Marcus Crossroads Cinema — Attraction in Waterloo

A month ago I received "sorry tickets" for an unpleasant experience resulting in me and 4 kids having to leave a movie right after it started due to an illness, the manager on staff wasn't concerned and dismissed us resulting in our first bad experience with 4 kids that have never been to a theatre before BUT the GM, if I remember right, reached out through and reimbursed me 5 tickets. I planned on taking the kids to see Gabby's Dollhouse the following month (today) for a birthday outing to make it up to them, the website would not work properly and wouldn't let me reserve seats with the complimentary tickets. To avoid a seating issue due to their faulty system like the last time having to split the kids up in different sections I called and spoke to a manager named Destiny. She confirmed reserving me 5 seats together and when I got there to just give her the tickets and we would be good to go. First thing out of the gate, we get there, 2 of the 5 seats "magically got sold right before we got there" she blamed the system. I was flexible and settled for different seats. She directed me to room 4 for a 5:10pm showing, we went in and got settled around 5pm but was thrown off by why the movie seemed to have already been playing. Short story shorter, it was a different showing time and ended 30 minutes after we got there, it was supposed to be 1 hr 30 minutes. We missed an hour of the movie. I went back to address the issue and Destiny and a long haired gentleman came up, right out of the gate Destiny blamed the projectors, the guy went to verify but I noticed he went the opposite way, I then noticed there was a Gabby moving playing in 2 separate rooms 4 & 9, we were directed to 4 which had started around an hour prior making them both overlap, after bringing this up to Destiny, she immediately dismissed my problem saying I should have read the ticket stub. I went to the room I was directed to, why would I question that and why in the world would I know the same movie is playing in 2 separate rooms overlapping at the same time?! She continued to dismiss me and blamed me for not checking my ticket stub instead of admitting she messed up and told the long hair guy the same thing ( I don't know if he was management as well but she acted like she was answering to him even though she said she was a manager). For the sake of making a scene in front of the kids I just left, but not before she made a saracastic, passive aggressive smarta** "have a good day". This is twice now and 10 wasted tickets and buckets of overpriced popcorn later. I havent been to this theatre in over 10 years and the only 2 times I come back to take my nieces for a first time movie experience- they're both bad, albeit the 1st experience got partially rectified followed by a second even worse experience. Let me be clear, NONE of the front line staff I had any problems with in either scenario, they were all great, it was all management. I don't know who's what manager in what capacity but I count 4 different management between the 2 experiences and only 1 gave a crap about my concern and that was over an email who I think was the GM. This has been an absolute nightmare of an experience and resulted in ruining my 4 girls birthday movie outing for a movie we've been planning for a month, all because the management didn't appear to know what they're doing and kept making excuses, or frankly just don't care. If I ever plan on taking kids to a movie again I will not be choosing...

This place used to be a 5 star experience. USED TO BE.

The staff still deserve 5 stars, but the rest of the place... not so much.

The dreamlounger seats are now worn(cracked, threadbare, etc), the carpeting is stained, there's always garbage & food left in the auditoriums after they're "cleaned", and some auditoriums have an unpleasant odor in them.

The restrooms... experience them for yourself.

The accent LED lighting the stairs and walkways is WAY TOO BRIGHT and is VERY INTRUSIVE while trying to watch a movie.

Sometimes they've got the sound system cranked up so loud that you need earplugs and/or it intrudes in on the movie in the adjacent auditorium.

The food and snacks are WAY OVERPRICED for the quality that is served!

How about serving dinner with the movies like you have advertised in the pre-movie marketing? You do it in your other theaters, in other cities. Why advertise it here in Waterloo/Cedar Falls if you're not going to do it here?

They do give military/veterans special pricing. Major props for this!

Though this theater had some major flaws and shortcomings, it is STILL a quantum leap better than the Marcus Theater in Cedar Falls(which should be condemned, demolished, buried and forgotten about).

You need help Marcus Theaters. A complete remodel and overhaul. ASAP!

The issues I've listed are the reasons I enjoy movies more and more on my...

I truly felt I was single out due to my race. After arriving, paying and finding my seat, I was approached by a kid working for the theatre, he had two other kid co workers waiting to escort me out, asking about my back pack in the seat next to me, he tells me that my back pack is making other guess uncomfortable. I either could leave it up front, or take it to the car.. I’m here visiting, Waterloo Iowa, so I didn’t drive, I walked a mile in the snow to go see a movie at this theater, I carried a back pack to hold my personal effects such as my cell phones, Bluetooth ear piece, gloves, hat, battery charger for my phone, asthma pump, my wallet. There are no signs that anyone at the ticket counter, concession stand, or the guy who verify the ticket had concerns. So if you you are black..... African American , you no longer can carry a back pack. They never asked to look in the bag, that wasn’t an option. I would have been happy to allow them to look in my back pack to make them feel comfortable. I feel I was profiled because of my race. I felt belittled and humiliated. When I asked for a refund, the manager didn’t even ask why?

What’s next women no longer allowed to enter theater with...