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Chuck E. Cheese's To Eliminate Animatronic House Band

DETROIT (WWJ) -- Do you remember growing up and watching the robotic -- and somewhat creepy -- Chuck E. Cheese's house band? If you do then you might be sad -- or possibly happy -- to hear the group is breaking up.

Chuck E. Cheese's will phase out the animatronic house bands in select locations with the possibility of getting rid of them all together. It was reported earlier this week by Aimee Picchi of CBS News that the kid-focused pizza chain is making a number of changes to its restaurants, and that includes eliminating the iconic animatronic house bands.

"It's the biggest thing we've done for the look and feel of Chuck E. Cheese for two decades," Chuck E. Cheese's Chief Executive Tom Leverton said. "The kids stopped looking at the animatronics years and years ago, and they would wait for the live Chuck E. to come out."

He added that the kids these days are not as interested in the animatronics because they are used to more slick and sophisticated video games and graphics.

The elimination of animatronics house bands is currently only happening at seven locations across the country. It is unknown if any of those are in Michigan. Leverton said this new model will serve as a test toward possibly getting rid of the animatronics at all of the Chuck E. Cheese's locations.

Leverton pointed out that the company has a "strong hypothesis" that it will eventually shift its focus to the live Chuck E. performers instead of animatronics.

A revamped menu featuring wraps, gluten free pizzas and thin-crust pizzas is also part of the latest Chuck E. Cheese's upgrades.

There are 16 Chuck E. Cheese's locations in the state of Michigan.

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