AMC Orchard 12 — Attraction in Westminster

AMC Orchard 12 Experience at Westminster

Our first visit to this theater since having a new home built nearby. Purchased tickets to see Jurassic World: Dominion on IMAX for the 7pm showing on Sunday June 12th via Fandango. We arrived 30 minutes before the movie started. Upon entering the theater I noticed signs posted about the theater having A/C trouble which indicated the A/C was struggling to keep up with the near or at 100° temps, but I don’t recall it explicitly saying the A/C was completely inoperative. That’s the first issue I and my family experienced here. Once we got to the snack counter to place our order we attempted to order a slushy/icee but were told this item was unavailable due to equipment failure. We attempted to buy ice cream, but the sadly the selection was limited and there were not a sufficient amount of nut-free selections available since our oldest daughter has a nut allergy. We ordered two soft drinks and when attempting to fill our cups one of the Coca-Cola dispensers was completely inoperative leaving just one working on the side of theater we were exiting the line from and this machine had no ice , all of which exacerbated the length of the line for other customers trying to get drinks before the movie starts. Our family had ordered pretzel snacks which were only fulfilled after my wife complained about waiting 20 minutes to get them upon which the snack bar attendant explained that one of their ovens was out of service.

When we finally received the items we ordered we encountered the next problem with this experience as there were no napkins and no straws on either side of the snack bar. I did manage to find some disinfecting wipes, thankfully.

After finally getting settled into our seats which cost $80+ to purchase we experienced just how unpleasant the temperature was inside the theater auditorium which was just awful. Hot and muggy. No air was circulating at all.

With the cost of the snack and drinks coupled with the cost of the tickets we spent about $170 for a down right awful movie going experience and poor service which seems attributable to both personnel shortage and faulty equipment on-site. I understand one or two minor issues can occur that can be beyond a business control, however, all of these unfortunate events together is very reprehensible and could be attributable to poor management. I understand theaters have experienced their share of post pandemic woes, but this experience certainly has soured my family’s desire to become regulars at the theater again, which’s sad since we used to enjoy it so much pre-pandemic.

On a side note my wife and I had our first post pandemic theater experience at an Alamo Drafthouse theater, which comparatively, was much nicer about a week ago for the Top Gun movie, but cost about as much to visit as this theater was for our family of four. Needless to say I think we’ll be consuming most of our films from the comfort of our home theater for the...

I was extremely disappointed with AMC Orchard 12. Tonight was my first visit.

Parking was a hot mess. Unless you're a lucky person, you're not going to park up front which is parallel parking and extremely limited. Most likely you're parking on the side or back of the building. Side parking is behind a string of restaurants so it's not easily accessible either. Depending on what time you go, I assume it matters. It's an outdoor mall. You're competing with shoppers and diners. Google Maps took us to the back. We weren't sure how to get to the front. An alley. You walk through an alley. The way we ventured was not in any way handicap accessible.

Once you enter it seems pretty standard for a movie theater. It wasn't the cleanest. The people weren't friendly. But standard.

The restroom was filled with teenagers taking pictures. Bathroom selfies. Group photos. Extremely odd. The toilet paper was empty in the available stall and it was far from clean. They do have toilet seat covers, bonus. The water runs hot to wash your hands but they are sensor faucets that require a lot of waving mid-rinse.

Once I made it into the theater, I was disappointed. This is the old school seating where they cram as many people as possible into the theater like human sardines. I hope you know the person sitting next to you. And then the lights go down and people are climbing across your lap, back and forth, from seat to exit and returning. I've been stepped on and tripped over multiple times tonight and I'm pretty sure my toe will be purple when I make it home. There was so much noise that I missed lines of the movie to people talking and babies crying. Which seemed par for the course as I missed seeing the screen too. It was the most unpleasant movie I've ever spent money on. Think "free movie in the park", but fork over your cash for it. At least in the park you're not trampled.

I will be making the extra commute to Harkins going forward. Best of...

This REALLY pains me to leave this review. I love movies, and love going to AMC. I see 50-100 movies each year at the theatre, and today was the absolute worst cinema experience of my life. We were completely freezing in the theatre. Walking into the screen room, I immediately noticed a considerable drop in temperature of at least 5-10 degrees from their main lobby and hallways. I turned around and went back to the lobby to notify the theatre staff. They simply shrugged it off and did nothing. They were completely useless. I probably should've just asked for a refund and came back a different day, but I decided to stay. Within minutes, my wife and I were both shivering. She had to put on her coat and gloves, and was still cold. I had purchased a pretzel, and was holding it in my hand just to keep my hands warm. Within a half hour, my feet felt like they were sitting in a bucket of ice. I kept my phone under my leg to keep it warm. My wife had her phone in her purse. When the movie was over, the phone felt like it had been sitting in a fridge. As soon as the movie was over, we basically ran out of the room. As soon as we reached the hallway, we immediately felt the warmth of that 5-10 degree difference. Then, as soon as we walked outside, we were hit with another 10-15 degree warmth difference. Checking the temperature, it is 58° outside. Using that as a guide, I'm guessing the movie room was about 35-40°F. Like I said when I started this review, I really hate saying anything bad about AMC, but this was simply beyond ridiculous. Imagine being inside in winter, and the room is colder than outside! The Orchard cinema is the last of the nearby AMC's to update their seating, so we normally go to FlatIrons or Promenade. Orchard is the closest to us and today we simply wanted to save driving time despite their older seating. That was a mistake, and will be the last time we go to...