walking . is . overrated

This awesome review was sent to me by Rachel!

Being the movie addict that I am I decided I needed to help Red out a bit and do a review of Hoyts in Riccarton and when better to do this but a long weekend!

So this theatre is about a 10min walk from work and that’s good because for me it means one less taxi! Access up to the first floor is good, and no doubt aided by being in a shopping mall. The lift is smallish but I can still manage to spin my powerchair round so its not too bad, and the lift doors could do with not closing so abruptly, but I imagine with a quick word in the right person’s ear this would be easily fixed.

At the ticket counter the staff were friendly and helpful but did try to overcharge me… this was nicely pointed out by moi and quickly rectified.

Here’s where the good part starts. From the ticket counter to the movie theatre where Hairspray was showing I would say was a good 30m, all of it on the thickest carpet known to man! Now for me in my new powerchair this is not a problem, but me in my manual chair forget it! (Read: Manual wheelchair users beware) and this is just to theatre 1; any of the other 5 and it’s even further on the same carpet up ramps!

What is with movie theatres and carpet anyway? They ALL have industrial strength pile, presumably to wear well, but it can’t be that easy to keep clean? Surely tiles outside the theatres would be better and easier to clean as well as push on?

But wait! There’s more! In I go to the theatre to discover (much to my horror) that, you guessed it… the wheelchair seats are right in the front row! This is my pet peeve at the movies. I know there has to be a front row, and I know someone has to sit in it… but does it have to be me??? In this case yes, but why oh why does it have to be so close? I never wanted to see John Travolta so close (Brad Pitt maybe), and all I can say is thank God for powerchairs with tilt and the fact that the movie had me enthralled from start to finish!

Now I know that not all the theatres in this complex have the same floor design – in fact I think there is only one other like this. Obviously (or not) all theatres can’t be built with wheelchair seating as far back as I would like it, but wouldn’t it be nice to think they could warn us before we buy the ticket so we could make a choice about whether we want a crink in our necks for the next 3 days or not?

I ducked in to check the toilet, but unfortunately it was mostly taken up by a foldaway nappy changing table (not one of the on the wall types).

The Lowdown:

• Great access
• Friendly helpful staff
• Watch out for the carpet!
• Some theatres, front seating only – at least 2 out of 6
• Toilet – average
• Overall accessibility rating: Theatre 3/5 (Movie 5/5!)