Chuck E. Cheese animatronics will be missed by parents most

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Munch's Make Believe Band performs in the birthday room at the Chuck E. Cheese in Northridge, Calif. By the end of next year, this animatronic band will be the only one left in the U.S. as the chain remodels in favor of screens and interactive dance floors. Maggie Shannon for NPR hide caption

Munch's Make Believe Band performs in the birthday room at the Chuck E. Cheese in Northridge, Calif. By the end of next year, this animatronic band will be the only one left in the U.S. as the chain remodels in favor of screens and interactive dance floors.

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — If anyone was going to throw a fit at Chuck E. Cheese on a recent Saturday, it was going to be the adults.

After the "eatertainment" franchise announced it would be getting rid of its signature animatronics at most locations, Kyle Cooper brought his 3-year-old to the chain for the first time. He was hoping to share with her a piece of his childhood.

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"I took my daughter specifically to see the animatronics, 'cause that's what I grew up with," he said.

But a lot has changed since the 34-year-old father visited the pizza-arcade establishment as a kid. Digital cards have replaced game tokens. On the wall opposite the animatronics stage, a giant video screen has stolen kids' attention, as has the interactive dance floor in the middle of the carpet. The new screens are part of a remodel modernizing the chain.

By the end of next year, this location northwest of Hollywood, will be the last remaining stronghold of the Chuck E. Cheese animatronics. But even here, Cooper is bummed that the sounds blaring from the new technology are drowning out the old.

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Elliot Gonzalez enjoys a ride with Chuck E. Cheese. Digital cards have replaced game tokens at the pizza-arcade chain. Maggie Shannon for NPR hide caption

Elliot Gonzalez enjoys a ride with Chuck E. Cheese. Digital cards have replaced game tokens at the pizza-arcade chain.

"It was exactly how I remembered it, if only I could hear it," he said. "They're just kind of flapping around up there without much sound."

Between all the modern stimuli, it's no longer the focus it was when Tahiti Malone, 50, was a kid. When the animatronics band isn't playing, they're tucked behind a curtain. When they do come out, Malone said, "Nobody's paying attention, nobody's really looking."

The slow-blinking, fuzzy robots on stage — a cast of singing characters known as Munch's Make Believe Band — have been a fixture of the kids play place since Chuck E. Cheese opened in 1977.

But as the company revamps the franchise to appeal to a new digital generation, it says the giant mechanical puppets must go.

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Families play games at the Chuck E. Cheese in Northridge, Calif. Maggie Shannon for NPR hide caption

Families play games at the Chuck E. Cheese in Northridge, Calif.