El Capitan Theatre — Attraction in Los Angeles

After posting this on Yelp and seeing other similar reviews, I decided I should probably add it here as well. Be warned that this theater has heavy and silly security measures in place. I have been going to the El Capitan theater for some time, but no longer feel that is holds up to alternatives. The screen isn't quite large enough for this theater size and seat quality does not compare to other high priced options. While it is great to hear the pipe organ played before the film, the musical selection remains a bit "goofy" as he mostly plays variations on Disney themes. The theater itself is relatively clean and a beautiful presentation, worth seeing once if you have never been and are willing to brave the adventure in getting there.

This theater is located across the street from Hollywood and Highland. This means huge crowds of tourists, street performers, local youths and traffic. You will likely have to park at the Hollywood and Highland mall lot which itself is a massive maze. Once you reach the theater, you will find a disturbing security presence as they have a checkpoint upon entry with metal detectors a strict policy against potentially dangerous items even simple items. This is a bizarre practice for a movie theater and while it may sound like something for the protection of it's patrons, the fact that the theater feels it necessary makes me question the safety of this location and it's surrounding area considering I know of no other theater to have such security. To elaborate I will tell the story of my recent visit. We were attending a film a few weeks ago and spent 15 minutes parking and walking to the theater with about 5 minutes to spare before the show would begin. At entry we had to go through the security check one at a time, removing all metallic items and setting them aside, having bags examined, and passing through the metal detector one at a time (which happened to go off for everyone though they had nothing on them). When I emptied my pockets I was told my Victorinox pocket utility keychain was not allowed for security and I must go back to my vehicle and deposit or or discard it in the trash. This was a bit of a surprise given it is a relative small item and poses little to no danger to anyone individually, much less to a crowd. I asked if they could set it aside in a safe or something until the film was over but was informed they could not do that and the rather rude and inexperienced usher told me to go back to my car at least two more times, even after I said there was no time for that before the film. In the end, frustrated by the nonsense, I decided to discard the item and proceed inside so I tossed it into the bucket for items and was scolded for that too. This experience has led me to decide never to return to this theater as there are better, more welcoming, and clearly safer, options available. If so much security is necessary to see a film, I would rather go somewhere that does not require such elaborate...

this was my first time watching a movie at this theater and this was something I was really looking forward to and I really wanted to make today special. I didn't really have a good experience at all and honestly it makes me never want to come back to this theater. I honestly really wanted to love it .

I'll start off with the positives.

the theater itself was very beautiful, the pianists performance before the movie started was really nice and the viewing experience was good.

as for the negatives

the seating was kinda uncomfortable due to how close the seats were from eachother and I was seated next to an individual that was on the heavier side so I had to push in my shoulders the whole time and it was kinda uncomfortable and it didn't help that her breath smelled horrible so I was grossed out the whole time. theses two issues are not in control of the theater and I understand that. it's just something that added to my negative experience.

I had bought my tickets online ( deadpool and wolverine best bubs deal) , whenever I go to a theater I always get my tickets printed out cause I love having them as rememberence.

before I got my ticket scanned I asked the door scanner employee if I can have my ticket printed out .which he told me I can and it's no issue and gave me all the information I needed to give to box office to get them printed out

the older woman at the box office had an attitude about it and came off pretty rude about it. she basically told me no I can't get them printed out and that if I wanted them printed out , I would've had to call right when I bought the tickets online and had them pre print them for me and have them held at the box office for me. it just came off rude on her tone of voice. .

with the best bubs deal it came with a 230Oz popcorn tin . I wasn't aware that there was two different designs and I wish the concesionist would've given me the option to choose from the two designs. I was left with the popcorn tin that I didn't like unfortunately. I do feel like they should've given us the option to choose. this was a small issue but something that did bug me.

with the seating being so close to eachother/ it being kinda cramped, I wanted to wait till after the movie to buy souvenirs since I wouldn't have had any space to put them during the movie and if I had them , it would've made me feel way more cramped then what I was already feeling. it wasn't made aware that you can't buy anything after the movie and I really wish the employees would've made it more aware . I missed out on all the souvenirs I wanted to buy and that was the biggest let down and I wasn't the only geust that had an issue with this. the employees kinda sounded rude about it.

overall my experience was terrible and with the cost of everything , I really expected a better experience. I kinda feel I'd be better off if I went to a local movie theater cause at least I would've been treated better and feel...

This legendary theater opened in 1926, and premiered "Citizen Kane" in 1941. It is a historic and gorgeous Hollywood landmark done in an ornate Spanish colonial "revival" style. It's a must see, but the customer service leaves a lot to be desired I was literally face palmed (hand with palm out, in my face) by an employee of this theater tonight, when I was about to walk in 5 minutes before the 7pm showing of "Avatar: The Way of Water". It was at the ticket booth by the woman with long dark brown braided hair who works inside the booth. I had just approached the window at the classic style outside ticket booth, smiled and was going to show her my phone with online ticket but before I said a word she glanced at me, looked away and then put her hand out, palm in my face to block my face from behind the booth's glass. And she kept her hand there until another employee saw me standing there slightly aghast so I walked over to him. Why did the woman in the ticket booth do this? This a Disney theater. It's horribly rude. I hadn't even asked a question yet. I could have been asking to buy a ticket. Luckily I had already prepaid my $24 ticket online. I can't imagine what it would have been like buying a ticket from her. The theater was almost empty on a Tuesday night; there were about 10 people in the auditorium. I told the security guard that let me in to the left of the ticket booth about the face palm as he scanned the QR code on my phone but he just shrugged. The woman in the ticket booth stared at me sideways as I walked in. Maybe she was in a bad mood but it's no way to treat customers. They have a lot of security and a very sensitive metal detector (I even had to remove my wallet which doesn't happen frequently). Maybe there have been security problems since it's on Hollywood Blvd? The security I can understand, but the rudeness I can't. It's a magnificent theater, but you can't have a ticket booth treating customers like that at a Disney property. It's impolite and potentially bad for business. Especially sad as it's a family orientated theater. It's not cheap either, but it's a real experience to see a movie here. A small bottle of plain water is $6, but that's pretty standard these days at the movies, so be prepared for that too. Besides that one hiccup with the ticket booth which kind of ruined tonight's experience, I highly recommend that when you book your seat to try out the top balcony front row for seats. It's the best view, fairly unique as most movie theaters don't have balconies, and perfect distance from the screen and you can really see the entire theater with its beautiful interior. Films have custom themed light shows...