it was awesome that it was in my home county, I just feel very deflated after the whole experience. Good luck for your next event – you’ve said you’ll take on all the feedback, and can I suggest, Dirty Dancing will be a goodun – and Saturday Night Fever!
I was, and still am, excited about the fact that there could be drive-in events just 10 minutes down the road from us. It’s been on my bucket list of things to do since I saw Grease for the first time when I was a young girl, and I’m glad to put a check mark next to it!
I do hope that Essex Drive-In Movies, genuinely take on board all of the feedback - yes, some was rude/nasty, but a lot was constructive. If you have several people saying the same thing, then clearly, something isn’t right.
Reading more comments from Essex Drive-In Movies on their Facebook page, they said that there were 700 cars; that the council limited the amount of rides and that was out of their hands, that there was a miscalculation on numbers, that the food prices were out of their control and that they will provide more food stalls and toilets next time – tripling them.
Good luck with your next event Essex Drive-In Movies – I plan to go again, and hope to see the promised changes made!
And yes, in the face of all the things that were not what we expected, we smiled, laughed and had a good night in the end!