My most recent visit to the Waterfront location was less than stellar and to show my displeasure I tweeted this out between films..
You'd think this @AMCTheatres would be more prepared for this Cornetto showing. The concession stand lines are beyond ridiculous.
— Thomas Stark (@MasterofDVD) August 22, 2013
Someone reached out to me for more details....so I expanded my thoughts a bit and sent them this..
I’ll quickly go over a few of the issues I had in regards to the Cornetto screening.
The first would be that when I purchased the ticket I attempted to get the
reserved seating but it wouldn’t allow it to be added to my cart. I had been
ages, the release of Hellboy 2?, since I had been to that theatre so I assumed
that maybe meant the auditorium we would be in might not have reserved seating.
Turns out I was incorrect. I heard from some other people that you either had
to call or go to the theatre in person to get reserved seats. Had I known that
I would have been more than willing to buy my tickets over the phone...but I
never saw that information on your site.
Another minor detail was that a number of people I spoke to that might were
very confused about the 5.00 off deal for snack. Someone asked and found out
that only paid members of your reward program were able to get in on that. It
had been so long since I had been to an AMC Theatre I recall when the rewards
card program didn’t require an annual fee.
My main concern is/was the concession stands that evening. I was the first
person in line for the trilogy screening that might and that meant I arrived
around 12:30 for a 5:30 screening. I purchased a few items almost without
incident before the first movie. It wasn’t until I returned to my seat I
realized the popcorn was a bit on the burnt side and the kernels were more like
crumbs. Between the 1st and 2nd film our theatre let out and we were met with
huge concession stand lines. I immediately used the restroom and then got in
line. Since I hadn’t finished my popcorn I ordered the pretzel bites. The
cashier said they were temporarily out. I asked how long it would be until more
were ready. She excused herself and went around the corner to ask. I heard her
ask somebody and they said it would be 15 minutes and then when she returned to
me a few feet away she said they were complete out for the night. I didn’t have
the 15 minutes to wait, since the time between movies was about 30 minutes, but
I would of preferred honesty to what she did. I simply got another drink and
returned to the auditorium. After the 2nd film I skipped the main concession
area and went to where the coffee stand is. There was 1 gentleman in front of
me who ordered 1 drink and I purchased a cold blended espresso. I guess the
reason that wait took a long time was because there were 2 people working and
one was training. If the food at a theatre was cheap I could excuse some of
these things but to enjoy a 20.00 movie I spent more than double that on snacks
and drinks that night. I’ve run a kitchen for over 12 years and we tend to plan
our staffing around major events in and around Pittsburgh. If you are going to
have an auditorium full of people from 5:30, at the latest, until midnight PLUS
all the other auditoriums I would think all food outlets would be staffed and
stocked accordingly.
I appreciate that you do events like this and that I was allowed to wait in
line so early on in the day but it was very hard to enjoy the theatre going
experience like I used to.
I really dislike the theatre these days because the people normally ruin it. This time the business is the one that really let me down. Thankfully this chain will be very easy to avoid in the future,