Charlie Cheese's

[MMBBfan327]

Does anybody know if Charlie Cheese's is still open. Wonder what kind of merchandise they had their, or what the characters osunded like. They'd have to sound different, as the showtapes here mention "Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre." Has anybody ever been here before? Actually, do you think this post should be in the Knock-off Restaurants section? Not sure.

[RAERocks]

Charlie Cheese was owned by CEC and was only seen in Australia. For some reason they decided not to use the name Chuck in Australia. So techincally it wasn't a knock off restaurant.

www.themeparkbrochures.co...e198x.html (http://www.themeparkbrochures.com/198x/charcheese198x.html)

And to answer your question, I don't think they are still around.

[djsmurf]

In Australia, "Chuck" means vomit. I don't know about you, but i would NOT want to eat at any Vomit-E-Cheese !:rollin
The manager at the CEC here in cols GA told me once that when CEC went to buy back any franchised stores, If they refused they could no longer use Chuck E Cheese for there name. So they would change it to Chunk E Cheese. I don't know how true it is because i never seen one for myself.

[dheineCECfan]

One Charlie Cheese's Pizza Playhouse in Austrailia was part of a place called Grundy's Surfer's Paradise.

[DrCorey]

so they didn't want to say,
don't upchuck your cheese...

[RAERocks]

yeah Darryl....you mean the one seen in the above link I posted??

RR

[dheineCECfan]

Yes, I think Grundy's was the name of a various Australian attraction place which included Charlie Cheese's.

[MMBBfan327]

I thought Grundy's was the name of a Plaza or something.

[CharlieCheese]

Hi Everyone. I was doing a little reminiscing about parties I went to at CC as a child and came across your site. There were not only one, but 2 Charlie Cheese's here in Australia. The first one opened in Surfers Paradise (about 70km south of Brisbane.) Not long after a second one opened in Carindale (a suburb of Brisbane.) Unfortunately, both closed a few years later in the late 80's.

I have heard 2 stories about the name change. First being that Chuck having negative meaning (meaning "to throw up") Second being that the name Chuck E Cheese was already registered by another company and Grundys (who had bought the CEC franchise) didn't want to pay an extra $50, 000 to use the name.

Grundys was a huge amusement arcade taking up 2 or 3 floors of a mall in the heart of the tourist section of Surfers Paradise - a popular beach tourist destination.

I had only been to the one in Brisbane, as it was in my neighborhood. I remember the year it opened almost everyone in my class had a party there. Although I never went to CC in Surfers Paradise, I did visit Grundys with my family and they had Dolly Dimples outside the resurant in the main game arcade.

From what I can remember, there was a small room to the left of the front counter that had Dolly Dimples (My favorite) sitting at her piano. You could get her to play a song by inserting a token. You went into the main resturant and up the front was a balcony stage with Charlie and the gang. I don't remember ever seeing Mr Munch. From what I remember there was a cat character. Every now and then they would change the female character. I remember Madame Oink being a return "visitor" I also remember a chicken and a fox character on rotation with her. I remember there being a Grease themed show on one visit.

Off to the right of the eating area was the arcade with all the popular games of the time. What I now think of as weird was a small room under the balcony stage that was curtained off. You went in and inserted a token and a strobe light would go off for a minute or so. God knows whos bright idea that one was, but it proved to be popular.

I know that this is a REALLY old thread, but I thought I may be able to answer a few questions. PLease don't hesitate to ask about anything I haven't cleared up.

[VegaNova]

No problem bringing up an old thread when you have something intellegent to add! :cecwink:

The things you remember sound very much like what the Pizza Time Theatres were like here in the states. Even that bizarre strobe place underneath the balcony - I don't think all of them out here had those, but a few fans distintly remember something similar. I think someone mentioned that blacklights were also used.

I once had a menu from the location at Grundy's but now only have some rather poor scans, they're posted here in case you haven't seen them yet:

http://rock_afire.tripod.com/info/related/charlie/index.html

Maybe you can clear up the name controversey - is "chuck" commonly used over there to describe puking or vomiting? Over here sometimes you hear the term "up chuck" to describe it, but it's not used nearly enough to connect with the name "Chuck E. Cheese".

I was told this years ago from an early Pizza Time employee named Jack Campbell. He had aquired some Charlie Cheese items like the menu, some tokens, and a bumper sticker. He told me that as far as he knew, that's why the name "Charlie" was decided upon. ;)

And welcome to the forum by the way!

[CharlieCheese]

Hi there! During the 80's, yes the word chuck was used to describe throwing up, but you don't tend to hear the word in that context much these days.

It's a shame that the stores closed. I am sure that something like CEC would be popular today.

[TreyTX]

my thought has always been did they showtape in AU have the character's calling 'him' Chuck E or Charlie, so was a special tape made for the two AU stores? Also. did they have to make special merch. so that every thing had Charlie Cheese rather than Chuck E Cheese?

[dheineCECfan]

CC: Glad you remember Charlie Cheese's Australia!