The Roberson family set up their lawn chairs in the middle of a gravel parking lot right as the sun set July 11.

“Will you pass me some Reese’s Pieces?” Lora Roberson called from the end of their makeshift row.

The Robersons nabbed the perfect center row at the Harpersville Drive In.

“We come here all the time,” Casey Roberson said. “It’s a lot more laid back than watching a movie in the theater.”

Casey, his wife Candy, their two daughters Lora and Madi and their niece Makenzie traveled from Sylacauga to watch “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”

Kids anxious to see some of their favorite characters on the gigantic screen scampered around them.

Madison Martin of Chelsea loved the scale of it all.

“Its really cool because it has this big screen and you turn your radio to listen to the characters,” Martin said.

Open seven days a week, shows begin around 8:20 each night.

Double features cost $5 per person, but on typical nights carloads only cost $10.

“We really love the cost,” Candy Roberson said. “It would cost us at least $50 just for tickets for our family. When we come here we just stop by Walmart and grab a few snacks. It’s so much cheaper for families.”

Martin’s soccer team took advantage of the price. They piled multiple players into vans and heading down U.S. 280 from North Shelby.

“I like it because you can walk around and talk to your friends,” said Sara Scherer of North Shelby. “We have like three more carloads of our soccer team coming.”

Nessa Goggans of Sylacauga began bringing her daughter Alison to the drive in when she was 3.

Goggans and her daughter agreed that it was a fun atmosphere. She said it is an easy way to entertain kids.

“There’s not much you can take kids to anymore,” Goggans said. “You usually see blankets full of kids out here.”

Even the adults get into the youthful, family-friendly shows and the atmosphere.

“It makes you feel young again,” Cheryl Sterling of Sylacauga said. “When I first came to watch a movie here, I hadn’t been to a drive in since I was 16.”

Sterling’s son just turned 16. Friday night he brought his first date to a double feature.