PTT's fall- The First Signs of Failure

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Hi Pizza Timers!

Time for another hot topic to chat about ....

Here's a interesting topic...the decline of the concept we all knew and loved as Pizza Time Theatre.

When did you feel that it started to lose it's "edge"? When did you start to notice that things were changing, and it seemed that it was'nt for the better?

I often refer to PTT's early period of success as the "Golden Era". You've heard me use this term many times i'm sure...and it refers to the PTT time period between 1980 thru 1983. This was when the concept was at it's creative and most entertaining peak, at least when viewed by us die-hard Pizza Time freaks. You could'nt get any better then this...this was back when the place was super cool with moody lighting, loads of REAL games, multiple rooms all filled with animatronic characters, and a general sense of magical mystery and giddy excitement. This was before CEC started targeting kids only...before cutbacks, before cheap animation, and before the downgrading in everything.

So i thought it would be interesting to hear what fans feel in general was the first signs of the beginning of the end.

Now of course, the Arcade Craze crash in 83' had a hand in it...but there was more going on that led to the fall from grace PTT once held. Yes, the fact that Showbiz took over had a hand in the changes too...and the changing times...but was there a particular event or train of thought that seemed to hit you in the face when you experienced it and you realized.."Whoa..this is'nt PTT anymore.."

Discuss!

[captslappy]

Both stores I visited were going downhill fast a year before they filed for bankruptcy. The older store which had Dolli and Harmony was bad. Many rides were out of order, Dolli was looking ratty (her dress was torn and she was dirty), and the place just felt dirty and run down as a whole. The balcony stage as I remembered seemed ok but it may have had movements out on it. The other store that started with Oink and King were in a similiar state of affairs but not as bad. King was moved into the game room so his lounge could be used as a TV room for the adults. We all know the story behind that already. Neither store lost their caberet or lounge show before closing, but they both did get to Helen Henny before they closed. I can't say for sure, but I think the store with Harmony skipped straight to Helen. I know I never saw Oink there but it is possible a year went by before my final visit. I know the first time I saw Helen in Harmony's place was my final visit. It closed not long after that. I think both stores closed within 6 months to a year of one another.

[TreyTX]

I was 11 when I first went to a PTT store in Houston (there were four and six ShowBiz stores). We went to ShowBiz at least once every other month. One day I saw a commercial for PTT and we decided to go there instead of ShowBiz...I remember the stage was very high and could hardly see the characters and they really didn't move very much compared to the ShowBiz stage. The Rock afire stage at the time seemed so much more exciting and the music was so much better.

[dheineCECfan]

The CECPTT Chicago and Hoffman Estates locations were still around but were seperate franchises from the Chicago area SPP locations before these 2 CECPTT locations were converted to Little Caesar's Family Fun Pizzarea locations in late 1986 and removed the CECPTT shows (main Chuck E. Cheese show and King show) replacing them with play areas but keeping the big screen TV and the arcade.