This weekend I had the opportunity to collaborate with Vue Portsmouth on two gifted experiences in one evening. So a big thank you to Vue for working with myself and other local Bloggers (particularly Saffron who is also part of the Pompey Bloggers group).
My evening started off with some rushed food, as the service in a local pub was a bit slow, so myself and a friend, Darryl, ate some of our chips as they arrived and took our burgers to eat on the way to our meeting point for the evening. Unfortunately this delay did mean we missed the first 2-3 minutes of the tour.
Having joined the group outside the Square Tower, we quickly discovered this wasn't going to be your usual tour.
The tour, provided by Dark Encounters, led us through Old Portsmouth, the Cathedral, the Royal Garrison Church and around to Gunwhalf with 3 interactive historical characters.
There was a mixture of true and elaborated stories to enhance the experience, which included some very interesting bits of history tied to Portsmouth. The interactive experience was made all the more enjoyable by having 3 great performers, each with their own style of delivery. The mixture of lightheartedness, good natured jokes, along with a horrible history of tales from Portsmouth's past made this a great start to our evening.
I found the tour very lighthearted (so I loved it), but I think it would have quite a different feel if it had been dark. So, if you're looking for more of a scare I recommend booking after September.
The tour finished at Gunwhalf, where we then made our way around to Vue. Gunwhalf is a great location for a cinema with a range of venues to drink and get food within a 1 to 5 minute walk (if you haven't spent the start of your evening being scared, educated and entertained around 'Spice Island' with Dark Encounters).
There is a lovely open foyer as you enter the Vue at Portsmouth, I have been to some cinemas where it's quite cramped and you just want to get through as quick as possible. But theres plenty of space, and plenty of food. There's a choice of hot dogs, nachos, pick' n mix along with the iconic popcorn. There is a range of drinks, but all you really need to know is there's Tango Ice Blast. I can't see why you would order anything else.
When we arrived there was a few queues (it was 8.30pm on a Friday), but they seemed to move fairly quickly. Through collaborating with the venue I have also found out a few things I didn't know, like there is 14 screens which in total have 3,100 seats. Plus, you can now watch more than just films at Vue, with theatre, opera and sports being shown as part of Vue's big screen experience.
Our evening concluded by viewing a screening of IT Chapter 2. I was looking forward to watching the second chapter to the story. I hadn't seen the 1990 mini series or read King's 1986 book 'IT', so watching Chapter 1 in 2017 was my first experience of IT and I didn't know where Chapter 2 would go.
There were some amazingly funny moments in the film, with the auditorium loudly laughing at a few. Bill Skarsgård is amazing once again as Pennywise.
There were some scenes that I was not keen on and they weren't resolved as I would have liked, but not having read the book, I don't know if these are core parts of the story. Apparently, story/ book points wise, there is a giant turtle that's quite important in the books... #NoSpoilers so not saying if the giant turtle is in the film...
Overall it was great to be part of an event utilising local Bloggers to share their experience at Vue, more-so I really appreciated that they had involved Dark Encounters to make it more of an event. Their collaboration with a local group/ Paranormal Investigators really made this a feel like a Portsmouth community event for me.
Vue in Portsmouth is a great venue, with quality facilities in an awesome location.
Personally, not sure I would recommend IT Chapter 2. One big reason, there's a much better clown movie coming soon...
So, see you in October at the Vue Portsmouth for... Joker!
** This post is in collaboration with Vue Portsmouth, the experiences where gifted. However, this is not a paid sponsorship, all words and views are mine. **