Arlington, TX (2216 S Fielder Rd)



2216 S Fielder Rd, Store #416 was a Pizza Time Theatre that opened in October 1980 with a Balcony Stage.

The location is the first Pizza Time Theatre to be opened in the state of Texas and would regularly be visited by CEC for various media and training purposes.

This location is not to be confused with the Arlington, TX (3200 Justiss Dr) location, which opened on July 21, 1982 with a Rock-afire Explosion, and closed in Summer 2001 with a 3-Stage.

Stages
Arlington, TX would be the first location to open with the Balcony Stage, with the guest character as Madam Oink. This location would not receive any other guest characters until 1984 when Helen Henny would become a permanent addition to the Pizza Time Players.

On February 1, 1987, Arlington would also become the first location to utilize Chuck E.'s House.

In around 1993-1995, Helen received 1990s cosmetics without changing the mech. Then in 1997, Chuck E.'s House is replaced by a 2-Stage which currently is using parts from the 1-Stage show from the Irving, TX location. Between the Beginning of November and the fifth, the stage is shown mostly empty. And on November 6, the video wall and model Dance Floor were fully installed.

Cabaret/Lounge Acts
Arlington opened with Dolli Dimples in the cabaret and prototype Beagles animatronics in the lounge. The Beagles were replaced with The King at some point. It is unknown when each act would be removed or replaced.

History
This location was the 16th Pizza Time Theatre location to ever open and the very first in the state of Texas. On opening day, this store had a large ceremony and had Nolan Bushnell make a surprise appearance according to a local journalist who interviewed him at the event.

The store would remodel for the first time around 1986 as part of unifying Pizza Time Theatre and Showbiz Pizza Place; shortly after, in 1991, the location would receive one of the first new art packages that would eventually inspire a future to remodel in the 1990s which leaned in heavily with this parody theming. The next remodel was around the 2003 time frame during the initial testing phases of the "Cool Chuck" Major Remodel Initiative.

On July 20, 2018, Arlington is visited by CEC fans in Chuck E. Con 2018 alongside Grapevine, TX.

In October 2022, Arlington would receive the 2.0 Remodel which involved the removal of the 2-Stage for 2019 Model Dance Floor & Video Wall using part of what used to be the 2-Stage. This remodel in particular would be the first done in-house by CEC themselves. This bought unforeseen consequences, as this remodel looked incomplete after it was finished.

Failed Concepts
This store was also the first to test the live Chuck E. Cheese performance concept; using a somewhat articulated Chuck E. Cheese head specially made for the performance where its mouth would be articulated.

The location would start to test "Surprises" around 1987. Surprises were animatronics placed around the store that would have a sensor that would activate it, making it tell a joke, pun, or compliment. At the same time, a showroom remodel was being considered that would completely overhaul the general effect it would give. The concept for this is called "Chuck E.'s Town Square", where the showroom would be transformed into a miniature town square with buildings. It is unknown if the concept made it to Arlington or not due to how undocumented it is.

Chuck E. Cheese University
A little to known fact about this location is that this store houses a back room known as "Chuck E. Cheese's University” where managers and technicians from around the country would be trained. For technicians, a full Rock-Afire Explosion would be placed back there to train them, while higher-ups watched through a one-way mirror. Later on, this room would house the Awesome Adventure Machine stage to be finalized and programmed before making its way to the Dallas Montfort, TX location. As of now this room is still within the location, however, used for storage.