OpenAir Cinema Mrs Macquarie's Chair

   For nearly twenty years now we've made the annual trip once and twice BC [before children] to the OpenAir Cinema in Sydney. I think I've blogged about it every year...
   A temporary stand to seat 5000 people is built in the Domain with a view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The seating is rows of locked together sebel plastic chairs. The screen is on a fixed pontoon in the water and it is raised into place ahead of the pre screening adverts.
   The formerly Phillips OpenAir is now sponsored by St George Building Society and large middle section of deckchairs are for a few hundred account holders. There is a VIP sponsors bar for celebs...
   The catering and bar area serve Belinda Franks catered gourmet food and charge the cost of a small child per drink.
   The ticketing has changed over the years with technology and we figure with print at home tickets we now need to queue 30mins earlier from 5.30pm to have a run at our favourite 'general admission' seats.
   You put your name on a card on your seats. One runs there and the other grabs a spot at a table... Apparently the catering area has been redesigned this year to allow more dining seats. We like to get the seating row with the crossover aisle behind for the film...
   The seats are the only drawback so our rule is not to see films over 2 hours... no J. Edgar I'm afraid... perhaps 'The Ides of March'!! Tix are onsale from 9am tomorrow and films will sell out [they keep a few hundred for each night but it's a long queue until that allocation is exhausted... best to pre purchase!!]
   It's a great day of shopping, relaxed dinner and spectacular setting for an outdoor film screening.
   Free ponchos are distributed on showery nights and only extreme weather would see a cancellation... We've been very lucky in all that time... this years weather patterns are not encouraging... check out the season program and details here...