New here.

[vj81995]

Hi Guys! I'm new here and i've been reading for a couple of years but neer thought i could reply then i checked it out today and walla! I know almost everyone here and i did the Fan Club thing and i know VegaNova and all them so hey!

[mmbbfan10972]

So you know almost everyone? You know me? But Anyway Welcome to the awesome forums!

[pizzacam]

Welcome! ;)

[Aaron]

Welcome!

See you around the board.

Enjoy,
-NJ

[ChuckEFranchize454]

welcome to the cut thorat world of fast food entertainment lol welcome!!

[vj81995]

Thanks for all the welcome guys! I feel so at home now!

-V.J.

[MMBBfan327]

Trust me you'll love it here. ;)

[RockafireGuy]

WELCOME!!!!!! 8)

I've been around Veganova's site since 1998. I wasn't a message board member until quite some time later though.

[cec080]

Welcome aboard!
Tell us what your favorite things about CEC and Showbiz
were.
:D

[vj81995]

Um.. I don't remember the PTT and Showbiz and all that but i remember the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza era. :) I am totally interested in puppets and animatronics and mostly robotcs and i LOVE CEC so this is the board for me! I feel like i'm best friends with everyone here now :) You guys made me feel so welcome!
-V.J.

[RockafireGuy]

Hey no problem. If you have Broadband Internet access; you'll have to check out some Rock-afire Explosion videos!
Most people who have never seen them are almost in disbelief the first time 8)

The best videos (where all chars are in great shape) are of Snap's Show, Chris Thrash's Billy Bob, Looneybird 78's chars, the old showbiz diagnostic tapes from 1983, and the Rock-afire Cyberstar videos. I also think Circuspizzafan was the one who did an amazing restoration job on a Rock-afire show that presumably couldn't be saved.

[vj81995]

Oh i almost forgot! I.. love..DISNEYLAND! (and everything Disney, at that :lol )

[RockafireGuy]

That is something taht we all have in common around here just about.. we all LOVE Disney!

[vj81995]

I think I know why ;) (Anamatronics)

[RockafireGuy]

OH yeah I know.. Aaron Fechter may have never been inspired to get a group of people up to help him and build an animatronic character in his garage off of $5000 borrowed money if it weren't for Disney's Country Bear Jamboree being an inspiration. He was obsessed with that show which is why the Bear Country Jubilee AKA The Hard Luck Bears ( the show that introduced Billy Bob as Billly Wilbur) came along.
CEI's early work reflected his obsession with the Country Bears. Some of that was still carried uinto Showbiz withe the Rock-afire... after all..... the round stages for the animatronics are something that Disney's Country Bear Jamboree practically pioneered.

[vj81995]

Hey hey hey, don't forget the man who started it all! Walt Disney needs some regconition, He's "The Main Man". Also let's not forget the animatronic first in Disney's kind. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Now The Walt Disney Story with Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in the main theatre that now houses the Disneyland: The 50 First Magical Years wich will be closed soon to take off it's wonderous 50th decor and go back to what i just mentioned) How did you all like the new parade and fireworks for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary: The Happiest Celebration/Homecoming on Earth? I heard Walt Disney Imagineering spent endless hours creating thos AWESOME(and now, defunct) 50th Aniversary! If you need any more info about Disneyland please send me an EzMail! I would be happy to fill you in about Disney's newest celebration!

[RockafireGuy]

Oh I never forget Walt Disney. He's one of the figures in history that I admire and look up to. People around here all know that by now. I've done quite a bit of Walt Disney promoting around here... :)

The company just isn't the same without old Walt.... although it's had ups and downs since...

You certainly feel the spirit of Walt Disney when you visit the Magic Kingdom.... you're in HIS world then.

Walt pioneered the idea and founded WED Enterprises (WED stands for Walter Elias Disney ..Now known as Walt Disney Imagineering!!!!!)


WED was made up of a group of the best engineers in the business both old pros and young prodigies.

Walt experimented with the concept back in the 40's with a buddy Ebson puppet that was controlled by a scroll much like a piano scroll. It worked, but it was primitive. Walt didn't build it of course.. cartoon animation was his department. He had some Engineers from GE who would eventually work for WED who developed the Buddy Ebson for him.

They had to wait a few years to let technolgy catch up with their ideas.

Among the greats working for WED Enterprises was young prodigy Roger Broggie and old pro Wasel Rogers.

If it weren't for them and a slew of other engineers and Walt leading them; we would have never seen Pirates become a reality... or anything at Disney for that matter.... maybe not even animatronics.... Believe me.... everybody knows about Disney around here.. LOL! And I have a GREAT GREAT GREAT respect for Walt Disney. He was a good role model for anyone.... by any standard.....

[vj81995]

And i'll never forget these words..
"To all who come to this happy place, Welcome"
Now, if he owned SPP and SP and CEC, it would be something like this:
"To all who come to my SPP/SP/CEC, Welcome"
LOL but i don't imagine it being that way for a while ;)

[RockafireGuy]

LOL! Me niether....

But Imagine if the Walt Disney company owned CEC.......

I don't think ANY of us would be complaining about CEC's condition right now.

If Disney was operating CEC; I would work at one of the stores!!! Imagine Imagineering's top rated animatronics with compliance technology and techs who work on the bots all night long to get them ready for the next day..... and think of the design and atmosphere......

Plus.. with Disney... something similar to the Rock-afire might crop up again...... that is... if Disney Corperate didn't apply their campy Disney Channel style to it and just let the Imagineers handle it all. The Imagineers have a classic style that would probably bring about another show like the RAE.

Think about it.. If Disney decided to purchase CEC....Disney would make CEC something magical all over again.... On the other hand.. if Disney decided to compete with them.. CEC would curl up and die.... There's no way CEC could compete with the Walt Disney company on any level.

[vj81995]

What if Disney made a restaurant at DLR thatis an exact copy of CEC, it would be called Mick-ey Mouse's LOL and it would have a Goofy animatronic (Jasper) a Minnie animatronic (Helen Henny), a Donald animatronic (Munch?) and a Mickey Mouse animatronic (Chuck E.), that would be awesome :)

[RockafireGuy]

I don't know if THAT would be much better or not. It would probably attract attention because it's Disney.. but would it appeal to the older kids and teenagers????? eh..... Don't think so. Disney would surely do a little better than that... otherwise it still would not be anything near what The Rock-afire Explosion was. :rolleyes I know Mickey would be a pretty good idea.. but it would only appeal the little ones.. like CEC only appeals to the little ones....

[CEC3066]

if they DID do sometrhing like that CEC would sue them BIG TIME.

[vj81995]

I don't think so, Disney ALWAYS wins lawsuits cause all the money Disney has that CEC *wishes* they could have :rollin

[RockafireGuy]

What???? LOL! CEC doesn't put a pimple on Disney Hind Quarters if you catch my meaning. Disney makes more in a year off of their Theme parks than CEC makes in three to five years. Plus.. you have to think about this..... You can legally have a similar concept as long as your characters are 40 percent different. Mickey Mouse was around while Nolan Bushnell (CEC's creator of course) was in diapers. In fact.. Walt Disney .. if he were alive.. would be old enough to be Bushnell's father.. or even grandfather.......

Also.. how could anyone have a Rock-afire in their restaurant period?? Or; how could anyone have animatronics in their restaurant period if they ran the risk of getting sued by CEC?
CEC can't sue somebody for having a similar concept and competing with them... that's what I and a lot of other people like to call.. a Monopoly... which is illegal... So; CEC can't legally sue people for having similar concepts as long as they don't commit copyright infringment. The concept of that kind of restaurant IS NOT a patented idea, nor would it be granted for one since you technically couldn't patend a concept. You can only copyright it, and under copyrights.. people can still come up with something similar. The only reason Nolan Bushnell was legally able to sue Bob Brock and Showbiz back in the early 80's was because Bob Brock broke the contracts with Bushnell and started competing after breaking franchise contracts with him. Otherwise; there would have been nothing Bushnell could've done.

[vj81995]

I really like this forum now.. people are nice here :) (i've known that for about 3 years :D )

[mmbbfan10972]

Well I Think You Might Know RockafireGuy King Of Posts In This Thread!:lol

[Rapid T Rabbit]

There was a brief period of time within the past decade when Disney did try dabbling in the FEC (Family Entertainment Center) business. The only remnant of this would be Disney Quest at Downtown in Walt Disney World. They also opened up one in Chicago that lasted maybe a few months and another one proposed for Philadelphia got sacked by real estate issues.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Clubdisney_logo.png/200px-Clubdisney_logo.png
The company also test marketed a concept called "Club Disney" in five Western locations as an "imagination-powered playsite" that I don't believe had a character presence. Both locations closed late in 1999 after failing to be a money-maker.