Yes, it’s terrible. But not because it’s Chuck E Cheese; because it’s a goddamn kid’s birthday party. Of *course *there will be screaming children. Of *course *the food will be terrible. Of *course *there will be awkward conversation with the other adults. I have never–as a child or an adult–been to a kid’s birthday party that wasn’t like this.
At least Chuck E Cheese has skee-ball.
(That said, the CEC clone I went to for my nephew’s b-day had literally the worst coffee I have ever had in my life by an order of magnitude. I am not even slightly exaggerating here. It was actually bad enough to count as a shared horror to reminisce on with the other adult participants.)
Nothing makes me hate a kid more than when he says he wants to go to Fuck E Fleas. :mad:
It’s actually improved and it still sucks. Which should tell you how bad it was before!:eek:
I’ve seen plenty of drunks @ C.E.C… Some of them still serve booze. It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.
It’s a good place to watch how rotten some children behave. I’d never get away with slapping at or hitting my parents because I was frustrated or wasn’t getting my own way. One time I actually saw a little boy, about 4 or 5, spit across the table at [I presumed] his grandmother because she told him he had to finish eating before he could play more games. The dad just yelled “Hey! That’s not very nice Tyler”. My old man would have cracked me so hard across the face it would have hospitalized my mother!
My grandson just turned 8. He got to go to that hell hole last year and knows well enough not to push the envelope. So he picked The Mine shaft. It has the same games as Chuckie but once you leave the arcade you’re back to reality in a decent restaurant.
Are kids and their entertainment getting more annoying or are some of us just getting old and crotchety.?
I’m going to be 58. I don’t recall as a child ever being taken to a place like Chunky Cheeze or any kind of concert. Don’t even think such things existed in the 60’s. I remember going to see the Oscar Mayer midget and getting a plastic whistle with a bunch of other kids, but that’s it.
Kids birthday parties were held at their homes and nobody ever had a freaking bounce house at one. If a kids parents had rented that back then we’d have enjoyed the hell out of it and then beat the shit out of that spoiled prick Monday during recess. Just saying.
Maybe, but it’s not a new thing either. Chuck E Cheese opened in 1977. ShowBiz Pizza (same concept but with a hillbilly bear jamboree) opened in 1980. Prior to that, I remember parties at McDonalds being a big thing with games and gift bags. You had children’s parties at rollerskating rinks and bowling alleys. Parents got on year-old waiting lists to let their little darlings be in the audience for Bozo the Clown and Sesame Street on Ice started in 1974. It’s not really a huge generational shift in concept although, like many things, it’s become larger over the years.
I’m guessing this will sum up the experience pretty well. ZipperJJ and some others have calmed my concerns a little, but it stil sounds terrible.
Thanks, I was wondering how much the games were and the exchange rate.
I’ve recently discovered how amazing the Dollar store is for kids crap, especially for school projects.
Yeah, my thought was that the Arcade games may not appeal to my kid. He likes books, lego blocks, board games, and pretend play. I do want him to be exposed to other stuff though, that’s mainly why we’re going… so maybe he’ll surprise me and enjoy some of the games.
He’s sort of shy or at least takes awhile to warm up to stuff like this with other kids running around and being rowdy, but I think it’s mainly because he’s the small kid and is afraid of getting injured. He’ll probably always be the short kid in school just like I was, so it’s something we’re working through.
There’s certainly no shortage of those venues…
That’s some kind of mental picture you painted there.
That’s for the information everyone, it’s been very helpful. Hopefully I don’t have any horror stories to report back with after the party.
There’s a lot of different games so he’ll probably find something he likes. They range from stuff like really basic and fast “Slap the button when the moving light is in the blue zone, get tickets” to more involved “Sit on a horse statue and lean in different directions as the screen shows it running down a track to steer/jump it, get tickets”. Even if he hates everything, I guess you can slap the button thirty times and go home
The game floor is a mixed crowd of kids and their parents so, if he’s not happy traveling in a pack of kids, you can easily stay by his side and cheer him on as he rides horses or rolls skee-balls. You won’t stand out or look odd for it or anything.
It is, by design, virtually impossible to NOT win enough tickets to at least get some sort of token prize like a plastic bug or kazoo. You’re guaranteed a ticket or two even if you completely botch the game and the cheap gifts are 15-20 tickets. Speaking of, they have machines that will suck up all your tickets and give you a receipt to take to the prize counter so don’t sweat keeping track of how many 3-5 ticket strips your have or what your total is.
Now I know why you have frequented a place that sells both cigars and ammunition. If I had been forced through an experience that traumatic ------------
The one thing I would make sure your kid understands is that they can’t always get the big prize. They’re gonna see the giant stuffed animal for 5000 tickets and they’ll only have 200 tickets to get a plastic frog.
I went to a Chuck E. Cheese many many years ago. My then boyfriend took me. We did not bring any kids. I learned I was very good at Whack-A-Mole. I do not recall eating while there.
You might not have gone personally to a party but the fact that these places have always had “Party Rooms” with the long cafeteria style tables should have told you something
The youngest Torqueling had her third and fourth birthday parties there. I will say this: I have never seen a kid have a great time at Chuck E. Cheese more than that little girl. She went nuts for it, from the games, to dancing with Chucky, to the silly little crown they gave her to wear. So in that respect, it was a huge success.
The pizza is “fair”. It used to be terrible, but they’ve apparently upgraded somewhat. It is, however, very overpriced for what it is. There should be plenty of games to choose from of various sorts, plus Skee-ball, shooting timed hoops, that sort of thing. I remember ours even having some sort of “photo booth”, but it would sort of “sketch” your picture rather than a straight-up photograph.
Other things: you and your kiddo will be hand-stamped with UV ink when you enter. They check the stamps when you leave so your kid doesn’t go home with the wrong person. So, at least they have some sort of security procedure.
