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I admit it: I’m a bit of a movie junkie. I’m spending far too many lots of $15 these days on films which are far from worth it, but I keep going! I don’t know whether that says more about my financial discipline or the quality of modern films but hey, I digress. This review focusses on one of the more popular cinema complexes in Auckland, the SkyCity ‘Metro’ complex on Queen Street.
First off, don’t be fooled by the huge flight of stairs descending from outside Borders Bookshop, if you follow the building round towards Aotea Square, you’ll be presented with two sets of absurdly heavy pull-doors on your right. These I moaned about here, so I shan’t repeat myself, but suffice to say that if you have a physical impairment, you might need a little help from the lovely Chinese lady who works in the sweet shop to the left of the doors - she’s helped me out many a time.
Anyhow, once through these doors it’s more or less plain sailing. There’s an extremely narrow overbridge which takes you to a very wheelchair accessible, but also quite dimly-lit arcade area, or if you veer to your left you can take an extremely neat all-glass elevator. It’s worth noting here that this elevator will take you to both the cinema floors, and the ground foodcourt area, but in order to actually buy tickets, you’ll need to take the boring metal lift on the opposite side of the complex. The lift buttons have braille translations on the side of them also, which is good to see.
There are two accessible toilets on the ground floor, one of which doubles as a baby-changing area, and there is also another on the third (ticket-buying) floor but again, they’re all guarded by extremely heavy metal pull-doors, not much fun for those like me with quite poor upper-body strength! But they are all well set up and cleaned regularly, so overall they’re quite satisfactory.
The movies themselves range from $15 for an adult, but if you have a community services card you can get in for around $9 Monday-Friday before 5pm, and all day Tuesday. There’s also an IMAX cinema, with prices more around the $20 mark, but gosh, who wouldn’t pay that to see ‘Transformers’ on the biggest cinema in the country! The cinemas are all accessible, and there is a space reserved for wheelchairs in the back row of seats, with a single companion seat adjacent. Pretty hassle-free really, considering other cinemas I’ve been to where they make a big deal about uplifting and removing the seat once you arrive. They also run open-captioned movies for those with a hearing impairment, for more info and session times click here for the CANZ website.
Overall, I’m quite happy with SkyCity Cinemas’ efforts to provide an accessible venue for people with an impairment. The doors are heavy, and the movies are expensive, but on the whole, I’d definitely recommend it as a place to see the latest chick flick!
I mean.. manly action film, yeah.. 
THE LOWDOWN:
- Highly accessible, no stairs or lips to speak of, or if there is, there’s always a way around
- Plenty of accessible bathrooms, with appropriately-positioned washbasins and mirrors
- Hassle-free entrance, no big fuss made over the fact you’re in a wheelchair, for example
- Many doors, including complex and bathroom entrances are very heavy and cumbersome, certainly far from ideal
- No community services card discount on the weekend or after 5pm (except on Tuesdays, which is cheap-night all round!)
- Overall accessibility rating: 4 / 5
For more information and session times, click here to go to SkyCity Cinemas’ official site.
What have been your experiences with cinema complexes? Share them below!
10 responses so far ↓
1 Movie Reviews » Blog Archive » Review: SkyCity Cinemas, Queen Street // Oct 17, 2007 at 12:43 am
[…] walking . is . overrated â
2 Justin // Oct 17, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hi,
If you are keen to get the most out of the skycity cinema experience you could join their ‘Film Squad’. They do discounts, freebees and advance screenings etc, etc. Pretty sure you can join online.
3 Lee Warn // Nov 1, 2007 at 5:22 pm
It took nearly 1year to get them to put a lock on the baby toilet near the food hall, fear of miss-use.. & one of the other disabled toilets in same area took even longer to get a lock on the door. I woudl not recommend using the toilet in the arcade, just dont.. If it works, if it doesnt smell to bad, if the door has stopped being so hard to open, its a mission to get to right at the back of the arcade area..
The rocket lift near the entrance by Aotea Square cant be used to get tickets because it cant stop on that leave now.. So you need to go across to the arcade lift, if its not being used by other people, then go up & get tickets.
If the movie you wan tto see is in cinema 7-12 then you need to go back into the lift, go down a level, so you can go back out & across to the other rocket lift, & then go up to the top level to access the 7-12 cinema’s..
Not to be a downer, but hey, even when this building was brand new it was rubbish.. The staff are freaking fantastic, but for design, it fails worse than a paper plane in a swimming pool..
4 Review: Westfield St Lukes, Auckland // Nov 21, 2007 at 3:32 pm
[…] You enter and exit them with the push of a button! (Take note, SkyCity Metro) […]
5 The Hollywood Writer’s Strike: Why do I want it to go on longer? - The Free Articulator // Jan 3, 2008 at 8:40 am
[…] there. It’s the same as preventing wheelchair access to buildings by refusing to put in ramps, or installing heavy doors that can’t be moved by a person who uses a […]
6 Allan Armstrong // Jan 6, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Most Movie theatres in NZ are not following many of their overseas counterparts. There is no way out in emergencies when the lifts are not working. Now that there is a simple answer, it is no longer acceptable for anyone in a wheelchair to be left behind while others are able to escape a dangerous building. Check our web page above.
7 dieseldave // Jan 13, 2008 at 11:51 am
I have been to Hoyt’s Sylvia Park a couple of times recently. The toilets are just usable in an manual chair, so I would hate to try with a power chair. Still other toilets in the complex are good.
Access to the theaters is easy with a number of lifts available to get one to the theater level. The only thing about them is one can only get a chair and another person [maybe 3 other people but not 2 chairs] in at a time, but they are fast returning between floors.
8 dieseldave // Jan 13, 2008 at 11:58 am
Further to my last comment about Hoyt’s Sylvia Park. Once in the theater you have the choice of staying in you chair or transferring to a lazy boy type very comfortable seating, with hearing help if you require it. I would check pricing before you go Tuesday appearers to be the cheapest day.
9 Review: Te Papa Museum, Wellington // Jan 29, 2008 at 12:26 am
[…] by myself, plain and simple. Maybe the Te Papa design team were friends with those who designed SkyCity Metro, who knows, but seriously, in this day and age, it wouldn’t hurt to put some automatic […]
10 Wheelies beware: Avoid SkyCity Cinemas - for now // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:51 pm
[…] yes, the venue with the infamous heavy doors, as illustrated with a bizarre 3-men-in-a-disabled-bathroom incident on TV One’s CloseUp […]
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