DISCLOSURE: This post was originally posted on December 25, 2014. I have just updated this post today (12-11-2015). The introduction part was changed and the rest remained the same.
Christmas is around the corner and many are looking forward different events such as Christmas parties, family reunions, etc. One of the awaited events in the Philippines is the Metro Manila Film Festival. This festival runs from the 25th of December to the first week of January in the following year and focuses on locally produced films.
I was able to experience it for the first time the past year and it was dreadful! The lines in both the ticketing booth and the entrance of the cinema are ridiculous. And from that first experience, I learned how to prepare. Now, I'll be sharing with you how to you can avoid these long ticketing lines.
First of all, let me just share this information to you. Bringing your grandmother or grandfather with you and using their senior's citizen card will not help you get tickets faster. The ticketing counters issue tickets to senior citizens and ONLY to them. They will not allow the senior citizens to use their cards to purchase on behalf of the family.
So here are other ways you can avoid the long ticket lines tomorrow or the coming days in SM Cinemas:
1. e-Plus Card.
If you own this card, you can proceed to their e-Tap counters where you can reload and get your tickets faster. This is a re-loadable card issued by SM to give privileges and rewards to their loyal patrons. To know more about this, you can check it here.
2. Online Ticket Purchase
If you have a credit card, you can purchase the tickets online. You can purchase the tickets through www.smcinema.com. If you don't have a credit card (or even if you do but afraid to use it online because of scams), I suggest you invest and apply for an e-Prepaid card from BPI or GCash Mastercard. This is what I used to purchase our tickets. It does save us from the hassle!
3. Buying Ahead Of Time
I'm just not sure if the cinemas allow early purchases for MMFF movies but you could approach the SM Cinema ticket counters and ask if you could buy tickets for the next day or in advance. This way, you will no longer have to worry about falling in line; it would give you an advantage to go directly to the cinema gates even before the movie starts. It would also save you from long queuing.
Again, I'm not sure of this so please ask the ticket booths to confirm.
4. Go To The Cinema Early
If number 3 is not allowed and you don't have any of the cards mentioned above, you just have to go early to the mall cinema. It's actually much better to watch the movies earlier because most people watch the cinemas in the afternoon on-wards specially the last screening time.
Going to the cinema early not only saves you from the huge crowd but gives you the opportunity to find a good seat as well.
5. Watch Some Other Day
The least you can do is watch it some other day when the hype is almost gone. You always have to choice to either go with the crowd or go after. If you really want a decent watch, I suggest you watch from other cinemas that offer one-time viewing and cinemas that have seating reservations.
If you choose to watch the movies during the hype especially in SM Cinemas then expect a lot of noise during the film. It's often hard to understand especially if it's a horror/suspense movie because most of the audience would be screaming and reacting all throughout. And please, don't expect to be seated!
These are just some of the tips I thought of. If you have other tips in mind, feel free to share it with us in the comment box below (kindly wait for Disqus to load). Thank you!
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