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Showbiz Pizza Nostalgia...


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Oh my gosh, I loved Showbiz Pizza! I'm actually a member of the showbizpizza.com forum. That was my childhood!

 

Believe it or not there are people that privately OWN and operate a Rock-afire Explosion, in their homes. On that website there's a search tool where you can find all the Rock-afires still operating today. I would love to see one again! It brings back so many memories.

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Yes! A few miles from my town, in Barboursville WV, is a Billy Bob's Wonderland and they have the Rock-afire Explosion Band. They are a little long in the tooth and worse for wear, but at least I have somewhere nearby to get my Mitzi Mozzarella fix. Sometimes living in a small, crappy town has its perks.

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There's a guy in Alabama that has one at his home. I've been contemplating going to see it. He said we could come watch it anytime.

 

I have lots of Showbiz merchandise that's probably worth something now; several t-shirts, etc. I have a Mitzi purse!

 

I was always scared of Fatz though. I mean, a giant talking gorilla that plays the keyboard...eh, that's kind of scary for a little kid.

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Believe it or not there are people that privately OWN and operate a Rock-afire Explosion, in their homes. On that website there's a search tool where you can find all the Rock-afires still operating today.

 

Who knew?! I am in shock and awe. When i was growing up there were arcades, and then there was SHOWBIZ, taken to an all new level.

 

I was trying to find the search tool for the Rockafire, but no luck. You wouldn't have a direct link by chance?? I'm so curious now.

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Found it!

 

http://rockafire.dsfrobots.com/

 

I'm not sure what the different colored dots mean...maybe blue is fully operational and white is not? The buildings are businesses that still have them. And the big building in Florida is Aaron Fechter (the creator's) headquarters. You can click on the different places and there's a description of each setup and some pictures.

 

I really want to see the one in Alabama. He has a full set up.

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What's more ironic is that the characters are very similar to the Country Bear Show animatronic show that used to be next to the Haunted House at Knoebels. There's now a laser tag game in the building.

 

[EDIT: As I was checking the pictures of the locations around the US, Knoebel's Bear Show was actually a Rockafire system! It had a Hillbilly theme, with the 3 stages.

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[EDIT: As I was checking the pictures of the locations around the US, Knoebel's Bear Show was actually a Rockafire system! It had a Hillbilly theme, with the 3 stages.

 

I think a lot of them were refitted for different shows. I know some were turned into Munch's Make Believe Band for Chuck E. Cheese's.

 

I really don't remember a whole lot about Chuck E. Cheese, which is odd because we had one here in Gadsden, but Showbiz was about an hour away in Birmingham. However, I have so many vivid memories of Showbiz.

 

I even have a 45, yes a record (how often do you see those now), of Rock-afire. I think were four or five different ones to collect, and they each had one song on each side. Mine has a Beatles Medley on one side and "Roastbeef Sandwich" on the other.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all! Awesome you guys all remember that stuff. I'm the guy in Indianapolis that owns a show.

 

The blue dots represent show owners who'm are members of programblue.com and use the programblue software to program their own custom songs to the robot band.

 

I also happen to be the guy that created programblue so if you have any questions, or are interested in seeing stuff in action, feel free to let me know

 

David

DSFrobots / Programblue

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That's so cool that you have a show! I'm actually talking to the guy in Alabama that has one and trying to work out a day to drive down and see his show. I was amazed to find out these still existed.

 

Whenever we make it down there I'll have to do a trip report for y'all!

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Oh wow! We used to go to Show Biz a bunch in Colorado Springs when I was a little kid. We also did Tex Critter's Pizza Jamboree in Chapel Hills Mall (gone now). TC was just no substitute.

 

Had a lot of good times at Show Biz. Mom and I loved to play Ske Ball and I'd get wierd little prizes with the tickets. Used to save my tickets religiously for those things. Lol!

 

Went to a Chuck E. Cheese (before the name changed to Cheese's) and I vaguely remember all the charactors being in boxes of sorts and you could only see them from the waist up. Thought it was just wierd.

 

Dude, I would love to see the fellow who has the show in his house. Will have to find out where he is and figure a time to visit.

 

Brandy, if you make it there, I'd love to see a PTR.

 

Man, what a great topic!

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  • 5 months later...

I'm digging up this thread because I've just found out that the guy in Alabama that has a show has now opened a restaurant in Phenix City. It's called Showbiz Pizza Zone. The address is 3928 U.S. Hwy 80 W. Here's a link to some pictures of it on showbizpizza.com. I am so totally going to make a drive down there soon! Anyone in the area want to try to meet up there?

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Reasonably sure I can meet up. When were you thinking of going? Looks

about a 4 or 5 hour drive from Huntsville.

 

Saw the pictures and though sparse, it's great to see those animatronics working again. Hope the owners have a good go of it and can expand.

 

Hey could be fun and always glad to meet up with another TPR member.

 

Some where in my parents boxes are small collection of records I used to own, including one from Showbiz with a couple songs on it. If I can ever find it and some other park related stuff, It's getting framed.

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I'm not sure when we're going to go yet. It may be a few weekends from now. We're actually taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese in Birmingham tomorrow.

 

It'll be about a 3 hour drive from Gadsden, but it would so be worth it to me. I never thought I would see one of those things again in my life, and it was such a vivid memory from my childhood, that I just have to see it.

 

I'll keep you posted on when we decide to go.

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Ah Showbiz! That brings back fond memories...

 

* When my all my cousins ate a double cheese pizza and Pookie farted and the smell carried over to a children's party.... three tables away! Nasty!

 

* When I could play video games all night on less than $5. And when you could actually go out with $15.

 

* Or when this man tried to fight my aunt (who was in the army) because she was still playing Ms Pacman. Remember when you used the quarter system to designate your turn? Well she had two left and this guy got tired of waiting and pushed her aside and put his quarter in... and got judo kicked for his trouble! Next thing you know it became a race fight and parents were running out of Showbiz carrying their kids! My aunt tore that place up!

 

Ah... the memories!

 

Terry

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