07 Dec, 2010
25 Days of Christmas: Day 5 and a giveaway (!)
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Giveaways and product reviews
Our activity for day five was not Christmassy in the least. In fact, I didn’t even get around to stuffing the envelope.
Naturally it came up as we ate Sunday breakfast. The girls asked what we were going to be doing.
“Guess,” I said. “It’s one of your favourite things to do.”
“See a movie?!” exclaimed Sarah.
“Yeees.”
“Harry Potter?!”
“Yeees.”
“IN THAT SPECIAL THEATRE?!?”
“YES.”
They know me pretty well. And they keep tabs on the mailbox.
We received tickets and an invitation to check out the new UltraAVX cinema at the Coliseum Cineplex on Carling Avenue. We were allowed to choose whatever movie we wished, and we decided that Harry Potter would be a good one to try out. UltraAVX (more info here) is being billed as the biggest new theatregoing experience: big screen, big sound, big chairs. In a nutshell, liked it, but I have to be totally honest and say that visually I couldn’t see much of a difference. I was expecting something akin to HD, and it wasn’t. The picture looked close to normal. The major difference for me was in the quality of sound. At first I was afraid that it was going to be just “regular” sound turned up a few notches (in fact, upon entry the commercials seemed excessively loud) but we quickly learned that the sound was really super-surround (that is not the technical term for it) with extra booming bass – which meant that when He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was bent on destruction we could feel the drama deep in our ribcages.
Seating for the AVX films is reserved. We wondered whether we’d be able to get into the Sunday matinee (we left late, with only 20 minutes to spare) but needn’t have worried. We chose our seats at the front cash, which I have to say was odd because it took me a couple of minutes to make heads and tails of the schematic of the theatre, and a couple of extra minutes to figure out where to sit. I predict that this process is going to create delays when it gets really busy. ALSO, I assumed, because it was a new theatre, that there would be no bad seats. I was surprised to see they hadn’t dispensed with the neck-straining front row. (Who can watch a movie from that vantage point without hurting themselves??)
The seats are comfy, and are wide recliners that are reminiscent of home-theatre style seating.
Anyway, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1!) was a perfect film to catch on the big screen. It is totally immersive. But the question remains, would I pay the few dollars extra to see other movies in AVX? I’m not sure … but you can find out for yourselves! I have a package of four tickets to give away to one lucky Ottawan.
All you have to do is leave your name in the comments below. Please note:
- This giveaway is for Ottawa residents only.
- I realize that some people might want to leave a comment about the post but don’t want the tickets. So if you want the tickets please make sure you say so. If you haven’t clearly stated that you want the tickets I will leave your name out of the drawing.
- One entry per person please. Let’s keep it fair.
- The prize is four tickets. You do not have to be a family of four. You can be a couple that just wants to go to the movie two times. :) But there will be only one winner.
- The four tickets are good until November 30, 2011.
- I will do a random draw of all entries at noon EST on December 14, 2010.
- I will notify the winner via email, so make sure you leave a valid address.
- I will be asking the winner for his/her mailing address so I can send the tickets via snail mail. And I won’t be held responsible if they’re lost or delayed in the mail.
Over to you!
