Ocala Drive-In — Attraction in Ocala

I feel badly leaving a one-star, but I'm hoping this gets seen and addressed. I love this place, it's a really nice classic drive-in experience--fun time with great food and great flicks. But the past couple times I've gone, there's been some really weird choices that I guess are supposed to improve the experience.

Specifically, they keep starting the movies several minutes early, which is really aggravating when I arrive right on time, or even early, and then have to wait in line for concessions. Normal theater etiquette is to have previews then start late, and I don't mind if they want to start on time instead, but starting early just makes it impossible to plan my timing correctly and means I miss the start of a lot of movies.

The other issue is that they keep interrupting movie audio for announcements. The first time, it was to ask someone to turn off their headlights, which (1) they could've gone up to the car and asked and (2) shutting off the movie audio for 30 seconds is MUCH more disruptive than one set of headlights. The second time, it was to announce that concessions was closing soon, and again, they shut off the movie audio for about 30 seconds straight during an important scene for that.

Like I said, I love this place in theory, and a few months ago this would have been a 5-star review. I don't want to go anymore because it's become a worse movie experience than an normal theater, when it used to be much better for half the price. If they stop showing movies early and stop interrupting the movies for announcements, I'll start going back and change this to a 5-star, but until then, it's just not...

I'm torn on this review. While the prices are semi acceptable, and the experience itself is obviously great, and MOST of the staff is polite and helpful, I've just had too many bad experiences with the owner. Very unpleasant. If you don't believe me, look at some of the responses he leaves on anyone giving the theater less than a 5 star review. There have been multiple times I've parked where directed, but he'll zoom up in his vehicle and say to move (I have an SUV) and I ask everytime to avoid this, and one staff member will say I'm fine, but here comes the owner with his bad attitude and worse manners. I genuinely thunk it's in his business's best interest for him to stay in the office and deal with paperwork, customer service isn't his strong suit. I'll just pay more to go to a regular theater. Which is unfortunate, but I want to avoid dealing with that guy. I suggest if you made it this far in the review, you do the same.

Also, the voucher forcing something to buy food is pretty gross. My family has strict dietary restrictions, but I have to pay extra just to watch a movie and can't bring my own without risking getting thrown out, which is super inconvenient. They really should go back to having a "outside food" fee. They did it for a little bit, and we went every week. But on top of the owners bad manners, and the fact I have to spend money on food I can't eat, I'm not only not going there anymore, I'm definitely not going to...

Where to even begin? Not only is coming here to see a movie an experience in itself, but the current owner goes above and beyond to make your experience nothing less than exceptional, every single time. When an owner of a business doesn’t absolutely have to be there, but chooses to day after day - that’s how you know you’re somewhere that gives a care.

The sound is clear, the prices are 100% more than fair, the picture is clear, and the concessions are substantial. I would choose this over the theatre any day, any movie.

This particular instance, I messaged their Facebook in hopes of finding out about a particular candy offered at their stands. My friend was being deployed, and he loved the movies, but had a candy ritual that needed to be met or else the experience just wasn’t the same (I’m sure we’ve all been there?). They responded quickly after, offered adjustments to what they didn’t have on my list, and then took it upon themselves to offer a spot before the movie to throw a picture and a farewell message on the screen of us. Owner kept up with me all day to make sure I would be there for the display, and then wrote his own message, thanking my friend for his services, and then displayed and played the star spangled banner. Needless to say, we were in tears, and I will never forget that moment.

Just an amazing place, amazing owner, and an experience you shouldn’t deprive...