To be utterly pissed off at the price of the cinema and all it entails?

[orangeandlemons]

Took dd today. Bus fares into town and back£4.00, tickets £12.00 ( one adult one child in cheapest cinema, many more much much more expensive) booking fee £1.55 ( just the mention of booking fees sends me into meltdown).
Bottle of juice and small bag of seats purchased outside cinema, am never going to pay their prices) total about £ 21.00.

And yet! And yet! Massive queues of people forking out for nachos, hot dogs, popcorn etc etc. How do people afford this.!? Am totally mystified. By people I mean normal people who only go now and then to take kids, not ones who are members of clubs. If I had bought the crap in the cinema, total would have been nearer £30.00. To see a a 90 minute film. How much is that per minute? 60p a minute?

And as for 3d. Have never ever seen it, as refuse to pay for it, and never will!

Cineworld are the best place for getting round this. It will sound like I work for them now (I don't), but they make cinema going affordable. Kids' club showings are £1 each or 90p if you join mycineworld (free) and book online. No booking fee.

Me and DS went to see Rise of the Guardians yesterday for £1.80, picked up tickets at the machine so no need to queue behind everyone buying the overpriced snacks.

Bag searching? Has never happened to me. I'm sure it varies from one place to another but like many mums I usually carry a largish handbag anyway and stash multipacks of Haribo, chocolate buttons etc bought at the supermarket in there, plus bottles of drink. It's always been fine. The staff are very nice (though as someone said above, if management are reading this, then they are very strict about searching )

The other really good thing they do is that they're now doing the £1 kids' club showings all through half term. So ROTG is on every morning this week at that price, as is Madagascar 3, I think.

Vue is ok at kids' club (theirs is 1.50 but still with booking fee if you buy online, so I usually turn up and take my chances). Odeon version is two tickets for £2.50, I think (both child and adult) so not terrible if there's an even number of you, but less good if you're, say, 1 parent and 2 kids.

The other tricks to use are going on Wednesday if you can do Orange Wednesdays and get 2 for 1, or, again at Cineworld, going on Tuesdays when the prices are lower, again especially if you get the mycineworld discount. If I am going on my own, I try to go on Tuesday; if going with someone else, I go on Wednesday and get 2 for 1. DS gets regular kids' club visits with the occasional trip at full price but using any other discounts I can gather up.

The one downside is that my local Cineworld is pretty shabby, but I can live with that. The local Odeon is freshly done out and has whizzy massage seats and whatnot but then you are back to high prices, so I forsake it.

MT that is appalling - how can they do that?

Cineworld is the cheapest around here. We tend to go during the day now (as we're a couple of old farts). The tickets are at their cheapest, book online to get 10% off and no booking fee.

Empire and Odeon cinemas near us too but much more expensive and a bloody booking fee!!!

mechanical We're on the same page again .

I was searched there in my pre-Cineworld days, in 2004. When did it happen to you?

Haven't read the whole thread but do you have a vue cinema near you? They do a kids am thing every weekend and during the school holidays. It's £1.75 each, and although it's not always a good film I took dd today and it was rise of the guardians! So we spent £3.50 and smuggled our own drinks and sweets! Bargain!

Southeast, oh, it wasn't so long ago. Maybe two years ago if that.

Smiteyou. I loved the ABC. Used to go often as a teen. Festival Park killed it.

The odeon near us makes me want to weep at some of the prices, my dad took dd to see madagasca 3 and it cost £19 - my dad said he nearly fainted

They do however do a good kids club which runs on weekends and holidays, that costs £2.50 and adult goes free - much more reasonable!

Last time I took dd to the kids club I said she could choose 10 sweets from the pick and mix - it cost £1.40 I nearly fainted, they weren't even heavy ones!!!

I find it depressing tbh, going to the cinema used to be a way for working class people to relax, now its way out of the reach of most working class people

countrykitten I know what you mean about the food and it's the only thing I don't like about going to a Cineworld. One reason I enjoy going to the BFI Southbank is that they don't allow food.

Most cinemas don't care if you bring your own food

Cineworld say: Neither alcohol nor hot food may be brought onto the premises. Only hot food bought on the premises may be consumed on the premises. Alcohol may only be purchased and consumed in Cineworld licensed bar areas or in licensed screens and licensing laws will be strictly enforced.

so you can bring sweets and pop just not chips or wine!

I think most are the same - we only have The Odeon to go to - it's pricey but we take our own snacks

If anyone has a disability or a child with a disability you may be eligible for a cinema exhibitors association card.

www.ceacard.co.uk

Costs £5.50 for the card for a year but entitles someone to accompany you free at the cinema.

I looked at terms for odeon and it too only said no hot food/alcohol. There's a costa at ours so you can take their stuff in

I usually get one if the £3.99 snack pack things. Small bag if popcorn, packet of sweets and a drink. Dd doesn't like popcorn so she eats sweets and I have popcorn.

I always put sweets etc in handbag, not been searched yet.

Ds went with friends and they got searched (had rucksacks) even though they brought food from the concession and just had 'stuff' in bags.

Are boys bags more likely to be searched than girls/ handbags? Is it an age thing?

According to Time, cinemas make 85% profit from the food and drinks they sell.

Gosh, I only go if there's a £1.00 ticket available on Saturday morning or in the holidays.
(It's slightly more if we go to the Vue rather than the Cineworld)
We take our own snack, and arrive late enought o avoid the damned Nurdles.
Bus fare £1.40 each way.

You woz robbed.

I wish we had a cineworld in our area, it's just odeon where I am

My local cinema has an IMAX screen, tickets are £15 for an adult!!

The cinema we go to costs £2.50 during the week, £3.50 at the weekend. That's a flat rate, same price for everyone, 2D or 3D, whatever time of day. They have four screens and do show new films the week they come out, they have autism friendly screenings, baby cinema every week during term time (in a screen with large spaces in between the rows so plenty of space for prams and general baby crap, I sit DD on the floor to play). They also have special film seasons, reasonably priced snacks and very friendly staff.

Oh, god, those nachos. They STINK. How can anyone pay so much for a tiny tray of nachos and a manky pot of gunk that smells like foot rot? The cinema is just one big pit of slurping, munching, chewing. Gross.

We have lunch before we go, and eat in the evening when we get home. Why all these bucket sized drinks and industrial quantities of popcorn?

Do people in other ocuntries (U.S excepted) eat theier way through every film?

You are so not wrong about the nachos carling. They are truly disgusting. The cheese is like nothing I ever want to see let alone taste again.

I bought them thinking, naively, that they would be similar to what I make, tortilla crisps, salsa, sour cream, chopped chillies and tons of melted cheese. Ohh noo

I get cardboard tortillas and Something that smells and looks like kingkongs willy cheese.

Bleurggh

lol at 'kingkongs willy cheese'

The coffee is also horrible. I once ordered one as a treat at a morning showing and could't finish it. Think it had been made with old grounds. I did complain when doing a customer survey so hopefully they have improved since then! I really might have to think about stowing a flask in my large handbag as I mostly go to the kids' morning showings and a nice coffee would really hit the spot.

And yes, the nachos look and smell awful. All the hot food always looks dire.

oh forgot to mention 3d!

i get free 3d on my cineworld card too. up until november, you had to pay an extra £1.50 for it... but then they brought out the platinum card, so now its free. you pay a one off price for the glasses (£1.20) and just reuse them each time you see 3d

i have also never been searched and seen no one else get search either. sometimes its obvious that i have my own lunch with me and they've never said a word.

last january i even took in a green tea from costa and they didnt say anything... though that might be due to the fact that the heating was broken (which we knew about) and it was fecking freezing. i have never been so cold in my life... and me and dh had layers... scarfs, gloves, thick coats, hats etc on and im convinced my goose pimps had babies that day, there were so many

I took DS to see Monsters Inc 3D the other week. I took in my own snacks and drinks and it STILL came to £16 for the two of us

Cheeky fuckers at Odeon make you buy the 3D glasses for £1.50, whereas at the Reel cinemas (which are much nicer actually) you just borrow some and put them back in the box at the end of the film.

And FWIW, the 3D effects were shit. Not the Odeon's fault I know but there was about 3 seconds in the film where you could see any 3D effect.

At our cineworld they don't search handbags but if you have a shopping bag or something then depending on who is taking the tickets they do search and you have to leave it with them until you come out. Learnt my lesson from that!

We go to kids am at Vue.

You can take in your own snacks so long as they don't include alcohol or hot food, which is fair enough.

The prices are very reasonable (£3 for a ticket to a 3D movie, which includes the glasses) but the short film / long advert you have to sit through first (the one about toothpaste) is so awful that it actually defies description.