Moviegoing--Alfresco : Recreation: Low cost, comfort and privacy continue to lure residents to that steadily vanishing form of entertainment, the drive-in theater.

When Jane Dickey’s three children fall asleep in the movie theater and are ready to go home, she doesn’t have to carry them out to the car. They’re already there.

Dickey, an Anaheim resident with three children under age 7, is one of the dwindling number of people who prefer the drive-in theater, a steadily vanishing form of entertainment once a Mecca of first-run summer flicks in Orange County, now all but replaced by that money-making machine of modern moviegoing: the multiplex.

As recently as 1985, there were as many as nine drive-ins in Orange County. Today, there are only four, including one that is not yet open for the summer and one that shows Spanish-language films. Nationally, the number of drive-in screens has dropped from 4,063 in 1958 to 910 today, said Jim Kozak, a spokesman for the National Assn. of Theatre Owners.

In their heyday, drive-ins offered folks in suburban Orange County a chance to see first-run movies, especially the popular summer releases, without having to drive to Los Angeles. Since then, many have become victims of a proliferation of walk-in, multi-screen cinemas, soaring property values that resulted in many drive-ins being sold to make room for housing developments or malls, and the increasing popularity of videocassette players.

But for those who prefer sitting under the stars while gazing at stars on the screen, there is no substitute--particularly on those warm summer nights.

Dickey was happy to discover the Stadium 8 Drive-Ins in Orange--an alfresco answer to the proliferation of walk-in multiplexes--last year after moving to Anaheim from Monterey, where the closest open-air screen was about 30 miles away.

“I drove by it on the way somewhere else and then came back,” Dickey said. “Then I just kept coming back.”

“The nicest thing about going to the drive-in is I can bring three kids and they can play,” she said, watching her children, Elizabeth, 7, Christopher, 3, and Stephanie, 18 months, run between a slide and swings in the play area near the theater’s snack bar. “Then I can watch the movie without having to worry about them climbing over people or running through the aisles.”

Like many people with children, Dickey said drive-ins let her get out of the house without having to find a baby-sitter. And since her husband often travels, the kids can be a handful.

Many folks with children say the drive-in is an economical alternative to the walk-in theater, where a family can easily shell out $20 to $30 to see one movie. At the Stadium 8 Drive-Ins, which shows double features on its eight screens, adults are admitted for $4.75, children ages 11 to 15 $2.75, and children under 11 get in for free.

“With the budget the Marine Corps gives you, you’ve got to watch it,” said Larry Jackson, a combat engineer. He and his wife, Annette, regularly pile their two children in the car and drive from Capistrano Beach to the Stadium 8 Drive-Ins.

But economic reasons are not the only draw for drive-in aficionados such as the Jacksons.

“You can watch the movie in the privacy of your own car or laugh out loud or make a comment and not bother anyone,” Jackson said. “We’ve been going to the drive-ins since before we got married in ’83.”

Comfort and privacy are other big pluses, moviegoers say.

“It’s more kick-back here, and you can quote me on that,” said Jackie Smith as she relaxed under a pile of blankets in the back of a white pickup with her boyfriend, Steve Miller, and his two children, Stephen, 14, and Michelle, 11.

Some moviegoers even bring lawn chairs, setting them up near the car.

At Stadium 8 Drive-Ins, there are no previews, but moviegoers can take a look around at the other seven screens.

“You can see what else is playing and say, ‘Hey, that looks pretty good,’ ” said Nathan Bingham of El Toro, who came to see “Soapdish” and “He Said, She Said” with his wife, Lisa, and their two sons, Jonathan, 2, and Matthew, 6 months.

“Plus, we usually stay for both features,” Bingham said. “You can’t beat having two movies.”

Families, though, are not the only drive-in fans.

Joy Maddux, 18, a senior at Fullerton Union High School, and some of her friends have rediscovered what was once a big teen-age summer hangout.

“We come every once in a while because it’s cheaper than the regular theater,” said Maddux, there to see “Backdraft” and “Kindergarten Cop” with her friend, Lionel Moreno III. “Plus you can make noise here. Everyone always tells me to shut up at the walk-in.”

And besides, Maddux said, drive-ins have another big advantage: “Your feet don’t stick to the floor.”