Themed/Audio Animatronic Restaurants (Chuck E's, Rainforest, etc)

[EricMontreal22]

When I was a kid growing up in Edmonton, Alberta I didn't really have any exposure to theme parks (our next door neighbours had family in both Florida and California so would visit each park every 6 months and bring me home the maps, etc--even as a five year old I was pretty obssessed).

Until I visited Disneyland when I was 9 in 1989, my only exposure to anything like that was the fairly lame amusement park at West Edmonton Mall (and their at the time very cool submarine ride which now I realize was a lame rip off of Disney's), the yearly exhibition which back then still had a lot of funhouses and those kinds of rides, and funny as it sounds, the themed kiddie restaurant Bullwinkle's, which was essentially a Chuck E Cheese clone.

I've been trying to find more info on this restaurant--I know it was an American chaina nd some are still around. I hated the food even as a kid but loved the show that came with dinner --whos basic stage setup I now realize was a copy basically of Country Bears. A Tri divided stage with Rocky and Bullwinkle in the main middle park, Underdog (who I don;'t think is even a Jay Ward character) on one side and I think Dudley Do Right and team on the other--or maybe Sherman? Boris and Natasha were done ona stylized totel pole (!) that talked--I'm sure of that. Between shows there was a coloured fountain show.

Best of all as a kid, and scariest of all, was something that the recent thread about DIsneyland's witch in a cage reminded me of. In the resurant entry way was Snidely Whiplash, a full bodied animatronic, sitting in his jail cell and everyonce in a while he'd come to life and threaten/beg for his release....

Anyone knwo of any pics of these figures or any other memories>?

[upov]

Don't know if this is exactly it or not, but a search came back with these.

http://www.bullwinkles.com/

http://www.dreamation.com

[kcnole]

I used to go to a place as a kid called ShowBiz pizza which was really a rip off of Country Bears as it was all kinds of country redneck bears singing music and doing lame comedy but I loved it as a kid.

[EricMontreal22]

Don't know if this is exactly it or not, but a search came back with these.

http://www.bullwinkles.com/

http://www.dreamation.com

That's it! thanks!

[aimster]

I used to go to a place as a kid called ShowBiz pizza which was really a rip off of Country Bears as it was all kinds of country redneck bears singing music and doing lame comedy but I loved it as a kid.

Actually there were only 2 bears at Show Biz Pizza... Billy Bob & Beach Bear. The others were a dog, gorilla (which scared the crap out of us kids), a mouse & a wolf.... oh yeah and Loony Bird.

Side note, Billy Bob was originally a character in another show created by the company that made the Show Biz Pizza characters called the Hard Luck Bears.... THAT show was a total rip-off of Country Bear jamboree. See for yourself:

http://sp-com.tripod.com/pizzacam/an...cs/page02.html

[Disney Wrassler]

I remember Bullwinkles, their shows, and the water show! I also remember Chuck E' Cheese. I went to the Bullwinkles in southern California, but I think that has since been closed. They were so corny that they were fun in my opinion .

[pancakesaregood]

There used to be a Bullwinkles at one of the Family Fun Centers in San Diego but eventually closed and Family Fun became Boomers, also in San Diego was another knock-off called Pistol Pete's...Places like that always scared me for some reason and had this strange look and creepinness to them...

[kcnole]

thanks aimster. My memory of showbiz is fuzzy at best. I just remembered loving the place as a kid and the only characters I could remember were the bears and all the video games.

[AstroBlaster]

When I was a kid they had a Bullwinkles in Montclair, CA that my family would visit. I'm not sure what it changed into when I moved away but it did go downhill. There was a Blackbeards Pirate Themed Family Fun Center near Fresno, CA that we would go to when my family would visit relatives. I think it's interesting that these operations can never seem to make much money and close down. I sort of miss the arcades from the 80's and early 90's when multiplayer was staring your opponent in the face and making sure he lost his quarter before you did.

That's right they did have a small water show before the animatronic Bullwinkle shuddered back to life. If I remember correctly they would also play cartoons in the dining room and game room. They also had a variety of minature golf which included two completely different themed indoor courses.

[EricMontreal22]

Interesting that some Bullwinkle restaurants are still opene--as well as Chuck E Cheese (though from the commercials I see of those I dunno if tyhey still have the animatronics). As a kid, anyway, I had the distinct opinion that Bullwinkles was MILES more classy than Chuck E Cheese *grin* probably cuz I was already a huge fan of the cartoons.

I wish there was at least apic of the locked up Snidely Whiplash--he actually gave me nightmares and I would never step too close to the cage

[aimster]

Chuck E Cheese still has animatronics shows. Not big elaborate ones like in the days of the old Pizza Time Theatre (there were a ton of characters back then but now there's only a few that they kept)... but they're still there.

[EricMontreal22]

I'll have to try to track down some of the remaining Bullwinkles for nostalgia sakes--though I may feel a bit silly/creepy being there without kids... and even as a kid I remember thier pizza was pretty awful :P

E

[elly]

we have a Chuck E Cheese's here in Reno, i'll try to pop by there in the next couple of weeks and see what kind of animatronic show they still have

[upov]

I'll have to try to track down some of the remaining Bullwinkles for nostalgia sakes--though I may feel a bit silly/creepy being there without kids... and even as a kid I remember thier pizza was pretty awful :P

I hear you on feeling like that, I've always wanted to go back to Chuck E Cheese's( haven't been to one in about 23 yrs) but would feel weird/creepy doing it too. Plus I think it's a rule you have to have a kid with you nowadays at Chuck E Cheese's, cause they were joking about it one day on a local radio program.

But those Bullwinkle's places looked pretty cool for their time, I'd of liked to have seen one back when I was a kid, esp if it would've had Underdog in it.

[EricMontreal22]

Is underdog connected to Jay Ward somehow? as a kid it confused me cuz I had no idea who he was... My faves were all the Dudley Do Right stuff though