Secret Cinema - Back to The Future

By now you have probably heard of Secret Cinema and their amazing film showing of Back To The Future, complete with recreation of the entire town of Hill Valley!  I decided that this was something we HAD to go to, and booked tickets to surprise Chris.

If you haven't heard of Secret Cinema, they describe themselves as an 'immersive film-experience company'. Their events are pretty frequent, but you have to be on their mailing list to get an invite to their shows. The Back To The Future showing has been the biggest one they have done yet, and it was slightly different in that you could get tickets even if you weren't on their mailing list. I know that in the past they have also based events on Alien, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, and The Grand Budapest Hotel to name a few.

It was all very elaborate, we were sent new identities and professions as well as printable business cards with all of our details including a phone number on!  I was now Miranda Conway and I worked for the Hill Valley Stationers. Chris worked at the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company. We were also told to dress the part in 50's attire, so of course we abliged!

Before we went in we had to hand over any cameras or phones. Obviously because they want to keep the whole thing as secret as possible, they didn't want people instantly posting pictures all over Facebook and Instagram. But also, I think it was to really get people into the spirit of the 1950's, and modern technology would have ruined that somewhat. I think it was a really good idea. They did ,however, sell disposable cameras inside, and I made sure to snap one up quick before they sold out.

The other day I FINALLY got those photos back, so I thought I'd share them with you.

There were so many shops and companies that you could visit, all with different things going on inside.   There were lots of actors and actresses scattered around, some of them characters from the film. On our way to the venue we ran into Biff's friends and Chris got bullied by the guy who wears the 3D glasses. What a meanie!

There was a great fun fair, but there was just so much to do we didn't get a chance to go on any of the rides.

There was a little school advertising the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance, which you will remember from the film. In the school hall the dance was happening, and there was an amazing band playing, which we thought were so good we have now put them up on The Band Boutique here.

There was a male vocal harmony trio performing intermittently called the Texatones, they also worked for the garage, hence the outfits! They were great!

There were houses of all the main characters from the film that you could have a look in. Here I am posing outside one of them with a pram!

And here I am at George McFly's House!

The film was projected onto the front of the clock tower, and there were actors performing all the main parts of the movie alongside it.  We saw Marty catch a ride with his skateboard on a van, with Biff and the gang chasing him. We saw the Delorean emerge in a cloud of smoke, and Doc brown risking his life hanging from the clock tower in the finale! It was all very dramatic!

Really, there was too much going on to mention it all, but I did come home with a few souvenirs.  The postcards and the newspaper were free to pick up, and I bought a Town Fair flag for £1.50. I also bought myself a T-Shirt.

It really was an amazing experience. You could tell that everyone there had totally bought into it, nearly everyone was dressed up in 50's clothes. It was a blast. I would definitely recommend signing up to their mailing list, as any future events are sure to be awesome too! You can register for future events here.

Did you go? If you did what did you enjoy most?

Laura xXx

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A Hidden Gem - Ice Cream and Video Games

  Today I have a story for you of a delicious Gelato bar with a difference!Chris and I have resumed our weekly dates, where we each organise a surprise outing every Thursday. Last week Chris took me to Chewton Glen in New Milton, for a very posh 3 course dinner. It was delicious (I instagrammed the food if you want to take a look). Weirdly that very same night as we were watching the telly, we noticed Chewton Glen pop up on 'I Wanna Marry Harry' (not that I watch that sort of thing! Winkey smiley). Obviously that's where the fake royals hang out!

Anyway, this week I decided to take Chris out to a Gelato bar in Southampton that my friend had told me about. Apparently the food was great, and it had one even bigger selling point, retro gaming stations at the tables! Whaaaat!?

It was a tough decision which table to sit at, as each one had a different make of console. Luckily it wasn't busy at all, so we managed to have a go on each of them by swapping tables every time we fancied a new one.

I chose a rasberry sorbet smoothie and a lemon and sugar crepe, while chris had a mountain of chocolate ice cream and a coffee. Yummy!

We played Crash Team Racing, Mario Cart, and my favourite, since the Sega Megadrive was my weapon of choice as a youngster, Sonic and Tails! I'd never played it 2 player before though, so that was a treat!

Here I am probably loosing miserably at Mario Cart. I did come 7th once though, so not all bad!

Afterwards we went to see Dawn of The Planet of The Apes, which I think was pretty darn good. Especially the apes, they are amazing, it's crazy how far technology has come to be able to make a film like this!

Weirdly Tooti's don't seem to advertise that they have games on their website, so it is a bit of a hidden gem!  If you're near the Southampton area any time soon I'd definitely suggest popping in.

Are there any hidden gems near you that you know about?

Laura xXx

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