Minoan's World 9D Cinema — Attraction in Municipality of Chania

Do NOT trust the 4.3 rating this place has. This was unacceptable. After the experience we had, I cannot believe the recent reviews left by the local guide rated accounts have given. The owner may say that we did not take the time to read the brochure but the things the local guides had to say and what the TripAdvisor description was, lead us to make this mistake. Trust every one start review given to this place and ensure to read them before visiting.

This was a local business, knowing that they were no Disneyland and had low expectations going in and yet they gave us a new definition of low. I barely learnt anything about the Minoan history and only could follow a little of what was happening due to my prior knowledge gained from a visit to another LOCAL business in Heraklion called Labyrinth park. The cost of taking a taxi and travelling for 2 hours would still be more worth than visiting this so called "Minoan's world the 9D experience". I am usually not this harsh with my words especially when the staff were so friendly but the execution was so poor that I cannot help but heavily critisize their false advertising and deceptively high rating.

We went to a so-called "3D exhibition" and a supposed "9D" movie about Minoan history. We got tickets for the 6:30 show at 6:00 and thought we would spent the 30 min at the 3D exhibition but ended up waiting as the exhibition took just a minute to view (the 3 pictures below is the entire "museum"). The staff, however, was friendly and took some pictures for us. The 3D effects itself was well painted and orchestrated but the exhibition was the size of a waiting room and not a museum.

Then started the "9D" experience. There were four movies, lasting a total of 30 minutes. The first was a basic YouTube-level video about Crete with no movements and poor 3D effects showing double images (this also happened in the 3rd movie). The second, a pointless owner monologue. The third showcased Minoan history with graphics from a decade ago. Detached storytelling, random chair movements, laughable attempts at "9D," and absurd water sprays ruined any hope. The fourth was an unrelated, poorly-synced virtual roller coaster that was even static at times. A waste of 18 euros per person. These guys are overpricing their...

It was okay - a 3/5 review seem fair enough

Pros: entertaining special effects (water, earthquake, bubbles, moving about, air etc) Learned something at the start and throughout the movies Staff were kind, accommodating and attentive. Also quick to help when headphones didn't work for someone else The sculptures and artwork in the reception area were cool although I feel some more interactive displays would do well. It was fairly emersive and the 3D itself was quite good. The roller coaster was fun and it was nice to have a mix of information and entertainment.

Cons: The videos were tacky and seemed like they were made in the 90s. The animation was not very impressive. The transitions were either slow and clunky or sharp and annoying. I am understanding though you are not Disney and do not have the budget for super special 4k video etc hence the 3/5 rating and not the 1/5. I was not expecting a brilliant audio / visual experience. More relying on information and entertainment, credit given where credit is due in above paragraph.

The videos were placed together clumsily and there was lots of unnecessary flashing (black screen for half a second) especially in the second clip.

Overall: I reccomend going to this with expectations to have a little fun and learn something. Overall the highlight of this is the special effects, if you would like to learn into massive detail I reccomend the museum(s) in Heraklion. However for a local family run business I am impressed,

Improvements that could be made: Perhaps go over the video and refine it to make transitions a little more smooth as for some phrames I feel it was just cut off, In the entrance hall, add some interactive displays (such as multiple choice questions or some silly facts to entertain children as the effects will stick out to them but not the information.

I heavily reccomend visiting if you have children and have an hour free in...

Worst experience of my life.Me and my partner were so excited to learn about the history of the Minoans, at first we entered and the receptionist was very friendly and very nice and we talked with her for a bit about the history and the different gods of Greek mythology she was super helpful and had a lot of knowledge about the history of the Minoans. The problem is that the 3D “animation” was very out of date maybe early 2000’s and the refresh rate of the projector was very low and out of date, the sound was so bad we couldn’t hear a single thing and no matter how many times they try to fix it, it was just so inaudible, the 3D wasn’t clear at all, it was all very pixilated throughout the whole experience, I personally believe this whole place is a setup (scam) for one reason, when we talked nicely to the receptionist about how bad this experience was bad for us, she had a rude aggressive answer ready within milli seconds saying “that this is how it’s in Crete, this is a family business and not hollywood, she also started accusing us that we “hate Crete and it’s people” they charged us 17 euros per person and after a long heated debate were I had to verbally threaten her that I will tell the next group of people how horrible this experience is, she said she will lock me out of the place so they don’t hear me, then they decided to refund us only one ticket. For your own mental sake, don’t go there and just watch YouTube videos or read about the Minoans and the history of Crete.For me personally I believe this business shouldn’t exist and it’s an abomination to the lovely friendly respectful...