Chuck E. Cheese–Calgary - 2011

(click on pictures to see a larger image)
Thanks to Jayme Gray for the great indoor play place suggestion!

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 off of the sunridge mall parking lot)

Gordie's Review (2.5  years old) – the  spinning teacup ride!

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. More on coupons in the overall description.
Age Range: all ages.
Surface: industrial rug flooring.
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: This was my first time in Chuck E. Cheese since I was a kid myself. When we got there we thought at first that they might have been closed for renovations, but it turns out that we had gotten there just as they were installing a ton of new games and rides and removing the old ones. I went with a friend of mine – between the 2 of us we had 4 kids between the ages of 1.5 to 4.5 years.  I didn’t really expect it have a lot to offer our toddlers and preschoolers but I was definitely wrong about that. 

The kids had a great time on the rides and even Gordie at just two and a half was able to come over, pick up a coin, get into his favorite ride and put the coin in all by himself. The four and a half year old was quite excited to play the games and get the tickets. The younger kids needed assistance to play them and they didn’t hold their attention very well because of it. Gordie did love the basketball game but he was hopeless at it unless I picked him up before he tried to throw the ball.  Only one of our kids was really taken with the climber, but it is really nice that it is completely free.

The games all give you tickets which you can redeem at the front (you put them into a machine and bring up your receipt). We ended up with 160 tickets which split between 4 kids does not amount to much. We got them a couple of tattoos and a tiny little fish each. The kids were excited to help pick and did not seem too bothered by the fact that the tickets amounted to so little.

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 kids birthday (30 tokens) and half birthday (20 tokens) that you have around a month to use. I’d also suggest checking for their every day printable coupon offers. You can access these here by scrolling down and entering your location information. You can also use more than one token per visit.

Because of the new machines, there were quite a number of staff members around setting up the new machines and making sure they worked. They were really great with our kids and never made us feel like we were in the way.

We ordered a pizza with a coupon when we got there and they brought it out for us at 11. I really liked that we didn’t have to keep track of the clock and try to estimate how long it would take them to make it, we could just pre-order for when we wanted it. The pizza was surprisingly good, the crust was thin and crispy without being hard and definitely wasn’t greasy. One large pizza managed to feed all 6 of us but there wasn’t any leftovers. Another thing to note when you are ordering is they have free refills. We didn’t get any other food, but the salad bar actually looked pretty good.

We went on a Monday morning (Chuck E. Cheese opens at 9am) and stayed until noon. It wasn’t busy at all the whole time we were there. If you have young kids, week day mornings definitely look like a good option. We ended up getting 70 tokens for our 4 kids (we had two birthday coupons, and used a coupon for a large pizza, 4 drinks and 30 tokens) and spent a total of $26.24 after tax. We spent nearly 3 hours and everyone had a good time. We will definitely be back again.

  

  

  

  

Have you been to this play place? Have a suggestion for a playground review? Would you like to write a guest review? Write your thoughts in the comments.