gwendolyn_1983
03-14-2009, 03:13 PM
This is fantastic! I hadn't seen ANYTHING Showbiz Pizza in 17 years and I thought it was long gone forever! I am SO GLAD I stumbled onto this place, I can tell I'm going to be here a lot!
Oh, I'm Gwendolyn by the way. lol I got excited. :)) As my user name says, I'm Gwendolyn and I was born in 1983. I'm nearly 26 years old now, just one month shy of my 26th birthday in April 25th.
As I stated, I haven't seen anything Showbiz Pizza for 17 years, until I stumbled upon this wonderful site. Looks like I was just looking in the wrong places before now. Right now I live in Oregon, but as a child I lived and grew up in Tennessee where we had a wonderful Showbiz Pizza in our large Eastgate Mall (I believe that was the name of the mall. Its been too long). I was four years old in 1988 when my parents took me to Showbiz Pizza on my birthday for the very first time. I don't remember my first visit, I was still a baby ^.^;;, but Mom describes my reactions to the singing animatronics as "in complete awe" and I thought they were pure magical. I was smiling constantly and my eyes were wide as I watched the animatronics sing and apparently forgot all about my pizza and birthday cake. My fourth birthday began a great love for Showbiz Pizza and my parents took me there every friday for supper. Each time I paid no attention to the pizza as I danced and sang with the animatronics. Mom would always have me sit down and just eat one slice of pizza, and I'd eat the slice as fast as I could, then zoom off to stand in front of the stages again and resume dancing and singing with the songs.
My favorite characters right from the start (and still so to this day) were Mitzi and Dook. Dook is the drummer and I've had a lifetime love for all drummers, plus he had that excellent crooner singing voice that was pure mastery! I loved listening to him sing, and the fact that he really played the drums was amazing! I liked Mitzi because I was a little girl and I immediately idolized and adored the "Cool, grown-up teenage cheerleader". And, being a girl, I always identified with her pop songs. Each visit to Showbiz Pizza I always wanted to get on stage, with my own set of pom-poms, and sing and dance beside Mitzi. I don't know if the employees would've allowed that, but Mom certainly didn't; Mom meant so well its sweet, but she didn't know what the interiors of the robots were like and she believed their skeletons were heavy, solid metal. Mom's fear was that if I got on stage with Mitzi, that I could get too close while Mitzi was waving her arms in the air and then get caught and injured between Mitzi's arm and side when she lowered her hands to her sides during her routines. Yes, Mom was overprotective of me, but I was her only child so I could see why. ^.^;; Now that I've seen what Mitzi's animatronic skeleton looks like and that her arms were made of hoses for air pressure, I'm certain she wouldn't have injured anyone if they got too close. I'll have to show that to Mom. :))
Anyway, I was nine years old when my Showbiz Pizza started becoming Chuck E Cheese. Dad was working late one Friday night and so Mom and I went into Showbiz Pizza that evening. We saw immediately that Rolfe and Earl were gone, replaced by the animatronic mouse who I'd never seen before (There was only Showbiz Pizza around where we lived, and not Chuck E Cheese) and the employees said that it was Chuck E Cheese. Mom, who was a fan of Rolfe and Earl, missed them right away. :< And later the Showbiz Pizza in our mall closed completely for a while, and a sign outside the door stated "Coming soon: Chuck E Cheese Pizza".
I never saw another Showbiz Pizza again after that, and I thought they were completely gone until I read on this site that a small handfull still remain. I believe a road trip for me and my fellow nerdy friends to find the closest Showbiz Pizza. Its been 17 years, and I still miss Dook and Mitzi. But recently I found fan-made videos of the Rock-Afire explosion singing modern songs (Like this cool one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBhuBrWlmeA&feature=channel_page) and I LOVED seeing that! My childhood came swarming back to me. X3
I discovered recently that some fans own the Rock-Afire Explosion band in their homes and that inspired me to try and find a Dook animatronic. I wouldn't know how to program him; I'm a science, biology, and history book nerd and not a computer geek so I wouldn't know where to begin, but I'd display him proudly in my apartment. ^_^ I'm big about nostalgia!
Whoa, I really babbled here, didn't I? I got carried away. I hope I didn't bore anyone. ^.^;;
Oh, I'm Gwendolyn by the way. lol I got excited. :)) As my user name says, I'm Gwendolyn and I was born in 1983. I'm nearly 26 years old now, just one month shy of my 26th birthday in April 25th.
As I stated, I haven't seen anything Showbiz Pizza for 17 years, until I stumbled upon this wonderful site. Looks like I was just looking in the wrong places before now. Right now I live in Oregon, but as a child I lived and grew up in Tennessee where we had a wonderful Showbiz Pizza in our large Eastgate Mall (I believe that was the name of the mall. Its been too long). I was four years old in 1988 when my parents took me to Showbiz Pizza on my birthday for the very first time. I don't remember my first visit, I was still a baby ^.^;;, but Mom describes my reactions to the singing animatronics as "in complete awe" and I thought they were pure magical. I was smiling constantly and my eyes were wide as I watched the animatronics sing and apparently forgot all about my pizza and birthday cake. My fourth birthday began a great love for Showbiz Pizza and my parents took me there every friday for supper. Each time I paid no attention to the pizza as I danced and sang with the animatronics. Mom would always have me sit down and just eat one slice of pizza, and I'd eat the slice as fast as I could, then zoom off to stand in front of the stages again and resume dancing and singing with the songs.
My favorite characters right from the start (and still so to this day) were Mitzi and Dook. Dook is the drummer and I've had a lifetime love for all drummers, plus he had that excellent crooner singing voice that was pure mastery! I loved listening to him sing, and the fact that he really played the drums was amazing! I liked Mitzi because I was a little girl and I immediately idolized and adored the "Cool, grown-up teenage cheerleader". And, being a girl, I always identified with her pop songs. Each visit to Showbiz Pizza I always wanted to get on stage, with my own set of pom-poms, and sing and dance beside Mitzi. I don't know if the employees would've allowed that, but Mom certainly didn't; Mom meant so well its sweet, but she didn't know what the interiors of the robots were like and she believed their skeletons were heavy, solid metal. Mom's fear was that if I got on stage with Mitzi, that I could get too close while Mitzi was waving her arms in the air and then get caught and injured between Mitzi's arm and side when she lowered her hands to her sides during her routines. Yes, Mom was overprotective of me, but I was her only child so I could see why. ^.^;; Now that I've seen what Mitzi's animatronic skeleton looks like and that her arms were made of hoses for air pressure, I'm certain she wouldn't have injured anyone if they got too close. I'll have to show that to Mom. :))
Anyway, I was nine years old when my Showbiz Pizza started becoming Chuck E Cheese. Dad was working late one Friday night and so Mom and I went into Showbiz Pizza that evening. We saw immediately that Rolfe and Earl were gone, replaced by the animatronic mouse who I'd never seen before (There was only Showbiz Pizza around where we lived, and not Chuck E Cheese) and the employees said that it was Chuck E Cheese. Mom, who was a fan of Rolfe and Earl, missed them right away. :< And later the Showbiz Pizza in our mall closed completely for a while, and a sign outside the door stated "Coming soon: Chuck E Cheese Pizza".
I never saw another Showbiz Pizza again after that, and I thought they were completely gone until I read on this site that a small handfull still remain. I believe a road trip for me and my fellow nerdy friends to find the closest Showbiz Pizza. Its been 17 years, and I still miss Dook and Mitzi. But recently I found fan-made videos of the Rock-Afire explosion singing modern songs (Like this cool one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBhuBrWlmeA&feature=channel_page) and I LOVED seeing that! My childhood came swarming back to me. X3
I discovered recently that some fans own the Rock-Afire Explosion band in their homes and that inspired me to try and find a Dook animatronic. I wouldn't know how to program him; I'm a science, biology, and history book nerd and not a computer geek so I wouldn't know where to begin, but I'd display him proudly in my apartment. ^_^ I'm big about nostalgia!
Whoa, I really babbled here, didn't I? I got carried away. I hope I didn't bore anyone. ^.^;;