Cineplex Odeon Victoria Cinemas — Attraction in Victoria

And why shouldn’t going to the movies be like sitting in your own living-room? Am I right or what! We are serious movie goers, typically averaging once a week at any given local cimema. In the drab Victoria rainy season we’ve even been guilty of 2X that amount. We may not be Siskel and Ebert when it comes to movie taste but we surpass them 10 fold when it comes to venue and popcorn advice.

Hopefully the management of the Victoria Odeon takes note….

We have been going to the Victoria Odeon since the dark ages. It wasn’t always our theatre of choice but since the smart move of adding reclining seats, it has since become our go-to spot. Silvercity is closer to us but we will drive all the way downtown and circle the block 8X for parking just to watch a show there.

Apart from comfortable seating the location is always clean and inviting. Although the bathrooms are a little bit of a trek down to the depths of the dungeon, there are a large amount of stalls and really clean facilities. And hello, 6 theatres to choose from. Kudo’s on selection!

We’re not going to lie—the first show we watched with the new seating had us a little wigged out. I mean, do you fall asleep or not? Bring a blanket? We have since adjusted and are loving it. The best part is that the ticket prices are still the same as everywhere else so you’re not even paying more for comfort. So congrats Victoria Odeon, that was a super smart move to save this landmark theatre from the same fate as the others around the city.

We also enjoy the old school movie theatre feel that still exists. From the lit signage out front to the box office at the door, the dated carpet and the concession kiosk on the second floor, this theatre has so many reminders of times past. And with an authentic appeal given it was 70 year age! Although pretty close, there are a couple of things the Victoria Odeon could tweak in order to quickly become the city favourite for many more.

Service Not saying at all that the employees aren’t nice, polite and eager to help. They are. Problem is this cinema seem perpetually understaffed and this has been a factor at times to sending us out the door. We get it, paying staff adds up, but what’s the cost of running a skeleton crew? Put a person at the outside ticket booth. That is their job to sell tickets, and the line should go quickly between that and the automatic tickets sales booths outside. DO NOT make people stand in the concession line to buy tickets. It seriously pisses us off. Consider opening the upstairs concession as well, you might actually sell more nibblys if the movie-goers upstairs had less mileage to travel; which is important mid-movie.

Classes on butter layering It seems like a no-brainer but this one appears to be a problem at most theaters. It’s butter and when a customer says please layer it, the concept is that one is to apply butter mid-bag-fill. Not take pre-bagged popcorn and just dump double the amount of butter on it. Seriously, when you love movie popcorn, like we love movie popcorn, it can be a little infuriating when it’s bone-dry and sticking to our throats halfway through the bag and movie. Especially when we pay $1 extra for the good stuff!

We are not the only people that hate the fact that it costs almost $50 dollars on date night just to see a movie. Remember $2.75 cheapy Tuesdays??!! Bring back the 80’s! Nonetheless, it is more palatable to pay these prices when cinemas, not only invest in the comfort of the venue for their clients, but also bring superior customer service to the table.

For these reason we give the Victoria Odeon 4 stars. They’re almost there…. Invest fully in the customer experience and we’ll come back...

We had a family outing and realized that Odeon do not provide car parking. We’ve been in various countries: developed and developing and all had free car parking. Interesting that how cinema hall is making profit and totally defying “Customer is the King” Economic theory. Part of the fault lies with the customers too that they do not care but follow these Monopolist’s negative commercial practice. It’s just luck that Covid infections are not spreading here or maybe they are (who’s checking?) as no one is sanitizing tables or handles. Popcorn topping and straw table was so dirty, floor was dirty, and toilets were stinky too. Still no one cares even though families are coming with little kids. Ignorant customers and profit earning management. I don’t think things are going to get any better. Even small cinema halls in third-world countries are cleaner with free parking and more luxurious than this. I did not like it at all. Front row seats are so close to the screen that our necks start to ache and eyes were glared too much by the light. The corner seat recliner buttons were broken. Emergency exit way is dirty and kinda scary. It should be kept clean and safer looking by the management but would they care when customers don’t even complain? Oh well. I guess it’s better to pay 5-7 dollars on Apple TV, Hulu or Netflix for new releases and watch movies at home, than come to dirty cinema hall and pay for car parking, spend on gas, and higher chances of...

Me & 2 friends showed up last night to see a movie and couldn’t even stay til the end for a number of reasons…first off they kept the lights on for 20 mins after the 8pm start time of the movie, the theatre was freezing, like they had the A/C on or something, the three of us were shivering in our seats for 3 hours before we couldn’t take it anymore and got up and left, there was no food made to purchase except popcorn and candy and with a 3.5 hour long movie, a hot dog or something substantial would have been nice, and the popcorn we did get tasted old and stale and was barely warm (very disappointed), and to all of our surprise the movie was extremely loud, not like any other movie experience we’ve ever had at Odeon, like uncomfortably loud, we could feel the vibrations in our chest from the bass of the speakers and ringing in our ears to the point where we had to plug them during any action scenes and we were in the 4th row (before someone assumes we may have been right up front, that wasn’t the case). We were all shocked on how loud it was, like overkill loud, my friend left with a migraine….we missed the last hour of the movie cuz it was so uncomfortable….worst experience we’ve ever had at Odeon, and we’ve lived in Vic for 35 years and seen movies at this theatre over the years multiple times, not to mention the seats were all worn and the leather was torn and ripped everywhere, very...