Animatronics
Another primary draw for the centers since their beginning through the mid-2010s has been their animatronic shows.[88] There have historically been several different styles of animatronic shows in use within the company, details of which would vary depending on when the location opened, whether it was renovated, available room for animatronic stages, and other factors.[89] Over the years, these animatronics have often been supplemented by (and in recent years been completely replaced by) costumed characters.[90]
When the first location opened in 1977, the animatronic characters were featured as busts in framed portraits hanging on the walls of the main dining area. The original show featured Crusty the Cat (the first character to face retirement as he was soon replaced with Mr. Munch in 1978), Pasqually the Singing Chef, Jasper T. Jowls, the Warblettes, and the main focus of the show, Chuck E. Cheese.[91] By 1979, many restaurants had also added "cabaret" shows in separate rooms of each restaurant.[2] One of the early Cabaret characters was Dolli Dimples, a hippopotamus who played the piano and sang in the blues/jazz style of performer Pearl Bailey.[92][93] The in-house control system, which consisted of a 6502-based controller in a card cage with various driver boards, was called "Cyberamics".[94][95]
While Fechter separately produced the Rock-afire Explosion animatronics for ShowBiz Pizza through the early 1980s, Bushnell and Pizza Time Theatre continued work on characters for their portrait format and newer Balcony Stage shows under the umbrella of the Pizza Time Players.[96] Development on Cabaret concepts slowed greatly after Pizza Time Theatre Inc.'s bankruptcy in 1984 and its purchase by ShowBiz a year later. From 1985 to 1990, the merged company kept their brands (and their respective animatronic shows) mostly separate.[97] After Fechter refused to sign over the rights to the Rock-afire Explosion to Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc., "Concept Unification" was undertaken beginning in 1990 and continuing through 1993 to eliminate Fechter's characters from ShowBiz locations and replace them with that of the Chuck E. Cheese's characters.[98][99] The animatronics built by Creative Engineering for their Rock-afire Explosion band were retrofitted as "Chuck E. Cheese & Munch's Make Believe Band", with new costumes and cosmetics.[100] The exact year of when Concept Unification started is debated by fans. At first, the existing Pizza Time Theatre Cyberamics did not coincide with the character update, but they were later reconfigured and costumed to reflect the updated Munch's Make Believe Band character designs.
In November 1990, ShowBiz Pizza Time debuted a new stage show for future CEC locations called the "Road Stage", being the first Cyberamic stage to use the Munch's Make Believe Band format to coincide with Concept Unification. The Road Stage featured a full-bodied Chuck E. Cheese Cyberamic standing on a platform, while the rest of the half-bodied band characters were set on buildings. The first location to install this stage opened in Jonesboro, Georgia in November 1990, and the last Road Stage location opened in June 1992 in Sun Valley, California. In February 1992, the Cyberamic 2-Stage debuted at the White Settlement, Texas location, featuring Chuck E. and the band on two separate stages. The last location to install a 2-Stage was in Florence, Kentucky between 2002 and 2003. In March 1992, the 1-Stage debuted at the Waldorf, Maryland location, featuring all characters together on one stage. The last location to install a 1-Stage was in Citrus Heights, California, between 2014 and 2015.
In August 1996, a test stage at the Valley View Mall/Montfort Drive location[102] in Dallas, Texas, was created—the first attempt at a single-character animatronic stage, The Awesome Adventure Machine. This animatronic show consisted of neon flashy lights and items around the show. This stage took over what is commonly referred to as a "3-Stage" (an animatronic show converted from a former Rock-afire Explosion show from Showbiz Pizza Place). This animatronic show was never installed in any other location and was removed by late 1997 or early 1998 and replaced by Studio C.[103]
Beginning in December 1997 with the Brookfield, Wisconsin, location, a new animatronic show began being installed in new stores, referred to as "Studio C", consisting of a single 32-movement Chuck E. Cheese animatronic character created by Garner Holt alongside large television monitors, lighting effects, and interactive elements.[104] Studio C eventually served as the replacement for Munch's Make Believe Band stages, with the last MMBB location opening in Mentor, Ohio in July 1998. Following the discontinuation of MMBB shows, the Studio C series of stages continued to evolve, starting with the Small-Town Studio C 2000 in early 2000, the "Studio C 2000" in late 2000, and the Small-Town Studio C 2003 in July 2003. The last new Chuck E. Cheese's location to receive a new Studio C 2000 stage opened in Concepción, Chile in August 2012, and the last existing Chuck E. Cheese's location to receive a Studio C 2000 was in Cincinnati, Ohio around 2014.[105]
In late 2009, a new single-character stage was conceptualized by Westerville, Ohio-based brand agency Chute Gerdeman[106] for Chuck E. Cheese's, and this idea became the "Star Stage". The Star Stage debuted in April 2010 as a test stage at the new Valley View Mall/Montfort Drive location in Dallas, Texas, replacing their Studio C 2000 stage. The Montfort Drive location's Star Stage reused the 32-movement Chuck E. Cheese animatronic, and the scenery included 2 side vertical video walls, curtains for the main stage, a cut out background, and 2 lowering recording studio and sports stadium backdrops. Chuck E.'s stage and the "APPLAUSE" and "ON THE AIR" signs were recycled from Montfort Drive's Studio C 2000 stage. The stage curtains would be removed by late April 2010 and side video walls would be replaced with flatscreen TVs in early 2012. Former CEC entertainment director Jeremy Blaido ordered for the show be removed in 2012 due to internal controversy with new entertainment director Robert Gotcher at the time, leading to Gotcher being fired that year. The Star Stage at the Dallas, Texas Chuck E. Cheese's location ended up being removed in August 2012 after over 2 years in operation.
In September 2010, a new stage titled the "Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band" stage (also known as Concept Unification 1-Stage by fans) was tested at the Whitehall, Pennsylvania location. It reused the Concept Unification animatronics from the 3-Stage and put them all together on a single stage with new backdrops. On this show, Munch's Make Believe Band would be renamed to Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band. Two more CU 1-Stage shows would be installed at the Springfield, Illinois and Columbus, Georgia locations in 2011 before it was retired. The Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band stage is Chuck E. Cheese's latest stage featuring the full band to date.
On April 26, 2011, a new test stage titled the "Galaxy Stage" debuted at the new Chuck E. Cheese's location in West Melbourne, Florida. The Galaxy Stage was themed around a futuristic city, and was the first Studio C stage not to use the Studio C name. It did not expand beyond its test location, and was removed in April 2023 during the West Melbourne location's 2.0 remodel renovations.
Following the removal of the Dallas, Texas (Montfort Drive) location's Star Stage in August 2012, a new stage premiered at that location, referred to as "Circles of Light", utilizing the animatronic Chuck E. Cheese produced by Garner Holt for the previous Studio C series of stages. The stages were manufactured by Corman & Associates and the control system for the new stage type was produced by Weigl Controls, developing a custom version of their ProCommander series of controllers for CEC.[107]
In July 2020, the Darien, Illinois location replaced their 3-Stage animatronics and props with the Studio C 2000 backdrops and 16-movement animatronic from the Joliet, Illinois location which had remodeled in early 2020. Another installation of this unique stage would be installed in November 2020 at the Chicago, Illinois location on Kedzie Avenue. The Darien location would remove their stage during their remodel in June 2023, and the Chicago (Kedzie) location would remodel and remove their stage in August 2024.
For stores still featuring animatronics, updated programs for Munch's Make Believe Band stages were generally distributed on DVD between 2007 and 2022. Studio 'C' stores ran off of 3 DVDs and a floppy disk from 1999 to 2022, previously having used LaserDisc. Weigl (Circles of Light stages and Dance Floors) stores use a USB and a MicroSD card.
In mid-2022, a new system for running the animatronic shows (3-Stage, Cyberamics, and all Studio 'C' and Weigl shows) was introduced that would, instead of using physical media such as DVDs, function using the store's Wi-Fi connection. The implementation of said device caused a problem for the Studio C shows, as their previous show system(s) had special file formats for programming signals; therefore the switch to the new system would cause no animatronic movements to happen, except for a "Random Movements" program. The Munch's Make Believe Band stages (CEI and Cyberamics shows) were not affected by this change of systems, although programming of new songs would cease in 2023 due to budget cuts.[108]
Elimination of animatronics
In 2002, Chuck E. Cheese's opened three locations, two in Waco and Lake Jackson, Texas, and one in Dover, Delaware, experimenting with a new type of format featuring a smaller layout, a buffet, no play structures, no animatronic stage (albeit featuring a "blue screen" from the Studio 'C' stages), and a constant presence of the Chuck E. Cheese costumed character. All three "Chuck E. Cheese's Buffet" locations would remodel to standard Chuck E. Cheese's and receive "Small-Town Studio 'C'" stages with an animatronic between 2003 and 2006.[109]
In September 2012, The "Circles of Light" stage at the Montfort Drive location in Dallas, Texas removed their animatronic, initially using the stage platform for costumed character performances. Beginning in early 2013, Circles of Light stages began being installed in newly opened stores without an animatronic, although a few Circles of Light stores would open with an animatronic from 2012 to 2018. In 2014, the Montfort Drive location would test a prototype of the "Chuck E. Live Stage" in their gameroom.
In August 2013, the newly opened Montgomery, Alabama location was the first Chuck E. Cheese's in 11 years to open without any animatronics, as it opened with a Circles of Light stage with no Chuck E. animatronic. Circles of Light would also replace 4 older animatronic stages in CEC locations between March 2014 and September 2017. The first being a 3-Stage in San Antonio, Texas in March 2014, a 1-Stage in Rohnert Park, California between late 2014 and early 2015, another 3-Stage in Matteson, Illinois in February 2015, and another 3-Stage in
