Chuck E. Cheese–Calgary

Location         map             http://www.chuckecheese.com/

Community – Sunridge – 2612 32nd Street NE
(there is a large parking lot that can only be accessed from the east end of the sunridge mall parking lot)

Gordie’s Review (7.5 years) – “I really liked the games and how easy it was to get tickets.”
Nicky’s Review (4.5 years) – “I liked getting the ring. And playing on the climber.”
Robbie’s Review (24 months) – “Again! Again!”

Cost: Entrance is free. The indoor climber can be played on at no charge. The rides and games require tokens (all $1) which vary in cost depending on how many you buy or what coupons you use. You can get 40-50 tokens for $10.
Age Range: all ages.

Footwear: Shoes. Kids should wear only socks inside the climber.
Safety Features/Concerns: Children and their parents are stamped with matching ‘invisible ink’ on their hands. These stamps get checked on the way out to ensure that the right kids go home with the right parents.

Play Area Features: Chuck E Cheese is split into 3 sections. Section 1 has some large TVs set up that play kids Chuck E Cheese kids programs and music and has lots of long tables perfect for big parties. Section 2 is for young kids with rides, games and a climber. Section 3 is for older kids with skill and arcade games. All the games are redemption games and will give tickets when you play.
Additional Services: Chuck E Cheese also has restaurant facilities which specializes in pizza, but also has salad bar, sides, sandwiches, desserts and beverages.

Overall:

My daughter (4) was pretty sure she wanted to have her birthday at Chuck E Cheese but had never actually been so I thought maybe a visit was in order. My husband and I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese on a Monday in the late afternoon and ended up staying for a couple of hours.

When you are planning your trip, consider signing up for their e-mail club. In addition to various coupon deals, you also get completely free tokens for your kid’s birthday that you have around a month to use.

I’d also suggest checking for their every day printable coupon offers.

We used a coupon that gave us a large pizza, 4 drinks, and 125 tokens. We also ordered two personal pizzas and ended up spending $10 on tokens at the end of our visit.

I thought the pizza was pretty good. Not amazing or innovative but that’s not always necessary. They have other food options like appetizers, sandwiches and an all you can eat salad bar.

The area furthest from the door is set up for birthday parties.

The middle area has the kiddie rides and some games aimed at younger kids as well as the climber.

The third section has games aimed at older kids.

In addition, every so often Chuck E Cheese came out and lead the kids in a little dance. At the end they threw out some tickets which the kids got to grab.

Robbie had just turned two this month, and was a little on the young side – he found some of the kiddie rides a bit scary and although he kind of enjoyed some of the games they were kind of over his head. That being said, he had a really good time and had a mini tantrum when it was time to go.

Nicky at 4.5 was able to have a lot of independence and only needed a little help on some of the things she wanted to do. She really loved the climber which doesn’t cost any tokens at all.

Gordie at 7 was able to have the run of the place and take a handful of tokens around independently. He had a blast and can’t wait to go again.

The games all give you tickets which you can redeem at the front (you put them into a machine and bring up your receipt). Like most places with redemption prizes, your big stack of tickets doesn’t really amount to much but the kids didn’t seem to mind.

Once of the nice things about Chuck E Cheese if your kids like playing redemption games, is that there is no admission cost – you only pay for tokens. Overall we had a really good time as a family and my kids are already talking about going back.