captslappy
10-13-2005, 09:47 AM
Back before I left for Tn earlier this year, I had my best friends over (they are both married) and was showing them my RAE. They didn't do Showbiz or Pizza Time as kids and really didn't quite get the facination with it all. A month or 2 back they called me and they had taken their soon to be 2 year old daughter Sasha to CEC and said they really weren't impressed with it and didn't see why the place was so great. Of course the location they picked had Studio C. Robots aside though, I had to explain that CEC today is nothing like the place called Pizza Time Theatre I grew up with as a kid. Here are a few subtle things that have caused them to lose the magic. Most are little atmosphere kind of things:
1. The original PTT had enclosed rooms. The lobby and ordering area was closed in. You had to go around the corner to get to the dining room and see the balcony show. Fantasy Forest (the arcade was also walled off and the caberet/lounges were in seperate rooms. The fact that it was sectioned off made the place seem huge.
2. PTTs were very dimly lit. Today with the remodels all the CECs are more or less one huge room now and they are brightly lit. This makes the restaurant seem much smaller than the old PTTs and the atmosphere isn't the same. I understand with pedophiles and kidnappings in todays society made it a necessity to make it easier for adults to keep up with their kids and sadly these changes were a must for saftey issues but it's taken away from what the place used to be.
3. Little special things like the Munch's Mad House. These little hidden areas were kind of cool. IT was like you kept discovering neat little things the first time you went.
4. Caberet acts- The fact that there were other characters in other parts of the store were cool and if you visited another store there was a different one (usually).
5. Guests- While I wish Harmony had stayed forever, after I learned she was only a guest I always wondered if I'd come back and she'd have returned or if I'd see a new guest. It also made me wonder if other PTT locations had other guests. It kept things new and fresh in addition to just waiting for a new show tape.
6. The way the shows were run. They didn't just run continously in the back ground on low volume. You had to wait 30 minutes or an hour for them to come on. The lights went out and when the robots came on the volume was up. It was like going to see a movie. They were the focal point of the showroom. Conversations resumed once the show had ended. As a kid it seemed to take forever for the next show. As soon as one would end I'd rush off and do some games and see Dolli or King but I watched the time so I could rush back to see the next performance.
7. Walk arounds- CEC wasn't out every 5 minutes. You'd have to wait a long time to see the walk around usually. When he did come out they made a big deal out of it. The show would come on and Pasqually would announce CEC's arrival. A spotlight would shine on his special door which had a star on it (yes the walk around had his very own room). When the door opened the robots turned off. The show didn't run when CEC was out. If it did, CEC was up at the front of the door or in the game room out of sight so you didn't see 2 Chucks. On very very super special rare visits (maybe once per year) Munch, Jasper and Pasqually would come out. Again this was a very special and rare event and one that didn't happen often at all.
8. The addition of monitors to the animatronic shows really ruined them. I hate the TVs and the footage in the background. All a good show needs is the robots. I think the monitors in the MMBBs are partly to cover up the fact that most of them don't work worth a $#!+
1. The original PTT had enclosed rooms. The lobby and ordering area was closed in. You had to go around the corner to get to the dining room and see the balcony show. Fantasy Forest (the arcade was also walled off and the caberet/lounges were in seperate rooms. The fact that it was sectioned off made the place seem huge.
2. PTTs were very dimly lit. Today with the remodels all the CECs are more or less one huge room now and they are brightly lit. This makes the restaurant seem much smaller than the old PTTs and the atmosphere isn't the same. I understand with pedophiles and kidnappings in todays society made it a necessity to make it easier for adults to keep up with their kids and sadly these changes were a must for saftey issues but it's taken away from what the place used to be.
3. Little special things like the Munch's Mad House. These little hidden areas were kind of cool. IT was like you kept discovering neat little things the first time you went.
4. Caberet acts- The fact that there were other characters in other parts of the store were cool and if you visited another store there was a different one (usually).
5. Guests- While I wish Harmony had stayed forever, after I learned she was only a guest I always wondered if I'd come back and she'd have returned or if I'd see a new guest. It also made me wonder if other PTT locations had other guests. It kept things new and fresh in addition to just waiting for a new show tape.
6. The way the shows were run. They didn't just run continously in the back ground on low volume. You had to wait 30 minutes or an hour for them to come on. The lights went out and when the robots came on the volume was up. It was like going to see a movie. They were the focal point of the showroom. Conversations resumed once the show had ended. As a kid it seemed to take forever for the next show. As soon as one would end I'd rush off and do some games and see Dolli or King but I watched the time so I could rush back to see the next performance.
7. Walk arounds- CEC wasn't out every 5 minutes. You'd have to wait a long time to see the walk around usually. When he did come out they made a big deal out of it. The show would come on and Pasqually would announce CEC's arrival. A spotlight would shine on his special door which had a star on it (yes the walk around had his very own room). When the door opened the robots turned off. The show didn't run when CEC was out. If it did, CEC was up at the front of the door or in the game room out of sight so you didn't see 2 Chucks. On very very super special rare visits (maybe once per year) Munch, Jasper and Pasqually would come out. Again this was a very special and rare event and one that didn't happen often at all.
8. The addition of monitors to the animatronic shows really ruined them. I hate the TVs and the footage in the background. All a good show needs is the robots. I think the monitors in the MMBBs are partly to cover up the fact that most of them don't work worth a $#!+