So at 2:30 this afternoon I had this idea -- Let's go to a movie! (Joey and I). I wanted to see "Avatar" in 3-D. I called Bristine, our sometimes babysitter (we don't get out much), and yippee, she was free on short notice. We decided to go to the Megaplex at Thanksgiving Point, 10 minutes away, and Joe suggested I get advance tickets online. I got on Fandango, where it asked for the city where the theatre was. Hmm...Thanksgiving Point is where....Lehi? Typed in Lehi and it came up with a Megaplex, among other things, so I purchased 2 tickets to the tune of 19 bucks (including a $2.00 "convenience fee" -- insert Dana Carvey's Church Lady saying "how conveeeeenient" here). When I printed out the confirmation for our 6:30 show, I noticed the theatre had an American Fork address. Huh. Is Thanksgiving Point in American Fork? Must be.
A few minutes before Bristine came over, I had a nagging feeling. I asked Joe, "So...is Thanksgiving Point in American Fork?" No, he didn't believe it was. "Because that's the address on our ticket confirmation." Well, no matter! We'll just....drive to American Fork. We tried putting the address in the GPS as we were pulling out of the driveway (718 West 180 North) but it scoffed at our amusing Utah ways ("Put in Regular Street Name...None of This West and North Silliness.") We finally gave up on GPS and figured we could find it. Just drive to American Fork and find the coordinates, which we did, with 15 minutes to spare.
Retrieved our pre-paid tickets at the kiosk. Splendid. A sign above the kiosk told us to pick up our 3-D glasses at the ticket booth. When we asked for our 3-D glasses at the ticket booth, the young lady behind the window said, "Avatar's in 2-D. We used to show it in 3-D. But now it's just in 2-D."
Well who wants to see "Avatar" in lowly 2-D? We wanted the mind-blowing, fully caffeinated 3-D experience, $19 be hanged.
It was 20 minutes after six. Maybe Thanksgiving Point had a 6:30 show, too. We called Andy, who was at his computer, to find the number for Thanksgiving Point (801-768-2700). The nice man at Thanksgiving Point told me that yes, there is a 6:30 show and, yes, it's in glorious 3-D and the theatre is only half full. Great...we'll be right there! Save us two chairs!
Pulled in to the lot at 6:32, but what with previews and all, we knew we'd be fine. Joe parked the car and I approached another kiosk to purchase a fresh set of tickets. Ouch...3-D tickets were more expensive. 13 dollars per. But in for a penny, in for....(19 + 13 +13 = 45)...$45! I needed to press a button on the screen for number of tickets desired...so I pressed once for me....and once for Joe, and the kiosk spat out three tickets plus a receipt for $36.00. Oh, guess I only needed to press the one time for, uh, one extra person. (But why $36 and not $39? Maybe we got the group discount?)
Drat. This movie was getting awfully spendy. But whatcha gonna do...go home now in protest? I met Joe outside, hung my head in chagrin, and explained how we were going to be eating pork and beans and toast for dinner every night next week. He was understanding, bless him.
We were only 5 minutes late now and I could hear preview sounds coming through the open theatre door. The movie was actually being shown in the big IMAX theatre where they show the dinosaur flicks. People were streaming in the door....we just streamed right in along with them. No living soul asked to see our tickets (and we had plenty of them).
So, we paid $54 tonight (not counting Bristine's well-earned remuneration) to see a movie that we could've just...walked right in to (not that we WOULD have). And to add insult to injury, Joe left the box of Raisinets (previously purchased at Harmon's, to save money) on the kitchen counter at home.
But it was a cool flick.
And Dad, we were the only ones who stayed after to watch the credits.
The key grip was Richard Mall.
10 comments:
Wow. Since you were so far into it I think you should have bought yourself a nice new movie outfit too! :-)
Wow Denise, that BETTER have been some amazing movie for that price! bless your hearts... let's play this week!
Whoa. You guys are adventurous. I would have just watched the 2-D version while feeling slightly miffed the whole time that I didn't get what I expected.
Reminds me of the time your Mom and I raced through the busy streets of SLC to get to where they were showing "2001, A Space Odyssey" --way back when 2001 seemed a century away.
This blog makes me proud to be your father! All the key grips would also be proud of you.
I'm not sure you would be very proud of me though; I slept through most of the Academy Awards tonight. But woke up in time to see Sandra trying her best to hold back the tears during her acceptance speech.(See previous Barbara Walters interview with her)
When I read a new post from you that is particularly well-written I think "wow, this was her best one yet". And when I read this I thought "this has to be the best one." What an ordeal - and the way you chronicled the fiasco was brilliantly done. And the raisinets being left on the counter - a tragedy. Makes one sick. I want all that money back for you.
Are you kidding me? Wow. What a night.
That is really funny. What an expensive movie..but a nice chance to get out together:)
We saw the lowly 2D version this past Saturday. Do you think the 3D made a big difference?
Only in Utah is it easier to find an address without a GPS.
Yeah, I thought the 3-D was pretty neat. It actually made me kind of dizzy for the first half-hour or so (fun, huh?) until my brain got "orientated." But yes, superb effects (just maybe not $54 worth).
A gem from start to finish. I so related with the "Thanksgiving Point theatre must be in American Fork...huh" comment. It's that amazing capacity in our brains to take an inconvenient truth and squish it around until it becomes a convenient truth...for a minute...
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