Days are getting longer and the is weather warming up. That means summertime, and summer ‘blockbusters’ at the cinemas! I always loved visiting the cinemas, partly due to the prospect of watching a new movie, but mainly because of the movie snacks. Last week, to coincide with the release of Toy Story 4, we visited the recently renovated Cineworld at The O2 in North Greenwich.
Date Visited: Sunday, 23rd June 2019
Location: Cineworld, The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX
Getting There: Plenty of options available including; Underground, bus, sky-rail, ferry or car. All public transport options direct you to North Greenwich, which is a short walk from The O2. Parking is available and your cinema ticket can be used to validate parking.
Cost: Depending on the type of movie you’re watching (e.g. 2D, 3D and even 4DX now) and if you’re a Cineworld Unlimited member, then it’s a monthly fee, otherwise ticket prices will vary. Extras for snacks.
Review:
Given the age of The O2, it’s good to see that the Cineworld is still holding up well. With the recent investment in the Icon Outlet, Oxygen Freejumping and more restaurants, there appears to be more things to do at The O2 these days. To keep pace, Cineworld has also expanded and created a few extra cinemas, including a 4DX cinema.
We arrived at the earliest session around 10am, which meant accessing the pre-booked tickets at the ground floor level straightforward. Once you take the long escalators up, it was straight to the sweets and snack section. Probably not the best at 10am, but Cara did eat all her breakfast!
Luckily for us, our cinema was in the new, expanded section of Cineworld. This meant we got to walk through the slightly tripping screen section. The cinema itself was clean, with the seats stepped up sufficiently for the kids to see the screen. If not, there were additional booster seats outside the cinema. Plenty of leg space as well, however the fold up seats were a little problematic for Cara as she wasn’t quite heavy enough to keep it weighted down. That meant every time she moved, the seat would bounce up and scare her a little that it might squash her.
The movie itself…
I think Cara was a little young for it as she got slightly restless and wasn’t as engaged. She hadn’t watched the previous Toy Stories 1-3 so was going in fresh. The new character, Forky, was good and memorable, as Cara kept saying ‘trash’ afterwards. Without spoiling it too much, there’s also scenes with some creepy old-school dolls which she (and me) didn’t like.
There were enough moments throughout the movie to keep Cara entertained, only issue we had with the time of screening was that she got hungry halfway through, so be sure to pack some snacks that aren’t popcorn or sweeties.
Other things to do:
Once the movie is over, there’s plenty of other things to occupy the kids with at The O2 now. As mentioned above, there’s the new Icon Outlet for shopping, Oxygen Freejumping for some trampolining, and lots of family-friendly restaurants.
Tips
- If you want to save some money, try booking a specific kids session. These tend to be slightly older films but are a lot cheaper ticket-wise.
- If you want to save even more money, bring your own snacks and drinks.
- Cineworld at The O2 has a Superscreen, so try book that if possible – tends to be the new, blockbuster movie of the week. Otherwise, try find a session in the expanded section (I think this is cinemas 12 to 14).
More details: Cineworld, The O2
Ratings:
Burn Time: 2.5 out of 5 – it was a 100-minute movie, and we then went for lunch at Wagamama’s, so decent day out. You could maximise it if you wanted to by visiting the other attractions.
Value: 3 out of 5 – we were able to use a voucher to reduce the cost of tickets, however it can start to add up if you had a large family
Overall: 3 out of 5 – we will definitely be back for Cara’s favourite, Playmobil movie in August.
Did you enjoy the movie? Any films that we need to watch? Leave your comments below.
2 thoughts on “Things to do: Cineworld (The O2)”