Cineworld Cinemas

...back from visiting my local Cineworld cinema in Falkirk, after having gone on my own to see Rush Hour 3 (which is an ok movie). Anyway I thought I might as well share my experience here. I have to say, I've never had any real problems with this cinema, infact im quite keen on it. Now I'd spent some time planning my outing today as I'm a fairly new driver (only just got my full license under a year ago) and so it was the first time I'd driven through ...
...the phone or through the Cineworld website. I'll go into more details about this under the website section later in the review) to the far left with hardly a soul around, its a very large, quiet area, with the food and drink counter straight ahead and bar and games room to the right (and the corridors leading to all the screens at the back). There's a big space in the middle with nothing much there really, other than this large sort of display made ... more

Introduction

I've just come back from visiting my local Cineworld cinema in Falkirk, after having gone on my own to see Rush Hour 3 (which is an ok movie). Anyway I thought I might as well share my experience here. I have to say, I've never had any real problems with this cinema, infact im quite keen on it. Now I'd spent some time planning my outing today as I'm a fairly new driver (only just got my full license under a year ago) and so it was the first time I'd driven through to Falkirk to go the cinema on my own (this isn't totally off topic, stick with it!) and because of this (and me being me) I was getting pretty excited about it over the last few days and out of curiosity I decided to look up info. about the cinema (ie reviews and what-not) online. I was surprised to see that there were alot of negative reviews about the Falkirk branch, which did surprise me as I have actually been before, with my family back in January to see Casino Royale and in April to see Mr Beans Holiday. Both times were fine really... I was just bored on Friday and decided to see what was on the internet about the cinema, so when I realised people seemed to be saying only bad things about it, I decided that when I was back from my outing today, I'd be sure to have my say on it.

Cinema itself (branch in question being the Falkirk one, in Central Scotland)

Anyway, so now thats out the way lol I had the same experience today that I've had every other time I remember visiting this particular cinema. It wasn't particularly busy, which was fine by me, actually I prefer it as I can get a bit claustrophobic around large crowds of people, so that was fine by me. When I say this, I mean that when I walked in to the cinema through the two sets of main doors, I saw the very large area in front with the box office and self service ticketing machines (for those of you, like me, who pre-book your cinema tickets on the phone or through the Cineworld website. I'll go into more details about this under the website section later in the review) to the far left with hardly a soul around, its a very large, quiet area, with the food and drink counter straight ahead and bar and games room to the right (and the corridors leading to all the screens at the back). There's a big space in the middle with nothing much there really, other than this large sort of display made up of multiple TVs hanging down from the ceiling, which advertise some of the movies being shown and that are coming out soon (im not sure quite how to describe this, hopefully you know roughly what I mean). Its a very spacious layout, thats for sure.

I'd decided to pre-book my cinema ticket online, mainly as I thought it would be very disappointing to have driven all the way there only to queue a long time and then be told there are no seats left but as it happened, I didn't see anyone queuing for tickets, so that was an unnecessary fear. Of course its worth bearing in mind that it was bright and sunny outside, so people probably preferred to go outside rather than go to the cinema etc., it may be busier during winter months but on the ocassions I've been there, there's only been a short queue of about 5 people or less, thats my experience.

Anyway I used the 'facilities' (toilets) (located to the right just after the box office/ticket office) and was impressed how many cubicles there were, it was nice and clean and well looked after, apart from the fact that one of the hand dryers didn't work but at least one other one did.

Going up to the food and drink counter, I noted that a small soft drink costs £2.20 and a large one £2.90, though I don't remember how much the regular sized ones are... I also noticed a sign advertising 'buy one, get one half price' for bags of popcorn, which is a good deal, though it'd be better if it was just half price on all bags but still lol not bad. I didn't bother to buy anything to eat so sorry, I can't comment on the prices for the food really. I have to say, it took a while to notice the drinks prices and I didn't think they made it very obvious where all the price info. was behind the counter, that was one small fault I'd note, though of course you can always ask the staff. The staff were busy having their own conversations while serving me but I really didn't mind to be honest, I just wanted one drink and got served pretty quickly, so it wasn't a big deal... they were probably pretty bored, considering there were only one or two people around. Also its worth noting that although I bought a 'small' soft drink, it was a pretty large drink, about regular size I would have thought... so the large size must be pretty, well, large! lol it lasted me right through the movie (which was an hour and a half), so for £2.20, its not bad value, think of the sizes as being more like regular, large and extra large I guess, that might be closer to the truth! in my opinion anyway.

Something else I've noticed on other ocassions and today is that they only ever seem to have one of the two entrances to the corridor with all the screens, manned. This means that you have to queue at one end to show your ticket and be allowed through to get to the screen showing the film you paid to see. This would be a pretty bad snag, if it weren't for the fact that, again, you guessed it, it was so quiet, I didn't have to queue. I just walked right up, gave the lady my ticket, was told its on your right and walked through, spotted the screen and found a seat pretty quickly. I have no complaints with that. There were maybe 20 people max. at the screening I went to, which is a good amount, not loads but it wasn't just me... if anything I'd maybe be a little worried about how quiet it is perhaps, I certainly don't want the cinema to close down as its the closest cinema to where I live and as such, is very handy for me... but it just never seems entirely busy to me at all.

Anyway, I found the seats to be good, as usual. Their pretty comfy, they don't feel old and worn and you can sink into them just enough so that you feel comfy but you don't sink so much that its awkward to move about or get up after the movie has finished and of course they all have the all important drinks holder at the end of the arm rest, to put your drink in. This cinema doesn't have, like some, different degrees of chairs, like in one cinema me and my family used to go to, you could pay slightly extra to be able to sit in chairs closer to the screen that were slightly more comfortable and gold coloured I believe(?) but that was a bit naff I suppose and its good having the choice of any seat you want. I certainly didn't feel sore sitting in the seat anyway.

The picture was fine, I've read reviews mentioning unstable/flickering picture but I certainly didn't pick up on anything like that at all, it seemed fine to me. From where I sat, a few rows up from the second section (on the slope), I got a good view and the sound was pretty good too, you could hear it right across the room and it sounded fine to me, it didn't sound flat or anything like that, so the screening was perfectly adequate.

After the movie ended, I went for another look around the foyer as I wanted to quickly 'sniff out' the freebies lol I remember last time I got a copy of their free magazine (a Cineworld brand magazine) and I always like to get some of those free postcards cinemas tend to offer but I was a little disappointed with this, this time. They did have a few postcards but none all that interesting and none really advertising movies, just random ones, unless I didn't recognise the movie connection but I wasn't interested in them anyway and I couldn't see any magazines, maybe they were all taken I don't know. It hardly matters really but I was a little disappointed, sometimes the small things do make a bit of a difference... but seeing how well, otherwise, this trip went, I'm pretty sure ill be back later in the year and maybe ill find more better freebies then.

One final thing to mention, regarding this particular venue, is that there's alot of parking and you can park very close to the cinema, especially if you come early in the morning or in the early afternoon, I arrived at about 1:20pm and found quite a few parking slots available along the first row of slots, which was very handy! as it happened, I was able to drive through one slot into another so when I came back after the film, I could drive straight out and didn't need to reverse out, which is always a great thing lol also, importantly, the parking is free, at least for the duration of a movie anyway. I'm not sure the exact details of how long your allowed to park but its a general car park part of a big retail park and parking is free there, so I presume unless you park overnight, you won't be ticketed or otherwise charged, meaning one less fee to pay.

This is about all I can think to mention of my latest experience at this cinema, so I'll now go on to talk about the website.

**Please be aware that the information provided above does specifically relate to the Falkirk, Central Scotland branch and as such, I can only vouch for the information being correct for that branch. Feel free to come to conclusions about this chain based on that but different branches may very well have different layouts and prices etc., I 've only been to the Falkirk one and can't comment on other branches, sorry**

Website

Cineworlds website can be found at http://www.cineworld.co.uk/ and contains quite alot of useful information. I think the only information it doesn't contain that could be useful is prices for food and drink, as I quite wanted to know how much the drinks would cost before going, so I could plan to take about the right amount of change.

The website contains information on individual cinemas (within the Cineworld brand. It may be worth knowing that Cineworld is the 2nd largest cinema brand in the UK & Ireland I believe) and the films being played at Cineworld cinemas as well as other features. On the website you can find information on their 'Unlimited' card, which allows you to watch all the films/screenings you like every month for £10.99 (I believe that this is to go up to £11.99 very soon though!). This is quite good value for money, if your a regular cinema goer, you'd have to be sure you'd want to visit the cinema during peak times at least 3 times a month for it to be worth the cost. Personally, its not of interest to me as I would feel too obliged to go every week or so and I only tend to go to the cinema a few times a year, if I decided to have this card (which requires a direct debit payment so you would be automatically paying for this service every month unless you cancel the subscription and I believe you have to agree to a minimum 12 months subscription to take it out too) I would feel that to get my moneys worth, I'd have to visit the cinema and see an awful lot of movies and some I probably wouldn't enjoy all that much. However, if you live very close to a local Cineworld cinema and visit every couple of weeks or so then it may be worth it to you, so check the website for more info. on that. only some branches of Cineworld actually allow you to sign up for the card though, my local branch in Falkirk doesn't, so I'd have to go through to Edinburgh if I wanted one, which puts me off it too.

Back to the website and other tabs/info. it has includes one for 'Recommended' ie. movies currently playing that are recommended by you (the general public), recommended by kids for kids and 'discovery' movies, which are films that have been picked from different movie festivals. Another tab/info. is 'Coming Soon', which, quite obviously, gives basic info. on movies that are soon to be released. The basic info and main film poster are shown and you can find out more info. by clicking on each individual film name (the same goes for other pages with film info.).

If you click on the 'Dates' tab, then your taken to a page where you can select a date and time, along with your local area and it'll list all the films being shown that fit the time and local branch, so you can plan in advance what you want to see with friends while in town on a certain day, for example.

One of the main uses of the website, however, other than for basic movie info. (which you could also find on many other movie websites like IMDB and Yahoo! Movies and so on) is the ability to check screening times and to pre-book your cinema tickets online. Simply browse through the films currently being shown at Cineworld cinemas by clicking on the 'Films' tab, then click on the title of the film you want to see, scroll down and you can choose the day and Cineworld branch that you want to see it at. Once you've selected the appropriate information using the drop down menus, you'll be shown a screen which lists all the screening times that the movie is shown on the day and in the branch specified. If one suits you and you want to book to see it then, simply click on the appropriate screening (ie. time) and you'll be taken to a screen which tells you how much the tickets will cost, per ticket. They offer lower prices on 'concession' (ie for OAPs and children I believe) and 'student' rates... the Falkirk branch charges £5.20 per adult ticket for performances before 6pm, which I believe cost more after 6pm... be aware, though, that by using the pre-booking system online, your charged an extra 55p over the usual ticket price, for using this service. I think its worth it for the piece of mind knowing that you'll get a seat at the screening but its up to you to decide whether you want to pay that little extra on top of the usual ticket price or not and some larger Cineworld branches charge more than smaller ones, so check the website for the latest ticket prices.

I found it both quick and easy to pre-book my ticket online this morning. It required the usual information, name, phone number and email address (you get sent an order/ticket confirmation with the basic details of which screening you've paid for etc.) as well as your card details. I *think* it said that it doesn't accept payment by Solo cards, if I remember right, but it worked fine with my Visa debit card, so if you have one of those, then there shouldn't be a problem...

The only thing that threw me a bit was the fact that after entering my card details, it loaded a page seemingly away from the Cineworld website, which advertised and encouraged me to sign up to, a Bank of Scotland secure system. Now the Cineworld never appeared to warn me that they would re-direct me to this site and i became suspicious that it may be a phishing page, I'm a bit paranoid about such things, so I just clicked on 'decline' and it went back to the Cineworld site and confirmed my booking. It was fine when I got to the cinema too as I simply put my debit card into the automatic ticket issuing machine and it automatically gave me my ticket and a receipt, which was pretty good. I have since checked out that Bank of Scotland secure system through the official Bank of Scotland site and it does seem to be a genuine thing, I believe Cineworld are a participating retailer for this verified by Visa card online security system and it was encouraging me to sign up for it, I was suspicious because the Cineworld site, like I say, made no mention that it would suddenly link to what was a very plain white page with a small box seemingly from HBOS asking me to enter some of my card details! but like I say, the transaction went through fine, I checked it out and it is a legit. thing offered by the Bank of Scotland, like I say as part of the 'Verified by Visa' scheme, so it should be ok, plus if your at all worried then you can click on 'decline' and your sent back to the Cineworld website and your order submits with no problems, thats what I did.

Another useful thing you can check through the site, relating to the pre-booking service, is accessed through the last tab, labelled 'Check my booking'. The title says it all really, all you do is enter your credit or debit card number, the one used to pay for all your current bookings and select the cinema that you use and it will list all the films and screening times you have currently pre-booked. Of course, thinking this through, this means that you can pre-book for shows in advance, if you are really looking forward to a particular movie coming out, it should, thus, be possible to use the website to check the days and times for each venue that a particular film will be shown at and then book your seat early and you can then check all your current bookings in this section of the site.

I'm not sure exactly how far in advance this would work, as I notice that under 'coming soon', there doesn't appear to be any information on screening times for these movies when they do come out, I think you'd have to wait for the first day that the movie is released nationwide (which you can find if you click on the film title, where it says 'showing from') and then you could, presumably, find it listed under 'Films', where more detailed info. on screening times for each venue should be shown. Only that way can you pre-book the tickets, from what I believe... I hope this makes sense! you could pre-book a film screening fairly far in advance but the film will have to be currently showing to be able to have the info. on screening times and without that, you can't book the tickets...

edit:- sorry to confuse, I've noticed on the website that some of the films listed under 'coming soon' are already listed under 'Films', it is a bit confusing. Its best in that case to check under 'Films' first to see if the new film is listed there already and if not then check under 'Coming Soon' and you should find it listed in one of these webpages, where you'll either have the ability to choose a screening time to then pre-book a cinema ticket for or not...

The website also contains information on disabled access (whats available for those that are hearing or sight impaired), there's also a section, which appears to be sponsored by Diet Coke, called 'Everyone's a Winner', which lists the competitions run by the company and the final part of the site is where it says 'login', which relates to logging in to whats called the 'My Cineworld' part of the site. This you can register for free and it allows you to sign up for mailing lists where you'll be emailed or sent info. in the post etc. about upcoming movies being shown on Cineworld cinemas and special offers Cineworld are running and so on. I have to say that I didn't find a great deal of information on 'My Cineworld' provided on the website but if you log in, it seems to load a small frame at the bottom of the main website where you can quickly use the drop down menus to select the movie name and time of screenings you want to book and it gives you a button to click to automatically book those screenings... when you sign up or register for 'My Cineworld', you select your local Cineworld branch, so it automatically lists all the relevant info. on screenings for movies at your pre-selected branch. This means that the next time I want to make an advance booking for a screening, I'll simply log in to 'My Cineworld' and I should be able to quickly select the film name from the drop down menu and then select the time of the screening then I only have to click on the 'Click here to book now' button to presumably (I haven't tried this yet, I don't want to make another booking right now) go to a screen where I enter my card details and the transaction should go through. Whether or not, after doing that once, it saves my card details for future transactions, I don't know. It probably says under terms and conditions but I haven't checked. I know that the site does use cookies though, so that is possible. When your signed in, you can also 'modify your profile', which is just where you can edit your name, address, phone number, preferred cinema branch(es) and so on.

The other information provided on the website is the usual stuff you find on company websites, such as career info., privacy policy info., an FAQs page, a 'Contact Us' page and a link to the companies business site, Cineworld plc. These links can be found at the bottom of every web page, in black.

Conclusion

Overall, im pretty impressed with Cineworld. I find my local branch to be generally pretty quiet, there may only ever be one manned entrance to the screening halls but there's never a long queue, its always quick to get there and I'm always served pretty quickly at the food/drink counter. I haven't had any problems with the picture or sound quality of the movies shown and the facilities (toilets) are good too, which is good to know. Also the fact that there's plenty of parking closeby and parking is free is a definate plus, add in the fact that you can pre-book tickets online and the ticket machine in the cinema is quick and easy to use and its all too tempting to regularly use this cinema, or it feels like it might be for me now im able to drive there and back! depending on what movies are being shown, of course... it probably could be slightly better but only on a few minor points (for instance, there were no ushers checking us during the screening and I noticed someone was texting with their phone on in front of me, I didn't want to bother reporting them as I'd miss some of the movie to do that and its being a bit picky perhaps... and the prices for items at the food/drink counter like I say weren't all that clear, also I couldn't see where the magazines were, small stuff like that), so I can't really complain and I'd personally rate it as 4 and a half stars, 'very good' but possibly not quite 'excellent' - it depends how picky you are but I do very much plan to stick to using just this cinema as for me its very handy, for the parking and pre-booking online aspects of it.

The website provides all the basic info. you need and if you register for 'My Cineworld', it seems to allow you to pick and choose film screenings to pre-book quicker and more simply than if you go the manual route through the site without an account I think.

I, personally, quite like this cinema and I'm particularly keen on the online pre-booking system like I say but I can't comment on what other branches are like... I hope this review has helped you decide whether this cinema brand and/or its website is worth visiting. Thanks for reading my review! 

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