Darien, IL (7409 Cass Ave)

Exterior of the Darien, IL CEC.

7409 Cass Ave is a Chuck E. Cheese's located in Darien, Illinois.

This location opened as a ShowBiz Pizza Place on February 24th, 1981, and is still open today.

Stages

Darien opened with The Rock-afire Explosion. Their original show was made in October 1980, however their show was replaced in 1985 with Benton Harbor, MI's show, an April 1982 show. In November 1991, Darien underwent Concept Unification, and The Rock-afire was replaced by Munch's Make Believe Band.

Throughout the 1990s and the 2000s, Darien's show was in the average condition for a 3-Stage at the time. However, Darien was in a state of disrepair from around 2009-2011. It was repaired substantially in 2012, and was in pretty good condition, until 2015.

From 2015-2018, the stage was left to rot. Most movements stopped working, and Pasqually notoriously only had about three functional movements during this period.

However, in late 2019, major repairs on the stage began. Chuck E., Munch, and Jasper were almost fully functional, with Helen and Pasqually slowly improving. But, during this time, the compressor that ran the show began to have major issues. It started breaking down often, and eventually by January 2020, did not work at all.

From January 2020 until June 30th, 2020, the show was using a Studio C compressor, which could only operate Chuck E., with the rest of the characters not receiving any air pressure.

In June of 2020, it was decided by the district managers that Darien would be receiving the 16 movement Studio C Beta from the Joliet, Illinois location, which got 2.0 in early 2020.

On June 30th, 2020, the center stage characters and backdrops were removed. The same day, Joliet's animatronic and backdrops were installed on the stage. By July 6th, 2020, the new stage was functional. Later that month, curtains were put up on stage left and right, and Chuck E. and Pasqually were removed from their stages.

As of 2022, Darien still has the unique Studio C stage setup. Some updates have been made such as the removal of Pasqually's platform, brick wall, and Jasper's guitar spotlight. Chuck E. got the new "Rockstar" shirt, and remains in decent condition mechanically.

Gallery

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  A Fan in the Early 80's Dressed as Mitzi

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  Feburary 83

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  Feburary 83

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  Feburary 83

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  New Billy Bob Costume

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  Center Stage 1988

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  Billy Bob and Looney Bird, Late 80's