Amusement Park Drive-In
7335 Mossmain Lane,
Billings,
MT
59106
7335 Mossmain Lane,
Billings,
MT
59106
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
406.245.3212
Nearby Theaters
The Amusement Park Drive-In is a family operation catering for family audiences. Riley Cooke said in the Billing Gazette that he tore down the screen from the Park Drive-In (1946-2003) in Cody, Wyoming, and trucked it to Billings. He started rebuilding it in 2004 and opened the drive-in on June 26, 2005. In 2007 a second screen was added.
The 500-car operation shows movies on both sides of the 60 x 80 foot screen, projected from one booth that was a wooden caboose, and another booth that was a circus truck.
The Billy Gazette said that the largest screen could accommodate 305 vehicles while the small screen has room for 163. Since they used to be in the carnival ride business, their amusement park consists of carnival rides, a roller coaster and they plan on adding more. For pizza lovers, Vickie Cooke, who is in charge of the concessions, makes pizzas fresh daily.
Sadly, the all wood-framed screen was destroyed by fire on June 7, 2022.
Contributed by
Mark Gulbrandsen
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
There are some photos on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/4bvhk6
This is the correct website The one projection booth is a 1909 wooden caboose and the second was a 1939 circus trailer. There was a bit more history on the page I submitted too bad it wasn’t moved to this page. Still the address need to be corrected to the same address as their webpage.
The long-as-your-arm domain amusementparkdriveinonline.com, active last year, is now just parked. Looks like it’s keeping its Now Showing updates on Facebook.
The Internet Archive captured the old site’s History page in painful all caps. I’ll paste it here for posterity:
THE AMUSEMENT PARK DRIVE-IN SCREEN, MARQUEE, AND SIGN ARE FROM THE OLD PARK DRIVE-IN FROM CODY, WYOMING. (WHICH OPENED IN 1946 AND RAN THRU 2003). WE TORE DOWN THE WOODEN SCREEN TOWERS, MARQUEE, AND SIGN AND HAULED ALL TO BILLINGS. WE RE-BUILT THE SCREEN AND BUILT THE REST OF THE DRIVE-IN DURING 2004 AND 2005 AND OPENED IN JULY OF 2005.
SHOWING MOVIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE SCREEN IS OUR OWN CONCEPT. THE FRONT PROJECTION BOOTH IS A 1909 WOODEN CABOOSE THAT I HAVE OWNED FOR 20 YEARS. MY FRIEND AND PROJECTIONIST, CHARLES CARON AND I HAVE MOVED IT 4 TIMES THRU THE YEARS. MY WIFE WOULD BRING IT UP WHENEVER WE HAD A DISAGREEMENT “WE HAVE A CABOOSE”. SO YOU CAN SEE WHY I HAD TO USE IT! THE BACK PROJECTION BOOTH IS A 1938 CIRCUS TRUCK THAT I BOUGHT OUT OF THE BILLINGS GAZETTE FOR $300.00 AND REBUILT IN OUR SHOP. WE LIKE TO DO THINGS THAT MAKE US DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE.
OUR AMUSEMENT PARK CONSISTS OF SEVERAL RIDES WE USED ON THE CARNIVAL AND WE ARE WORKING ON ADDING MORE THIS SUMMER. WE ARE ALSO THE ONLY DRIVE-IN WITH A ROLLER COASTER THAT GOES ALL THE WAY AROUND OUR SCREEN!!
THIS DRIVE-IN HAS BEEN A LABOR OF LOVE FOR MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS SO THAT YOUR FAMILY CAN ENJOY A TRUE AMERICAN FAMILY EXPERIENCE!!
WE WILL SEE YOU “AT THE MOVIES UNDER THE STARS”
Second screen opened in 2007. 500 cars.
Over a dozen years ago, a fire destroyed the wooden double-screen of the Admiral Twin in Tulsa. It was replaced by an all-metal screen.
Not only is the new screen sturdier, it is also insured. The old wooden screen was too expensive to insure. So, I wonder if the screen at this drive-in being made of wood was insured at all?
An article in the Billings Gazette quoted owner Riley Cook in saying that the wooden tower, “moved to Laurel from Cody, Wyoming about 17 years ago,” was uninsured. “I didn’t have a dime of insurance on it because you can’t insure an old wood framed screen like that,” Cook said.