MMBBfan327
09-22-2005, 09:24 PM
What did you think, or how did you react when you first walked into Chuck E. Cheese's?
I remember it as if it was yesterday...
I got out of the car, and saw a building, with a green mouse on it (circa 1992 logo). I thought, where is my mom taking me? I walk through the door, and see a picture of a 'purple monster,'(munch 3d eyes) on the left, and a 'cool-lookin' mouse'(cec 3d eyes) on the right. Past that, the REAL excitment came...
I walk into this place and think, my mom is the GREATEST!!! How did she ever find this place? I stumbled into the arcade, looking in every corner with excitment.
as i walked into the hallwy, i noticed a bagged up area (showroom). i could see a little bit inside. i saw a stage with a blue neon light, but no character (king?). next to it, was a white 'box' (c stage) with the 'purple guy' (munch), and a 'skeleton w/ a hat and mustache (pasqually). i was kinda dissapointed i couldn't see a show, and that when 2 weeks later, i got another surprise...
2 weeks later, i got to go back. the blocked up room was now open. i sprintered in, to find for the first time, a 'late night band outside the street' (one stage mmbb, and there was a building right down the street that looked excatly like the 'clock building' in the background). i watched the show sitting on a bench for maybe 25 minutes or so. i absoultey loved it!!! the other stage w/ the neon light was gone, which got me thinking, and in its place were BIG pictures of cartoons (music parody albums), and coat racks.
As we left the 2nd time, i got a stuffed animal of the cool lookin' mouse dressed as a lion tamer ('94 cec plush w/ derby and vest), which i still ahve today. i even remember crying becasue i wanted the big one, and later in life i got one, and i remember as i left, i saw 'a doggie-sitting on a house'(beageljuice).
the next time i went, i got my pasqually plush, and hugged it while listening to "whoops there it is" (cec 20th anniversary show)
now, here's where i get a heartbreak that would scar me for life.
we've gotten news a new cec was opening by best buy (19125 w. bluemound rd; second store to get studio c alpha). i was excited, because 2 cec's would mean twice the fun, right? wrong. a couple months pass, and the new one's alomst completed. so, when we stop at mcdonald's, i ask: "hey mom, can we see how the old chuck e. cheese is doing?" without a huff, she took me and my brother down there (the ONLY time she ever did this without huffing). we're about to turn onto the street it was on. my mom looks at me, and i smile.
we turned into the parking lot of the plaza, and we get closer, and closer, and then...BOOM!!!
i look up, and what do i see? a scraped up building with newspaper in the doors, and ripped up poster frames w/ graffiti. i was devistated. i couldn't even look at it without bursting into tears. my brother and mom, on the other hand, didn't give a crap. but to me, this was my HOME.
as years pass, and we go to the elmbrook plaza, i see the empty building get older, and dumpier, and more alone. i couldn't help but go to it, look at the doors, and cry.
then, in 2001, we go back to the elmbrook plaza. i think to myself, i think i'll see if i can try and scrape the cec head off the doors (where he's in the circle). then, i saw it.
the WHOLE place was remodeled. i couldn't tell where it was. ALL new doors were added to the plaza. the poster frames were gone, the bench was gone, everything! so, all i did was sit int he car, and think of all my visits there. how i saw an mmbb for the first time, how i adorded the posters, everything.
years later, when a NEW look was given, i could then tell which building it was. i looked into the doors of an empty building, and inside i could see the bricked floor from the lobby. the torn beaglejuice poster collecting dust. even a little of the color border near the ceiling. i gasped with excitement and starred into the place. people looked at me weird, but i didn't care.
now, the NEXT time i went, it was "Dollar Deals" and still is today. i ran inside, and found the border was painted red all around. the brick floor was gone, and surprisingly the prize counter and coat racks survived. man, was i saddened. only the hallway was here. no showroom, no gameroom, nothing. just a hallway which is now dollar deals.
even though a different identity, i will neve look at that cec different then the first time i walked in.
well, that's my story. how about you?
I remember it as if it was yesterday...
I got out of the car, and saw a building, with a green mouse on it (circa 1992 logo). I thought, where is my mom taking me? I walk through the door, and see a picture of a 'purple monster,'(munch 3d eyes) on the left, and a 'cool-lookin' mouse'(cec 3d eyes) on the right. Past that, the REAL excitment came...
I walk into this place and think, my mom is the GREATEST!!! How did she ever find this place? I stumbled into the arcade, looking in every corner with excitment.
as i walked into the hallwy, i noticed a bagged up area (showroom). i could see a little bit inside. i saw a stage with a blue neon light, but no character (king?). next to it, was a white 'box' (c stage) with the 'purple guy' (munch), and a 'skeleton w/ a hat and mustache (pasqually). i was kinda dissapointed i couldn't see a show, and that when 2 weeks later, i got another surprise...
2 weeks later, i got to go back. the blocked up room was now open. i sprintered in, to find for the first time, a 'late night band outside the street' (one stage mmbb, and there was a building right down the street that looked excatly like the 'clock building' in the background). i watched the show sitting on a bench for maybe 25 minutes or so. i absoultey loved it!!! the other stage w/ the neon light was gone, which got me thinking, and in its place were BIG pictures of cartoons (music parody albums), and coat racks.
As we left the 2nd time, i got a stuffed animal of the cool lookin' mouse dressed as a lion tamer ('94 cec plush w/ derby and vest), which i still ahve today. i even remember crying becasue i wanted the big one, and later in life i got one, and i remember as i left, i saw 'a doggie-sitting on a house'(beageljuice).
the next time i went, i got my pasqually plush, and hugged it while listening to "whoops there it is" (cec 20th anniversary show)
now, here's where i get a heartbreak that would scar me for life.
we've gotten news a new cec was opening by best buy (19125 w. bluemound rd; second store to get studio c alpha). i was excited, because 2 cec's would mean twice the fun, right? wrong. a couple months pass, and the new one's alomst completed. so, when we stop at mcdonald's, i ask: "hey mom, can we see how the old chuck e. cheese is doing?" without a huff, she took me and my brother down there (the ONLY time she ever did this without huffing). we're about to turn onto the street it was on. my mom looks at me, and i smile.
we turned into the parking lot of the plaza, and we get closer, and closer, and then...BOOM!!!
i look up, and what do i see? a scraped up building with newspaper in the doors, and ripped up poster frames w/ graffiti. i was devistated. i couldn't even look at it without bursting into tears. my brother and mom, on the other hand, didn't give a crap. but to me, this was my HOME.
as years pass, and we go to the elmbrook plaza, i see the empty building get older, and dumpier, and more alone. i couldn't help but go to it, look at the doors, and cry.
then, in 2001, we go back to the elmbrook plaza. i think to myself, i think i'll see if i can try and scrape the cec head off the doors (where he's in the circle). then, i saw it.
the WHOLE place was remodeled. i couldn't tell where it was. ALL new doors were added to the plaza. the poster frames were gone, the bench was gone, everything! so, all i did was sit int he car, and think of all my visits there. how i saw an mmbb for the first time, how i adorded the posters, everything.
years later, when a NEW look was given, i could then tell which building it was. i looked into the doors of an empty building, and inside i could see the bricked floor from the lobby. the torn beaglejuice poster collecting dust. even a little of the color border near the ceiling. i gasped with excitement and starred into the place. people looked at me weird, but i didn't care.
now, the NEXT time i went, it was "Dollar Deals" and still is today. i ran inside, and found the border was painted red all around. the brick floor was gone, and surprisingly the prize counter and coat racks survived. man, was i saddened. only the hallway was here. no showroom, no gameroom, nothing. just a hallway which is now dollar deals.
even though a different identity, i will neve look at that cec different then the first time i walked in.
well, that's my story. how about you?