Alice in Wonderland

Last night, Abbie had a sleepover birthday party, so we took the boys to our first movie in Zurich. They wanted to see How To Train Your Dragon or Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Unfortunately, neither movie was playing in English at a time that worked for us, so we settled on Invictus, which was playing at a good time, in English. But, if you noticed the blog title, that didn't quite work out. We got a bit lost on the way to theater, had actually GPSed the wrong theater, and took an extra 45 minutes getting there. It worked out great though, because we arrived in time to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D, which was a better choice for a movie theater experience. We all liked the movie, and agreed that it was a good choice without Abbie. She would have been really scared. Even Brendan thought that parts were a bit scary.

As I had read, movies in Switzerland are a bit different:

• When you purchase your tickets, the seats are assigned.

• Age limits are strictly enforced. Alice in Wonderland had a minimum age of 6, and a recommended age of 10. Even if a parent brought a 5 year and said they were "ok" to see the movie, they would be denied entrance. The boys wanted to see G.I. Joe when we first arrived in Zurich, but they weren't old enough.

• The theater is spacious, and clean. In addition to a full bar, the snack bars have select your own candy, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and nachos! (C.J. was quite excited about the nachos. They were good, but the cheese was a bit more Swiss than the processed American food stuff we get at home.) John enjoyed a Heineken with his popcorn.

• You have to buy the 3D glasses. They recommend you keep them for the next movie you see!

• The movie ran 25 CHF per adult and 18 CHF per "junior" but that included 5 CHF each for the glasses. So, the movies are definitely more expensive but about what we anticipated.

• Snack bar prices were comparable to the States. Popcorn sizes were the same, but you could only buy .5L of soda -- there were no supersized fountain drinks.
  

• The previews/ads are all in German. (Not that I expected differently...) The movie was subtitled in German, but I knew that going in.

• Halfway through the movie, the movie abruptly stops, the lights come on, and a message saying "Let's have ice cream!" flashes on the screen. Yep, it's an intermission. (The kids thought the movie projector broke down.) I'd looked forward to experiencing it, but it feels really abrupt when the movie ends mid-dialog when you're fully engaged. Oddly, the end of intermission was just as abrupt. No warning at all; the light just went off and the movie started.

• There is free wi-fi. Brendan called Nana to say 'hi" during the intermission, via Skype.

• No one leaves the theater until the credits are done. We figured there was some cool 3D scene at the end, but sadly, it was just people being respectful.

• I'm sure it's unique to this theater, but there are flat screen tv's embedded in the floors throughout the theater. Let's just say that if the men's room is anything like the women's room, no newspapers would be needed.
  

After the movie, we walked through the mall next door to return to our car. The boys were very sad that the Lindt shopping kiosk was closed.