What to Expect, and What to Expect to Not Expect

This here post is all about what you should expect, or not expect, if you and your gang are planning on coming to see a movie at the Old Michigan Theater in the next week or so. Or just you, you don't have to bring your gang with. It is totally okay to go to the movies by yourself, don't let anybody convince you otherwise.

So we know some of you are excited to see all the extensive renovations we have done since last fall. I have some great news for you! You get to hold on to that excitement for a while longer! We did get quite a bit done, however most of what we did is not readily apparent. For example, we installed exit signs, smoke detectors, fixed the outside poster displays so they open AND close, fixed the lighting in the concessions area, mounted fire extinguishers, added the address to the front of the building, cleaned up the back alley, fixed the lighting in the lobby, changed some old light fixtures in the office and bathrooms, did some repairs on the arcade machines, obtained another non-functioning arcade machine to fix, patched the seats that had holes in them, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And, I would be willing to bet that you wouldn't have noticed most of those things if I hadn't just told you. I suppose what I am trying to say is, most of the work we did will not be super noticeable, if it even is at all.

A couple things that you will probably notice are the cool “new” old projector we have, and the concessions counter. The projector used to live at the Tivoli Theater in Stephenson. They unfortunately shut down and auctioned what was left in the building, which is how we got the projector. It is the same model that used to run at the Michigan Theater back in the day. It will probably never show movies again, but we still think it is perdy darn neat. We also started refinishing the concessions counter. We had full intentions to have it refinished before opening, but it ended up being a bit more of a project than we anticipated...so it is not done... If we had finished it, you may not have noticed it, but as it sits you will definitely be able to tell that it is being worked on. So, to sum it up, don't expect to notice any huge changes. Do expect to notice a lot of little things though, if you look for them.

A few things we worked on that you definitely won't notice is all the talking to plumbers, contractors, the health department, etc. I won't bother you with those details here, but once those projects are finished you will for sure notice them! And we will keep working on the small stuff through the summer, like painting where it needs it and whatnot.

If you came to either of our movies last fall, you can expect things to be similar to that experience. The prices are the same, same concessions, same cool people working there. You may notice some special concessions pop up once in a while. A perfect example of this will be the special candy bar selection during our showings of The Goonies. I will not say what that is, but if you know, you know, and if you don't, you will know after watching the movie. * Wink ;D * If you went to one of the last shows last year, then you may notice that the building will be a bit warmer this time. While I would love to take credit for that, I cannot. You will have to thank Mother Nature for that. I hope I don't have to explain that one.

If you are reading this obnoxiously long post, then that means you probably already read our last post and you probably already know that you should not expect our bathrooms to be available. If you are reading this and did not read the last post, well...don't expect our bathrooms to be available. I know we really believed they would be all fixed up by now, but sometimes believing is not enough. You heard me, Tinker Bell would die in this cruel reality we live in. In fact, sometimes hard work isn't even enough. So, as much as it stinks (pun intended), we will have a port-a-potty available behind the building again for all of you lovely people. (Just kidding about the pun, the port-a-potty we had last year didn't really stink). So I suppose you can expect that to be the same as last year also. Thank you for your patience, we honestly do appreciate it.

Expect free play. If I was a normal person, I may play this off as us just trying to be nice, but I cannot tell a lie. We will not have our “Arcade License” before we open, so we can't legally charge you guys to play the games. The only way to let you guys play them is to let you play them for free. So we could either leave them all shut off, or set them to free play. We set them to free play. Don't worry though, we will have our “Arcade License” in a week or two and then we will get to take all of your quarters in exchange for your time on the machines. So Paulette, you will get to play Millipede for free, at least for this first weekend.

Lastly, I feel fairly confident that you can expect to experience these movies in a way you have not yet been able to, at least maybe not since the 80's for some of you. I dare say you may even expect to have a good time. I double dog dare say you expect to be disappointed next time you see one of these movies on a tiny screen, since it is so much better on the big screen. I double dog doctor dare say that you can expect to want to come back for more.

I think I covered everything you can expect, or not expect, if you plan on attending one of the upcoming show times. Feel free to tell all of your friends what you learned here today. Also feel free not to. Just feel free I guess, don't let me tell you what to feel free to do.