Silver Moon Drive-In Review & Tips

Located about an hour west from Disney World you will find an old-fashioned, budget-friendly drive-in movie theater. Silver Moon Drive-In Movie Theater in Lakeland, Florida is one of the few drive-in theaters left in Florida. The theater has been around since 1948. It is one of my favorite cheap date nights because of the price, coziness, and good food.

Silver Moon Drive-In

If you are spending the day at Legoland this would be a great way to end your day on a relaxing note since it is nearby. This drive-in plays first-run movies and you always get two movies for the price of one.

You can listen to the audio either from your car radio or from the few available old-fashioned speaker boxes in the back rows. Smaller cars park in the front, large trucks and SUVs are encouraged to park in the back.

How much does a movie at Silver Moon cost?

Silver Moon Drive-In costs $6 per screen, per person. There are two screens located at Silver Moon. Each screen presents two movies each night but you only pay once. I went the other day and watched Captain Marvel and Dumbo for just $6. You can’t do that at AMC Disney Springs!

Silver Moon Concession Stand

At your typical movie theater, you pay an arm and a leg and sometimes two arms for some popcorn and a soda. This is not the case at Silver Moon. All the food is decently priced.

I really liked the Pepperoni Pizza. It is a thin crust and has a little bit of a zesty flavor. The pizzas are made to order so give them enough time to get your pizza made before the movie starts. The sound is not piped into the concession stand since it services two screens.

We also tried the mozzarella sticks. They were good and I think they come with the same tasty sauce the pizza is made with. Again these are made to order so give them time to make them.

Can You Bring Your Own Food?

While I do tend to always try to buy something from the concession stand since I want to support this local business, there are no rules I could find about not bringing your own food in. I always have. They don’t check your car or even look. For watching Dumbo, I made my own Dumbo-inspired popcorn mix. Since we drink lots of water, we always bring our own water.

Top Tips for Enjoying a Drive-In Movie

Opening Weekends. If you are planning to watch a movie during an opening weekend, get there a bit early. For The Last Jedi, we were there about 2 hours early. For End Game opening weekend, we plan on being there a few hours early to make sure we have an awesome spot to watch the movie from.
Fuel Up. If you plan on running your car engine, which is what we do so we have air conditioning here in Florida, make sure you fill up before you get there. If you going off your battery only and need a jump at the end, the theater has jump boxes to get you started again.
Sit Outside Your Vehicle. If the weather is nice you could just bring some lawn chairs and enjoy the movie sitting outside your car. Bring a battery operated radio with extra batteries so you have sound.
Wear Comfy Clothes. Since Silver Moon usually has double features and keeps you out later, wear your jammies so you can go straight to bed.
Be Considerate. All car lights, even parking lights are supposed to be turned off. For the comfort of everyone in your vehicle and your drive-in neighbors also shut off your in-car lights as well. Since we broadcast the sound through the radio and can’t turn off those lights, we bring a towel to cover the dash.
Things to Bring:
- Blankets & Pillows– Get comfy in your car with a pillow and blanket. I like getting small, fleece travel blankets.
- Bug Spray – If you plan on having your windows open or setting chairs outside of your vehicle, grab some bug spray so the Florida mosquitos don’t eat you up.
- Snacks & Concession Money. Like I said I like bringing snacks and also supporting this local business so it can stay in business. Since Silver-Moon has double features, I try to ration out the snacks so I am not left empty for the second movie.
- You Can Bring Your Pet. Someone in a car in front of mine had their cat. There are pet potty locations, but I think you need to bring your own poop bags.
Click here to see more about the Silver Moon Drive-In and its movie schedule.