2013: Fork and Screen

After work yesterday, we headed into Down Town Disney to experience AMC's Fork and Screen. This is where you watch a movie and eat dinner at the same time!

All the movies were sold out except for Disney's Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger is Disney's latest flop staring Johnny Depp. They attempted to recreate the Pirate of the Caribbean franchise. But instead they created a $200M loss. No one cares about westerns anymore. No one knows the actor who played The Lone Ranger. No one remembers the Lone Ranger. And they went for a younger audience but made the movie unnecessarily PG13. They put too much crap into the movie that took away from the story. Mix that with a story that was suffering from ADHD, and you produce a very expensive flop - on the magnitude of John Carter.

The dining experience was nice. The chairs are similar to a lazy boy that reclines back allowing one to rest their legs on bars that run under the table. When it is time to eat, however, it becomes a challenge to sit on the edge of the seat so you can lean on the bar like table. The tables are dimly lit and it is nearly impossible to see anything. When you need the waitress, you press a button and wait, and wait, and forget she is coming and get back into the movie and then WHAM there she is. She gives you a quick 15 seconds to explain what you need before running away.

There is a challenge with eating in the dark. It didn't know it until I put it in my mouth that my Macaroni and Cheese was covered in Ritz crackers. All I could do is sink my fork into the darkness of my bowl and hope I stabbed something I wouldn't regret putting into my mouth. My son, who was dipping his French fries, kept accidentally dipping into the mustard!

The ticket prices were expensive, but not unreasonable (as movie tickets go these days) - $11 for a non 3d movie. As everyone knows by the popcorn and candy prices, eating at a movie is very expensive. And eating dinner is outrageous. My wife and I had Macaroni and Cheese (with chicken and bacon). One son had a burger and Another had a grilled cheese. We split deserts. With tax and tip it came to nearly $100 (not including the movie ticket).

Would I do it again? Probably not. I thought the idea of dining while watching a movie was a great idea. But now that I have experienced it? I think that eating a big bucket of popcorn is better than trying to eat a dinner, and would be a lot cheaper.