By Sara Wiercinski
Tickets. Pizza. A friendly mouse with dance moves.
The new Chuck E. Cheese at Ward Parkway Center has all the classics, with some twists. The spot opened at 8809 State Line Road on August 23, taking over the vacancy left when its sister restaurant, Peter Piper Pizza, closed on June 30.
According to Rickie Moore, Director of Field Training with CEC Entertainment, LLC, which owns both restaurants, Peter Piper Pizza was a one-year experiment in the Missouri market. Most of the Peter Piper locations are in Arizona and Texas.
“We wanted to try something new for this space, and for Chuck E.,” said Moore. “We remodeled, swapped out the arcade games, and added trampolines. This is sort of a new prototype for Chuck E. too.”
Coming in at just under 4,000 square feet, the Ward Parkway location is the smallest Chuck E. Cheese in operation. Instead of a classic Chuck E. dance floor, there’s an outdoor patio which extends into the Restaurant Pavilion area’s open space, home to free live performances.
“The patio has been popular so far,” said manager Michael Samiseng. “Parents like to sit outside and hear the music. The kids can play inside then come out and see the entertainment that’s also going on. No other Chuck E. has an outside patio.”
Chuck E. Cheese is known for pizza. This location bakes its pies in the custom pizza-stone oven from Peter Piper, which Moore says “offers a more wood-fired taste” compared to the typical Chuck E. pizza baked in conveyor ovens. Other popular menu items are the chicken wings and unicorn churros.
Kids who are age 12 and younger will enjoy the arcade games, including classics like pop-a-shot and coin pusher along with interactive dance games and a few small rides for toddlers. The Trampoline Zone is open to children 56” and smaller.
Birthday parties start at $99 – a value for the area. The birthday child gets access to the birthday “ticket blaster”– just like it sounds, 30 seconds in a wind tunnel to grab all the tickets you can.
Part of the arcade fun is winning tickets, which are accumulated on plastic cards. Redemption prizes range from plastic vampire teeth and tootsie rolls up to nerf blasters and oversized stuffed animals.
Chuck E. Cheese the mouse himself hosts “BOO-Tacular” at 6 pm each night in October for a spooky dance party. The October special is a pumpkin-shaped pepperoni pizza.
The original Chuck E. Cheese opened in 1977 in San Jose, CA. Today there are 477 Chuck E. Cheese locations in 45 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces. Nearby locations are Independence, Overland Park and Olathe.
Adults who, as children, visited Chuck E. Cheese or its bygone sister, ShowBiz Pizza, will recall the rock band made up of life-sized animatronic animals. (Chuck E. played electric guitar.) CEC Entertainment removed the animatronics from its restaurants as part of its brand refresh process. Ball pits were also Chuck E. staples that have since gone by the wayside due to hygiene concerns.
So what do the children think?
“They walk in and say, ‘whoa, it’s so cool!’” said Samiseng. “It really is fun to work here.”
Smitty’s Burgers closes
Oklahoma-based Hal Smith Restaurants has permanently closed Smitty’s Garage Burgers & Beer at Ward Parkway Center. Smitty’s was the only location in Missouri, with remaining restaurants in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Its sister restaurant, Charleston’s, located in the same Ward Parkway pavilion is doing well, according to reports, and is not expected to close.
Smitty’s Garage was located next door to Chuck E. Cheese, giving rise to the notion of an expanded pizza entertainment venue.
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