AMC Altamonte Mall 18 — Attraction in Altamonte Springs

my review is too long so I screenshotted what didn’t fit and attached it as two photos

I understand the basic rules being that we cannot enter to see a movie with the weekend curfew without a physical form of identification showing that we are over the age of 18, but concerning my situation, the AMC Altamonte staff provided us with the worst possible experience to help us solve our problem. I came in as a total group of 5 people to watch a movie for a birthday celebration on Sunday, August 19 at 7:30. All of us are part of the AMC A-List which means we are at the theater often. By mistake one of my friends forgot to bring her ID to the theater and the staff did not let her in after the rest of the group had already gotten their tickets scanned. I had rushed to the bathroom quickly so I did not know what happened until I came out and one of my other friends told me. I ushered my other friends to just go and enjoy the movie while I went to approach the attendant who was scanning tickets and checking IDs. I did not catch her name but she was around middle-aged and was quite tall. I explained how we were all the same age (in the same year of university) and pleaded if we could just let her pass with a photo of her ID which my friend had pulled up on her phone already. Two other attendants came to see what was going on and neither of them could help us either which is understandable considering that they told us that we could not enter without a physical form of identification. Just to be clear I did understand the rule, but I was trying to reason with them based on our situation and ask if there was any other way she could be allowed into the theater. I also get that she was only doing her job but during the whole conversation, the attendant was speaking to me very rudely. Also, it was pointless for us to go back to her house and pick up her ID since the drive is 30 minutes each way which would lead us to miss the movie. At one point I asked something along the lines of “Do you just expect us to leave her outside for 2 hours while the rest of us see the movie?” She didn’t seem to have an answer to that because well yes, it doesn’t make sense to leave someone outside. She responded something like, “I guess so, but that’s up to you guys to figure out.” Just to be clear I asked this question so she could put herself into my shoes and see how ridiculous it was to not allow her into the theater cause she still had a photo of her ID. Regardless of that, even if my friend was under the age of 18, it was extremely unsafe of her to imply that we should leave a CHILD outside while everyone else went to see a movie. I was honestly just baffled and wasn’t leaving my friend on her own so we went outside and looked online to read the rules of AMC regarding identification. Stating word for word on the website, “At the manager's discretion we will accept a photograph of a valid ID so long as the picture and date of birth are visible.” After reading this statement I called the theater in hopes of talking to a manager. After speaking to an employee who picked up the phone he passed the phone to the manager where I explained the situation and read out the rule to him that I pasted earlier. I did not catch his name but he was male. He was also extremely rude to me when I asked him if there was any way he could accept the photo she had saying, “Well I am the manager and my discretion is that I am not accepting your photo ID.” As I stated before, with our current situation at hand this seemed like a pretty bad way to take care of this as a manager. I then asked if there was any way to refund the movie reservation since our tickets had been scanned we still weren’t able to go watch it. The manager explained this process to me but I still haven’t been able to get my reservation back. This may seem a bit off-topic but it might give some insight as to why I was so ticked off about this whole thing and now am writing...

I only really like this cineplex because of their Dolby Cinema and IMAX Digital theaters. All of the other auditoriums are severely outdated and somewhat lacking in the technical aspects as well, such as uncalibrated projectors and weak sound overall. The seating isn’t the most comfortable in the regular theaters either. All of the seats are connected like in a stadium so any person behind you on any side of the row that even lightly taps the seats in front of them WILL shake you during the movie. People aren’t the most courteous in Altamonte so we’ve had some situations with having to tell patrons to stop it or to be quiet. Everyone is compacted in these regular auditoriums. This AMC is also more expensive than all other theaters in the area for some reason. The Regal in Winter Park Village doesn’t cost as much and every single auditorium there has recliners, spacious seating and incredible sound no matter the size of the theater. Another con to this location is their popcorn sizes for the price compared to all other cineplexes in the area too. Their “small” here is about half the size of small popcorns at Regal, Epic Theaters and Cinemark.

On the positive side of things… The IMAX at this location recently got an upgrade with the laser dual-projector, new sound system and comfy seats (they just don’t recline).

NOTE this is an IMAX “digital” size theater The screen is about half the size of the one at Regal Pointe Orlando but that one is outdated at the moment with their projector.

This IMAX theater’s picture is pristine and just incredible with the colors and detail. For movies that are marketed as “shot for imax”, they have the aspect ratio that fills this entire screen from floor to ceiling and it is deliciously immersive. The sound’s upgrade is so noticeable as well, much cleaner high and mid frequencies that no longer sound muddy. The bass is super strong but not overwhelming.

Dolby Cinema here, that speaks for itself! This Dolby theater is compact but still a great size, funny enough the auditorium seems slightly bigger than the IMAX one. This one has the full feature recliners with lots of settings and very nicely spaced out seating rows with mini-walls separating the rows. This does a good job of not having to deal with people talking and making noise.

They have a full bar! Great cocktails and beer selection. I also love that they keep it open late until the last showtime. We greatly appreciate it when they do this in case we have a 10:30pm or 11pm movie. They now offer 24oz size cocktails depending on certain ones, this is a dream come true so we don’t have to deal with the hassle of going back or having to all be present with ID’s while the movie is on.

We love our local AMC! Just a few things that could improve but overall, we’ve never had an actual negative experience here. Some updates would do this theater really good and help it compete with our other go-to’s in the area to remind everyone what makes going movies so much better and memorable than watching them in a...

The Dolby theater is the nicest theater of this location. Currently, masks are recommended for all regardless of vaccinations. The biggest complaint I have is the concessions crew, particularly for the premiere/A List lines.

Most of the crew only pays attention to the standard lines, and the premiere/A List line which is a “perk” that you pay for is not felt by members of the line. This line moves so slow, because there aren’t enough staff to facilitate the lines at a non-glacier pace.

When we unpaused our A List membership late last year, we started going back to the movies around September/October & one of the offers AMC tried was giving us free food through preordering snacks, the issue is the wait to actually receive the food ordered. We would wait 10-15 minutes for employees helping guests in the standard line, we gave our selves a good amount of time before our movie but then we’d be late to our own movie. If this is something that AMC wants to do for big movies coming out, they need to have more staff and specific staff for picking up food.

The demographic that this location attracts from the mall is horrendous. Most movie theaters have you reserve seats in advance- it’s a standard and needed because people still try, unsuccessfully to pull a 2010 move and sit in your reserved seat, then the staff get involved, which makes it awkward for all. This type of incident still happens too often and this particular example happened in the Dolby theater for our showing of opening weekend for ‘Jungle Cruise’, said guest let out a F bomb in front of staff even when the staff asked him not too use that language, when the staff member walked away said he wanted a refund, and that everyone in the theater should get a refund. That type of behavior is unacceptable through previews up to the start of a film for any guest. Not AMC’s fault but that’s the type of guest this location attracts. 🙄

Overall if you’re nearby, get a movie at Dolby and enjoy but if you have your pick and can travel, the West Oaks, Disney Springs location offer actual perks and...