Regal Westchester Commons — Local services in Midlothian

If you go to a movie at this theater, please make sure that you understand that no matter if you purchase your ticket online or at the ticket booth, you are choosing to sit in a specific seat, as is the case with many theaters nowadays. We had tickets to a show on Thursday evening, and there were people sitting in the seats that we had specifically purchased online over 5 hours earlier for that show. They refused to move even after 2 managers told them that they were in seats that we had purchased. While one of the men stood and argued with the manager, my 8 year old granddaughter stood crying, not understanding why that man was being so mean, and why a lady in his group had informed us that we could go find other seats, when those seats belonged to us. The manager was telling him that he and his family had their own seats that they had purchased, the man was still refusing to move out of our seats, the manager offered to give him passes to come back to another show, he refused, and it kept going on and on, but getting nowhere. At that point, I personally think that they should have been told to leave, as they were in the wrong, and refusing to cooperate with management. In the meantime, we were missing the movie, and finally we decided to ask the other manager if we could come back and see the next show if the same seats were available, as we had booked online and chosen Westchester over Commonwealth (which is closer to our home), because those seats are my granddaughters favorite to sit in; and I like them as well. We did nothing wrong, yet in order to see a movie in seats that we had chosen and paid for over 5 hours earlier, we were inconvenienced, and had to wait an hour and 40 minutes before seeing the movie, which then made an 8 year old child get home hours after her bedtime. Even though it was our choice to ask to see the movie at a different time, it was because we were already missing the beginning of the movie while the manager continued to let the man argue with him, obviously getting nowhere. We were told that we could get fresh popcorn and a drink when we returned to replace what we had purchased and not eaten, which was appreciated. After going through all of the stress and inconvenience that was in no way our fault, then helping settle the issue by going to a different showing, I am now highly disappointed that we weren't at least offered some type of compensation like passes to come back at another time to see a different movie, or even something like coupons or a gift card to purchase popcorn and drinks at a different show. What happened to us was highly stressful and upsetting to all 3 of us, and being the way that we were being treated, it is not something that my granddaughter is going to get over any time soon. To the 4 adults that essentially stole our seats that we had paid for, shame on you for teaching your children that stealing and bullying is acceptable! I do have to say that I appreciate the attempt by management to get our seats back from the people that took them. To the owner; since your response to reviews seems to often include reference to join, my daughter and I are already both Regal Crown Club members. :) My daughter (who purchased our tickets) had just purchased the unlimited movie pass earlier on Thursday. I was going to purchase one, and decided to wait. Our past experiences at this particular theater have...

I would love to leave a 5 star review. However, there have been some changes lately that have started to impact our experience at this theater.

Why did they take away the queue lines for the snack bar? (These have been gone for awhile but still...) Lines moved so much faster when all customers are in same line and then called to next open register. Now you have to hope and pray that you chose the fastest line. But if you've seen Office Space you know that you always lose this battle.

Why do they close the ticket kiosk and make you by tickets from the concession stand? (I mean I think I know why it has to do with less employees to pay). But this just compounds the previous issue. You get stuck in line behind a family buying enough snacks to survive the end of the world, when all you needed was a ticket. This week on Thursday (the night where new movies are released) the ticket kiosk was closed and only 3 lines were open.

2a. You might say "go to the automated kiosk to bypass the line." I try. But there's only 2. And for the last 2 weeks or so the left one has been on the fritz.

Bathrooms. I understand the soap dispensers at each sink were, sometimes, difficult to refill. But why are there only 2 soap dispensers in the bathrooms near the front, and only 4 dispensers in the one behind where they take your tickets? That one has at least 20 stalls. They're also in awkward places where if you need soap you need to wait for the current hand washer to get out of the way OR reach over/across them. (There's also a consistently clogged left sink in the womens bathroom near the front of the theater.

Assigned seats. I think I've grown to like it. But since this is a change I think an employee (or better yet, manager) should be in the individual theaters to help people find their seats. We went on a busy Saturday night to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. We got to our seats and people were in ours, they said someone had been in theirs. They moved again. Only for them to be told a couple minutes later they were in someone else's seat.

I mean this is still my favorite theater in the area but there are definitely things that can be improved. I don't know which of these changes came from higher up in Regal but they should look into improving things.

And, cause I know you're going to just paste an automated "join crown club" thing. I have been a member since 2012 and I've had unlimited pretty much...

On 7/14/24, My wife had asked to go to this movie theater as a preference over one closer to home. When trying to purchase tickets, several of the self serve stations were broken. When we began purchasing at one that seemed to be working, it flashed an operating system type of error on screen, but then let us pass through. After selecting our seats, it would not allow next screen. After multiple attempts we went back several steps and tried again. This time we found that the seat choice was not allowed, whereas on the prior attempt, it never indicated such a problem. The $8.50 soda was somewhat flat. Movie was to begin at 6:20pm, and commercials on screen began at 6:10pm. Commercials continued straight until 6:30 (10 minutes after posted start time) and then movie trailers began, with commercials interspersed until 6:40pm. While not unusual these days to have commercials, the quantity and duration far exceeded anything I had seen before. In comparison, my son and I had visited a competing theater a month prior, and did not experience the onslaught of commercials. You can show commercials in advance of the start time, while we are all sitting in the theater, but at posted start time, tradition is to show trailers and then begin movies. While I like seeing movies on the big screen, Regal is demonstrating that they don't want my business. My recommendation is that if Regal treats you this way, then bring in your own food and drinks, and hit them in the bottom line until they put some thought into making the customers happy.

Update...On 7/21/24, we went to a different theater chain, and during the lead up to the posted movie start time, commercials were played (in my experience this is normal). Then at the posted movie start time, the trailers began with intermixed self promotional content (again, my experience this is normal). Then the movie began at approximately 10 minutes after the posted time. Whereas I thought I was out of touch with modern conventions when we went to Regal Westchester, I was later relieved to find out that they are less customer centric than other chains. There remains a reason to go to theaters, instead of watching at home, I just would not choose Regal Westchester. On 8/4/24 we went to yet another theater chain, and again, no commercials after the posted movie start time. This for the 2nd time reinforces Regal Westchester as less customer centric than multiple...