When I was young I chose Chuck E. Cheese (in Orem it was Show Biz Pizza back then) for my birthday dinner every year. I loved when the band sang while we ate, giving me a birthday shout-out during their show. I have good memories of my Dad showing me his champion Skee-Ball techniques, and Skee-Ball quickly became my favorite game there. I learned the hard way that the 10-ticket toys were just junk, and not as great as the 50- or 100-ticket toys, so I brought my tickets home with me holding out for some really great prize. I remember seeing a huge stack of Show Biz tickets in a baggie when I cleaned out my closet ten years ago when my mom moved. I never did use those tickets, and I never came across that sticker book I was hoping to find.
Of course I can't go without mentioning our family favorite Show Biz story of Terra going up the stairs to slide down into the pile of plastic balls. There was a sign that said something like "No kids above this height" as you went to sit on the slide. Apparently Terra must have arrived on the short bus that night because, ironically, she smacked her forehead on the sign and went tumbling back down the stairs.
I convinced Cory that we should take Brady there, definitely not for the exhorbitantly priced pizza, but for the toys and games. I explained that I always went there for my birthday when I was young and he responded, "Is it your birthday?" and then he realized that it is my birthday (in three days, and I essentially get a birthday week).
After letting Brady roll the ball a few times, Cory and I took over with Skee-Ball. Brady enjoyed a few rides and we got this cool sketch for just one quarter. You can bet there was nothing like that back in the day.
Here is Brady with his one prize from the night, a top that lights up when it spins. What's funny is that we gave the two tickets that we won to some random kid and ended up finding the top abandoned in a window sill. Score! After eating dinner at In-N-Out we called it a night.
Here are birthday shout-outs to Tim and Leesa who are married with birthdays a day apart. Bummer for them, but I save a stamp on their birthday cards.
5 comments:
You girls with your Birthday week! We went there for a friend's kid's birthday and I ended up playing the whole time on this virtual fighter turret game.
When I was about 6, I was traumatically freaked out by the guy in the Chuck E. Cheese costume. I was deathly afraid of people in animal costumes. Plus, at the one in Concord, the music show were these poorly kept animatronic characters from the Chuck E. Cheese family. Kind of a creepy experience for a 6 year old. I too mastered skee ball though...until they changed the netting. Back then, all you had to do was roll the ball hard enough to hit the top net, then it would be sling shotted into the center hole. It was awesome.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jessica! Hope you have a good one. :)
Thanks for the birthday shout-out! I'm glad you saved a stamp on our cards. Let me know when you get yours because I'm positive that you will just love it. Happy birthday today!
Love that you went there, you're too funny. I hope you had a good birthday, I was thinking of you!
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