Central Drive-In Theatre — Local services in Norton

My best friends brought me here to mark one more item off of my bucket list. I'm 46 years old and had never been to a drive-in theater so right now I have no other drive-in experience to compare it to. I can only tell what it was like experiencing this for the first time. There's something we all love about nostalgia. Movies take advantage of that and often take us on a trip to the past (think Back to the Future). Going to this theater was much like that. It's nestled in a tight, narrow valley in the heart of coal country. A very vague estimate is that it's probably 100x100 yards in size. The back half of the parking lot takes advantage of that fact and is stair-stepped ensuring you'll be able to see over any vehicle unless it's a London double decker bus. In the center of the lot is the grill. Adorning the front of it was a very old but perfectly working neon sign that read "Little Tavern". The building's roof is only about 8 feet high. I'm assuming most drive-ins are built this way. Inside there is a bar where you order, a small dining room and several video games from the 80's and a little machine where you could butter your own popcorn. I'd never seen one of those so I thought that was neat. Everything looked clean and the service was very good. The ladies behind the counter seemed to have pride in their job and did it well. It's relatively dim lit with most of the light coming from the wall mounted menus and the video games. We stuck a couple of quarters in the Ms. Pac-Man game and it was like I had traveled back in time. My best friend and I standing at a video game just like we used to do over 30 years ago. The food was also a blast from the past. The burgers were of the greasy spoon variety without a lot of the grease but the taste was that same great taste. Crinkle cut fries. That's about all I need to say about those. You just can't get fries like that anymore and they were delicious! We went back to the car which we had parked on the second row just off to the right of center. The screen is a wall made of wooden planks painted white. While the movie was playing the picture was very clear and as sharp as my own TV at home. The sound coming from the FM transmitter to our car stereo seemed to have some static but I chalk that up to part of the experience. Being that it was my first time, I found myself looking at the stars in the sky almost as much as I did watching the movie. I'm not saying the movie was bad, in fact it was hilarious but there was just something surreal about watching a movie outside in the stars. The sky was beautiful and then the most beautiful full moon popped up over the mountain just to the left of the screen. Incredible! I'll try to post a picture we took of it with a cell phone. The restrooms were in a little concrete building on the right side of the lot. I never went in them so I can't say anything about them except that the look of the building was also a blast from the past. It was a fantastic experience and I'd love to...

Last time we went was Superman, the staff while ordering food was asking us things like “do you think you’ll be staying for both movies?” and really acting generally rude someone actually showed up to there OPEN drive in on a Wednesday. Food is always great though. We left 10 minutes into the movie as the quality is terrible, cannot see a thing and the screen is straight up dirty with black set-in streaks. The sound through their transmitter was horrible (not our radio, we frequent the drive in). The owners get on Facebook and blame everyone besides themselves for the short comings of the drive in. Legit get into arguments. Drive about 40 more minutes and check out the moonlight. Not because it’s nicer, but because the owners actually seem to care about the experience and feedback from their customers. And $1 more than Central. Makes me very sad as a local who supported for years. Hope it gets better. As of now it’s ran like a gimmick, not...

Went to see a movie here for the first time. Wanted my boyfriend to have the drive in experience. They ruined it! Subtitles on screen and the projection was about an 1/8 too low. I got out of my car and went to the concession stand and asked if it could be fix. Girl at the counter went into the projection booth and asked. I seen the guy walk out and look out the door at the screen and go back in the projection booth. She returned and said “he said he can’t, he doesn’t know how and someone else would have to reset it but they are not here.” Seriously? So my boyfriend contacted them via FB because they apparently did not want to deal with me. He was told everyone who is in charge of the projedtor knows how to operate it. So who is lying guys? The contact? The projection operator? Or the girl at the...