Vali-Hi Drive-In — Local services in Lake Elmo

I was ripped off today after commuting an hour and a half to go to a drive in theater with my wife. We love the movies, she loves the drive in, and places like this are getting fewer and further between. Too bad this one seems to be owned, or at least operated by crooks.

Decided to travel out of state to a drive in to catch Detective Pikachu and Shazam for a date with the wife. We used to go to the one in Eau Claire WI on and off, but it shut down a few years back, and is no longer an option. Hence the drive. Thought we'd make a day of it.

Showed up super early. Bought tickets from the gate, and snacks and drinks from their concession stand. Got a spot near the back and munched on popcorn for a bit. Something came up and we had to leave for a few minutes to take care of it well before the show started. Figured we'd paid for our tickets for the show so we'd be let back in, as that's how every other theater we've ever been to has worked. Reasonable, right? Got back with time to spare and tickets in hand to get back in to watch the movies. Was told by this smug kid and some rent a cop looking guy running the gate that I'd have to pay again to get back in, regardless of the tickets I'd bought from them about 20 minutes prior, because I left the property. Said something to the effect of how there was a sign stating as much at the entrance and if they just let everyone leave and come back that it would be chaos. Dirt eating grin in place, the whole time. Ran it off like they rehearsed it. Okay, Sure. Didn't see the sign but whatever. Needless to say we saw ourselves out rather than getting charged double for no good reason other than they feel they can get away with it.

Why bother selling actual physical tickets at all if you're just going to strong arm paying customers for a second admission fee if they need to leave and manage to make it back to the show they put money down to see when they get back well before the show even starts?

I've never had a theater anywhere else try and pull a stunt like this, ever. Looking at some of the reviews for the place and it's hard not to believe the worst ones on there after this. I'll never waste another dime here again. And neither should anyone else.

So we're clear in case anyone that owns or works at Vali-Hi actually looks at these reviews; you're not clever. At all. You're a bunch of thieving clowns. I hope you have the kind of success you deserve. Better yet, sell the place to someone with a shred of decency and save one of the last drive ins around here. They're dying, and you're not helping.

But hey, at least you got admission and concessions out of me once, right? Big win-win setup you have there guys. You get to either occasionally double charge patrons, or they get to pay once to not see a show. Brilliant setup!

There's a theater down the freeway from this dump in Hudson. Go there if you feel like catching a flick around there. They won't try to double charge you if you have to step out of the building for a few before the film.

Popcorn was dry too. Or maybe I'm just bitter after having an outing ruined by an asshat.

Probably both, tbh.

Sincerely,

A slightly...

CORONA VIRUS UPDATE: (7/22/20) Several things have changed here due to the virus: ¹ There is one car, instead of two, between each speaker post. Makes it easy to socially distance. ² For concessions, you have to wait in line outside of concession stand (please wear masks and socially distance in line). ³ Radios are not rented during this time. ⁴ Showing 2 older, but fun movies, instead of 3 new ones (there are no new movies being released in theaters at this time, due to the pandemic- at least we can still have fun here for $5, per person per movie and still enjoy ourselves).

ORIGINAL REVIEW : Vali-hi Drive-in Movie Theater in Lake Elmo is one of our favorite places to be in the summer & warmer months of the year. We even go towards the end of the season, when it's getting down right cold at night, to see how long we can brave it. ;) The movies start at dusk or just after dark, so if you catch all three, you're there until the wee hours of the morning.

After coining here a few times, we learned we needed to prepare a little more, by bringing mosquito repellent, our own camping chairs, blankets, sunscreen, grill, charcoal, drinks &food. We still buy food from the concession stand to support the owners, because we love this place. We learned to come very early (4-4:30 pm) so all of us could get in front of the line and get the best spaces for us and to bring our boom box, so we don't have to drain our car battery to use the auxiliary switch to keep our car radio on. But, if you choose to use your car radio and your battery goes dead, they have free battery jumpers to help you and are very nice. They also have radios to rent out for a reasonable price.

3 movies are shown each week. They normally start with a kid/family friendly movie. The 2nd feature is a somewhat family friendly movie and they finish up with a feature geared more towards adults, usually with a PG13 or R rating. Sometimes a movie will be held over a week or two, you can always check their website on Fridays for the current movies.

I wish there were more of these places. Vali-Hi is the only one left that has so many options....

Cheap entry price for two movies! Since all the regular theaters are closed, I went here not really sure what to expect from a drive-in but I had a good time. Lots of space, very easy to understand the instructions for what we needed to do. Adhering to COVID safety guidelines, staff were all wearing masks and had social distancing rules in place.

REMEMBER TO BRING A BATTERY-POWERED RADIO! Using your car radio isn’t recommended for this. Definitely just bring along a boombox with batteries.

Elephant in the room time. So why only three stars?

1. The projection quality for one of the movies was fine, but the other was projected too high for the screen, so the top of the screen was cut off, and this was never fixed over the course of the movie.

2. Concession stand prices were super inflated. I guess that’s the business model, but still. Points, however, for having a large menu with lots of options.

3. Soggy popcorn. The saddest of movie treats.

4. It’s cash-only. Tickets, concessions, everything. It’s 2020. You can’t take a debit card? Or even a check? They have an ATM on-site, but there’s only one.

5. Limited accessibility. They don’t play the movies with subtitles nor do they offer closed caption devices.

6. The movies start whenever the mood takes the projectionist, I guess? Box office opened at something like 6:30 but the movie didn’t start until three HOURS after that. I would have brought a deck of cards if I knew I would have to be waiting WELL after the “dusk” start time they advertise on their website. I could have watched like two other movies in the time it took them to start playing the movies I paid to get into. Either clarify what the hell “dusk” means exactly or just give a specific start time when you know it’ll be well after sunset.

I’d come here again, but probably bring my own food + drinks (it’s allowed, but you can’t order food and have it delivered to the theater) and wait for a time they play either silent movies or movies with subtitles. And bring me a...