For over 50 years, Chuck-E-Cheese Inc. has had a chokehold on the family entertainment restaurant industry. It’s an understatement to say the brand and its competitors, later business partners, have had a strong impact on American pop culture throughout the generations. From the cigar-smoking rat from Boston of the 70s to the radical skater mouse from the 90s, the many faces of Charles Entertainment Cheese has brought joy, and sometimes discomfort, to children all over the nation. However, in 2019, the brand underwent a sudden rebrand, ordering old props and notably every instance of the Munch’s Make-Believe Band Animatronics to be “Destroyed beyond recognition” to save on costs of upkeep and to appeal to a “New digital generation,” by implementing a large LCD screen in place of a majority of the games and bots.
Wayne Valley High School fashion teacher Jessica Dean shares, “When I lived in Florida, in 1986, 87? Chuck E Cheese and the roller rink- Those were the two places to go. And I remember skee-ball, the band playing, and I remember the pizza. And I remember the ballpit. [Those are] my memories.” She was shocked to find that everything listed, other than the infamous cheese pizza, has been phased out of every location in New Jersey, and soon, the process is to spread nationwide. “That is horrible, a very bad idea, and that’s my childhood going into the dumpster. And I know I’m not the only one.”
While some share the sentiment that the band and its impact on America will be missed, others are, for a range of reasons, all for the remodels. “I remember, when I was a kid, I had a friend who [at his birthday party] was so scared of those robots, he hid under a table to avoid them,” another staff member at Wayne Valley shares.
Not all hope is lost for animatronic fans, however. Select “legacy locations” across the country will retain the classic 2012 remodel elements, with additional decor donated from collectors from the 90s. A total of 5 will be kept, in Northridge CA, Nanuet NY, Charlotte NC, and Springfield IL. Though some fans are still not pleased with the efforts made to fix what in their eyes was wrong, due to the conditions of the stages left open, and the seeming lack of respect for very valuable collectables shown by those in charge of putting these locations together.
For those who want a blast from even farther in the past, a place known as Billy Bob’s Wonderland in Barboursville WV offers you the authentic Showbiz Pizza experience, Chuck-E-Cheese’s competitor from day 1 who went bankrupt in the late 80s and merged into Showbiz Pizza Time Theater with CEC, with one of the last public Rock-Afire Explosion show stages and classic menu items.
Some believe running animatronic stages at restaurants is not worth the cost, nor the time. Many feel like they should be left in the past, that it’s a dying industry, and that they were never that neat in the first place. But those who do care do so with enough passion it convinced the CEO to open 4 more retro stores, and while it isn’t much, the community fostered by these old bots is not to be understated.
