In part 1, I reviewed the movies playing at the Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan’s 24-hour movie marathon. In part 2, let’s recap what event itself was like. I hope I can convince you to come next year!
The Event
The Emagine theater in Novi is an 18-screen theater in a large shopping district conveniently located off Interstate 96. The doors opened to the movie marathon crowd at 9:00 AM for check-in. The volunteers and fellow movie goers mingled a bit at the entryway. Everyone was friendly and there was a good vibe going.
At check-in, if you’ve met the minimum fundraising goal, you got a wristband which gets you a free pass to any movie, any time, throughout the day. You also got a goodie bag, a refillable bucket of popcorn, and a refillable cup for fountain drinks. Food, drink, shelter, and free entertainment. You basically have everything you need to survive for the next 24 hours.
The goodie bag contained an assortment of candy and a few coupons for local businesses. And I was delighted to see they included a toothbrush and toothpaste. My hat is off to the foundation for thinking of the breath of the guests at 2:00 AM after about 10 sodas and an indeterminate amount of popcorn.
The goody bag also included a few free raffle tickets. A few smart volunteers sold more tickets to marathoners later in the evening. I bought about 20 and put most of them on the necklace from a local Jeweler in hopes of getting free brownie points with my wife. I also put a few on a giant meat and cheese gift case.
The prize drawing was at 9:00 PM. Alas, it was not to be. My numbers were not drawn..
Dinner was catered by Buffalo Wild Wings and featured wings in three different sauces, fries, and a salad option. Thanks to them for volunteering to feed us fundraisers!
The theater had a self-serve soda creator, the Coke Freestyle. I realized the tremendous potential this device contained at a movie marathon. What if I tried all the diet coke flavors over the course of the movie marathon? I had to collect them all!
And collect them all I did. My official report is as follows:
- Diet Coke with cherry, vanilla, cherry vanilla, and lime were all pretty good.
- Diet Coke with lemon – meh – not as good as lime.
- Diet Coke with raspberry – we are starting to enter some weird territory here.
- Diet Coke with orange – I do not endorse this flavor combo. About as good as mouthwash and orange juice.
I learned after the fact that the Coca-Cola freestyle has an app because…well – why not? I could have increased my efficiency by pre-selecting my drink mix on my phone prior to using the machine. Ah well. There is always next time.
As far as the theater itself went, the Emagine theater was big, clean, and looked nice. This theater was unique: it has a bar with cocktails and multiple local beers. I would have appreciated the novelty of a drink and a movie, but I stay away from the alcohol on movie marathons (caffeine only!). One theater had leather seats with large armrests. I do appreciate the trend toward luxury seating in movie theaters.
The Gear
As I mentioned in my previous post, I brought a variety of gear to get me through the marathon. Here are some highlights:
- One spare external battery was all I needed to keep my cell phone alive for the duration of the marathon. No need to plug into anything else.
- The facial cleansing wipes felt awesome after a full day and night of movie marathoning with no shower. I’ll be bringing those again!
- I brought a sleeping bag in case I needed it, but staying awake during the movie marathon was a slam dunk this year, and driving home was a non-event. I don’t think I’ll need to pack that again.
Conclusion
The Hollywood Nights 24-Hour movie marathon was a great event! I’m looking forward to attending again, and I hope I see you there next time!
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