It's the Year of the Rat, so that means it's Chuck E's year! I thought it would be appropriate to write a little something about the little rodent and his home, loved by so many little humans. Ok, a mouse and a rat is not the same thing, but as the saying goes in some movie, same same, but different. We were invited to a birthday party at this location recently and needless to say, my kids were not only excited to celebrate their friend's day of birth, but also to celebrate with the mouse at his home.
- Parking -
Center lot.
- Vibe -
I don't know about you, but I feel like it sounds like a casino in there. The combination of the different sounds of the games, children running around with excitement and one of the machines with almost a siren-like sound blaring, it's just a lot of stimulation. I AM too old for this, but I was there for my kids, so sometimes I gotta take one for the team!
- TLC -
I think high school kids who get a job often get a bad wrap for working without the know-how to work in a public setting, but the kids working at the time of our visit seemed to have been trained properly because every one we encountered from entrance, food service and ticket redemption were professional.
- Eats / Refreshments -
CEC has their standard salad bar, pizzas and cake. We didn't partake in the salad bar, but the pizzas were served for our party. Is it the best pizza we've ever tasted? No, but it didn't taste like frozen pizza either. It was hot and the kids ate it, so that's all that matters. Now, one thing about the cake. My friend, who is the mother of the birthday girl told me that she had no time to pick up a cake, so reluctantly, she ordered their cake out of convenience. When it came out, the Hello Kitty cake didn't exactly look uniform, but we were both really surprised that it actually was pretty decent! We couldn't believe how moist the cake was.
- The Party -
All the parties we've been to at any CEC has been the same format. I was impressed that CEC has caught on to modern technology and now have plastic cards that are loaded with the tokens electronically. Just like the challenges of teaching kids today about money and the value of the dollar, plastic cards have replaced the actual tokens, so kids just swipe and don't understand that there isn't an endless amount of "money" on it LOL. Anyway, back to the party. Upon arrival, you play, then you eat and while you eat, they play the outdated video of Chuck E and his friends. Chuck E comes out and makes an appearance, the kids continue to eat, the birthday kid gets a turn in the windy turbo booth with all the tickets and you eat cake! Before you know it, the two hours go by *insert snap* like that!
- Kiddos -
What I am about to write earns four stars alone. I have to give it to CEC for enforcing the marking system of both child and parent with the invisible marker and black light system upon entry. Even a lot of kid centric places like children's museums or play spaces don't do this which is a bit crazy if you think about it, so I applaud CEC for thinking about the safety of their little customers. If you are a parent, you know as well as I do that you can't keep both eyeballs on your child every second of every minute, at all times, and things can happen in a flash and although you shouldn't take your eyes off your children, it's nice to know there is a another pair of eyes watching.
Needless to say, my kids had a blast and I have a feeling, we may be back.