So, the children almost lost their minds when I read the email that I received about the new pizza recipe at Chuck E. Cheese's and the opportunity to visit and review the pizza with a guest pass. However, they were quick to pick up the fact that the Guest Pass wouldn't be enough for all of them to enjoy the trip. I quickly emailed the kind woman back and told her that we would love to review the new pizza, but our family was rather large, with 8 people and the Guest Pass only covered 4. (It never hurts to ask...)
To the children's excitement, the email that came back was in their favor. She would be sending us 2 Guest Passes, which included 2 large pizzas, 8 sodas and 60 tokens. The cheers were deafening. So, off to Chuck E. Cheese's we would go...thank goodness the Guest Passes arrived quickly in the mail, because the children were running to the mailbox every morning to see if their trip to Chuck E. Cheese's had arrived.
Before I progress any further into the story, I want to mention that I have never been a fan of the pizza at Chuck E. Cheese's. We would order it for the children, but I would usually order a salad instead of eating the pizza, so to hear that the recipe had changed was a big plus!
Chuck E. Cheese's Day
Well, the guest passes arrived quickly, as I said and I told the children that we would go on Sunday if they behaved and did all of their chores without fighting - don't you love a good bribe? Although they weren't perfect, and to be quite honest, they were more riled up than usual, I still took them to Chuck E. Cheese's on Sunday. (Update: I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but am just getting to posting it after the packing and moving and unpacking, etc.)
Why did I choose Sunday? I can't speak for all of the Chuck E. Cheese location's out there, but I can say that the one closest to us is practically empty early on Sunday mornings (that is when we scheduled Dylan's birthday and we had the whole place to ourselves for most of the party).
Lo and behold, we again walked into an empty Chuck E. Cheese's bright and early Sunday morning, which was wonderful for the kids, because there was no waiting for games. (It wasn't until about 1 p.m. when we started wrapping up to leave that people started showing up...and it's probably because we skipped church while all of the other good little families went to church like they were supposed to.)
We visited the Amherst, NY Chuck E. Cheese location on Harlem Road. The staff was very sweet, greeted us with big smiles and seemed a bit intrigued when I told them that we were there to evaluate the pizza as I presented the Guest Passes. They were wonderful to the children and more than happy to help us in any way possible. About halfway into our visit, the manager even came over to ask how everything was going and if there was anything he could do for us. A-Plus for the customer service!
We had brought about 50 tokens of our own from a previous trip to Chuck E. Cheese's, so I immediately started doling them out, but I was smart. I gave each child 5 tokens at a time and told them that when everyone ran out, I would give them all 5 more, so it paced their "spending". They all headed off for game time and I have to mention that little Kodi-bear (he was too young the last time we went, but this time, at just over two years old, he was ready!) started skipping around the building, looking at everything and I could tell that he was scoping out which game he wanted to play first. He loved the horse-race game, where you sit on the horse and pull the reigns and the horse moves like it is running and jumping. He must have done that one ten times!
The New, Improved PIZZA
Fortunately, the pizza was ready quickly - I don't even think that the children went through their first 10 tokens before the pizza was sitting on the table, which was great! So, how was it? I think that it was a lot better than the pizza they had before...Now, when you go to Chuck E Cheese, you will be greeted with Fresh Dough and 100% mozzarella cheese, rather than the gluey cheese and pastry puff yuckiness that once posed as pizza.
Two pizzas, sliced in 12 pieces each, were downed in less than 10 minutes and the kids were back to playing games as I carefully doled out the tokens in moderation...
Where's Chuck E.?
And, then the question came up, "Do you think Chuck E. Cheese is coming?" Hmmm...I wasn't sure! So, I told the kids to ask one of the staff members...and sure enough, he would be visiting in about 15 minutes. I awaited the reaction, because Dylan had cried the last time he saw Chuck E. Cheese and Kodi-bear is funny around strangers as it is...
So, I'll let you see for yourself what happened when the notorious Chuck E. showed up...Somehow, as things were moving so fast, I must have forgotten to save a few of the pics. :( But, you'll get the idea...
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| Veronica was more than happy to give him a warm welcome... |
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| And, this time, Dylan wasn't scared! |
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| But, Kodi-bear, on the other hand, was having nothing to do with the big mouse! |
In addition to their new pizza, a little birdie told me that Chuck E. Cheese's also has more new programs, including a "Tokens for Grades" program (I'll have to cash in on that! My kids get excellent grades!) and you should sign up for emails from Chuck E. Cheese's, because I get offers all of the time from their email system for free tokens and promo deals. For example, I think I'm going to HAVE to take Dylan there for his birthday next month...and I just happened to receive an email that offered 100 free tokens if I reserve a b-day party online, so that is exactly what we will do! They always have some kind of coupon deal going on at the website, too.
My final thought is this: We LOVED the new pizza recipe and the staff member that was at the ticket counter was a sweetheart! The kids had an odd number of tickets at the end of the visit and she rounded each child's number up to give them an even amount to spend. All in all, we were treated with respect and kindness at the Amherst, NY location and will definitely be going back again for Dylan's bday party!
Giveaway!
The rep at Chuck E. Cheese's was wonderful enough to offer a guest pass as a giveaway for a Mommy Rantings reader! This will include one of their new pizzas, four soft drinks and 30 tokens for your family!
So, scoot over to the Chuck E. Cheese's Facebook page and click on "Like"...
Then, "Like" the Mommy Rantings page on Facebook and leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post that you did both. Easy, peasy!
Good Luck! (This giveaway will end August 31st!)
I received two guest passes to review the new pizza recipe at Chuck E. Cheese's...I did not receive compensation for this post. Thank you, Chuck E. Cheese's for this opportunity and the guest pass for the giveaway!
