Failed Animatronic Restaurants- Looney Tunes Revue at Gadgets

[Music] welcome to TPM vids where we talk all about theme parks and more if you're new to the channel and like what you see hit that subscribe button and click the Bell icon to be notified when we upload a new video you can also find us on all your favorite social media platforms animatronic restaurants were all the craze in the 1980s the United States saw hundreds of them open but what most people don't realize is that Warner had a restaurant of Their Own It featured one of the most impressive animatronic shows but unfortunately it was a shortlived [Music] failure the idea of the animatronic restaurant begins with video games will this popularity last is the question while the makers of video games are gambling that it will during the 1970s video game arcades were popping up in bars malls and bowling out ales but they were dark dingy and filled with smoke video games were originally intended for adults and teens so these arcades were not wholesome places to bring your children well that's when Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell comes onto the scene with his success developing pong in 1972 he wanted to create a space where these arcade games could be accessible to a family audience so in 1974 Bushnell began planning a new Arcade restaurant hoping to duplicate the theme park experience but on a smaller scale pizza was the food of choice since it was cheap and easy and there would be some sort of show Nolan Bushnell just happened to be a big Disneyland fan the animatronic shows like the enchanted Tiki Room the country bear jamere and America Sings were some of his favorites he could see these animatronic shows were bringing families together so if he could create a show like that for his restaurant it was bound to be a success Chucky che's Pizza Time theater opened its doors on May 17th 1977 in San Jose California it was the very first restaurant to integrate food arcade games and animated entertainment all Under One Roof the first animatronic show at Pizza Time theater were these framed character busts on the wall it was known as the portrait stage Mel took his inspiration from the enchanted tiki room and Chuck-E-Cheese along with the rest of the Pizza Time Players put on a 360° show around the restaurant aside from the Disney theme parks there were no other entertainment venues at the time where you could enjoy a computer animated show like this Vel had always dreamed of working for Disney so for him this was sort of like the next best thing the whole whole entertainment center concept was a groundbreaking success and it became extremely popular with families I believe it's primarily Paul the synergism of games food and entertainment all under the same roof it was typical for people to wait upwards of 1 hour just to get inside on a Friday or Saturday night we are one of the few thing kind of eating out family Concepts in America that's aimed at groups when Bushell sold the tari to Warner Communications in 1976 they were the ones who agreed to build the first pizza time theater location Atari owned the restaurant and although it was a success they had no interest in opening additional locations and wanted to close Pizza Time theater they bought Atari to develop a successful video game company not to be in the pizza Arcade and animatronic business Buel saw all the potential in his concept so in June of 1978 he bought all all the rights and assets of the Pizza Time theater restaurant for just $500,000 by December of 1978 bnell had opened his second location just down the street in San Jose and this time it was almost four times the size now this Pizza Time theater location had a separate piano Lounge room that featured a singing animatronic hippo Dolly dimples had a sultry Edge and was meant to entertain the adults although there is nothing stopping the kids from going into the lounge it wasn't long before Dolly dimples along with Chuck and the Gang were wowing kids and adults alike families truly loved this experience and so did bunell because Pizza Time theater was bringing in a lot of money do you think you spend more coming here than you would at a normal Food Outlet yes how much more half as much twice as much probably twice as much by 1980 Vel was operating six restaurants all in California Pizza Time theater was on track to earn him more than the 30 million he got from selling Atari he was quoted saying we've done something Walt Disney Productions should have thought of years ago and it's true these Pizza Time theater restaurants were like little mini Disneylands locally accessible to the average American family now even though the animatronics were upgraded to the balcony stage the quality of the figures was still nowhere near what Disney produced it was still the only place outside of the Disney theme parks where you could enjoy an animatronic show but that was all of to [Music] change in March of 1980 chis pizza place opened their doors in Kansas City Missouri it was pretty much the exact same concept as Pizza Time theater a pizza parlor with arcade games and computer animated entertainment showz pizza place introduced The World To The Rock a fire explosion band and boy did they explode restaurants were popping up all over the country by September of 1981 Chas Pizza had 90 locations and Chuck-E-Cheese Pizza Time theater had 62 in the United States the video game industry was bringing in $5 billion a quarter making these restaurants just that much more popular it was truly the prime of the themed Arcade restaurant and over in ocean toown ship New Jersey there was another company trying to capitalize on their success it was gizmos offering a whole new world of family food and video game entertainment the restaurant opened in August of 1981 and was owned by the Leisure Development Corporation of America a subsidiary of Warner Communications the same Warner Communications who just a few years earlier decided they didn't want to be in the Arcade Pizza business now since gizmos was owned by by Warner they were able to use all the Looney Tunes characters they may not have had animatronics but the menus were all Looney Tunes comic books there was a massive arcade featuring Atari games and you can meet walk around characters like Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny who would obviously be in full costume with their eclectic collection of animated props on the walls Gizmo's approach was a bit different than the other themed restaurants it wasn't a place for just kids the menu was more sophisticated and wasn't just Pizza Plus the full service laboratory bar was a hit with adults I mean who wouldn't want to drink in one of these beers in their first couple months of operation the restaurant did really well they wanted to expand the chain across the country but in order to legally operate in other states the name had to be changed from gizmos to gadgets with its separate restaurant bar and video game areas gadgets continue to attract a diverse age demographic compared to Shas pizza and Chuck-E-Cheese although they did want an animatronic show of their own gadget's Advantage was that they had access to Warner's catalog of some of the most iconic cartoon characters at the time throughout the 70s and into the 80s syndication brought the Looney Tunes into people's homes every single day aside from Mickey Mouse who was more recognizable than Bugs Bunny and the rest of the gang what's up [Music] dog [Music] when it came to gadgets it was a no-brainer to have a Looney Tune show in the restaurant in late 1981 the Leisure Development Corporation of America turned to Gary Goddard from Goddard Productions to produce the show Goddard then teamed up with Advanced animations in Connecticut to build the animatronic figures for what would become the Looney Tunes review when they got the call from gadgets both Godard and advanced animations were in the midst of finishing up the great Texas Longhorn review for Six Flags AST World Advanced animations was a newer company but their animatronic Figures were much more complex and impressive than what you'd find at other themed restaurants Warner was striving for a high quality show and it was exactly what Advanced animations would deliver gadgets proudly presents Bugs Bunny on the Looney Tunes review in May of 1982 the very first version of the Looney review opened at a brand new gadgets location in wyom Singh Pennsylvania it was a prototype version of the show and it only had Bugs Bunny on the piano Daffy Duck On the Banjo and Porky Pig on guitar all playing short sets themed to different musical genres since this location was in a mall yam Sam was placed on a stage at the front of the restaurant acting as sort of the gadgets Barker why everybody knows me I'm you Sam he would try to lure Shoppers into the restaurant then was on a turntable so he could talk to the patrons inside it was such an Innovative way to utilize an animatronic and the gadgets concept was an upgrade to the whole idea of the entertainment center restaurant now the Looney Tunes gang weren't the only animatronics you could also find the piano playing Sammy Sands now in order to see the comedy kuner well you need it to be 21 or over since he was placed in a separate bar area you all remember World War II don't you it was in all the papers huh good thing his singing was better than his jokes gadg GG the only game in town Sammy Sans had nine different sets he'd perform every half an hour and it was perfect entertainment as you sipped on your Beaker cocktail gadgets was truly this zany Carefree concoction that swept you off your feet and people were drawn to this concept so far gadgets had gotten it right but like any business they were always looking to improve in December of 1982 the third gadgets location opened at the Eastwood Mall in Niles Ohio and it introduced an even larger version of the Looney Tunes review it now had a full main band Led by Bugs Bunny and included characters like Sylvester the Cat Sylvester Jr Tweety Bird faulhorn Leghorn Pepe leie and the Tasmanian devil gadgets proudly presents bugs funny and the Looney Tunes review in hooray for Hollywood a rap for Hollywood then screwy belly Hoy Hollywood hi gang and Welcome to our salute to the movies yes sir we're going to take you back to the golden days of the cinema this version of the Looney Tunes review was not designed by Godard Productions but it still followed that typical Musical review concept made famous by Disney's country bear jamere there were a variety of songs mixed with witty banter between each Act threw a duck up over his back he didn't mind it quack quack quack with the legs all dangling down down what a couple of you will grease my chin legs all dangling down quack quack quack do you realize what you're saying originally there were nine shows programmed and each of them had a different Musical theme the one thing you could always count on though in every show was Daffy Duck getting blown up in true Looney Tunes fashion I want to do my show stopper now or else cuz so far this shows a bomb oh oh no no I didn't play that did I you said it deffy no no no no no no no not FL the cast of animatronics would perform one of the nine sets every 45 minutes each was only about 8 minutes long but you'd never hear the same show twice is it guys come on let Twist Again like we did last summer the best part was that Mel blank the actor who voiced all the Looney Tunes characters also provided the voices for the Looney Tunes review that's all the Looney Tunes review was very well received and it was an impressive show for a restaurant even though they were the quote unquote kids entertainment gadgets found a lot of adults also wanted to sit right up next to the St it was just fascinating watching them perform well I think it's neat it's you know get entertained in addition to getting your food and uh drink and it's nice to have liquor at lunch too you know you can't get that at McDonald's no you couldn't gadgets was an entertainment Paradise it was an actual destination to eat a meal and enjoy a show and not just a loud place to visit for your child's birthday party gadgets was dubbed the Disneyland of restaurants and they were projecting to have 12 locations open by the end end of 1983 with this rapid expansion on the horizon Advanced animations could not keep up with the demand their shop was too small and they only had the capacity to produce five complete sets of animatronics so in October of 1982 Advanced animations was purchased by Warner for $4 million they moved operations to a larger facility hired more than 200 staff and brought in former Disney imagineer David Gengenbach as the company's president with over 15 years of experience at Disney as a project engineer he was well equipped to guide the company through its expansion it wasn't long before Advanced animations became Warner Technologies Incorporated but gadgets aggressive expansion model was not going to plan they only ended up opening three locations in 1983 but thankfully Warner Technologies was busy building animatronics for other clients since gadgets was now now planning on opening 14 new restaurants in 1984 they were prepping to build dozens of Looney Tunes animatronics it was gearing up to be the restaurant's biggest year yet or so they thought as Warner Was preparing to take gadgets into 1984 they thought it was time to bring some new life to the Looney Tunes review they wanted to create an updated show so they turned to maraposa Design Group in California it was run by former Disney imagineer roelly Crump and just also happened to be under the Warner Communications umbrella the animatronics at gadgets were already Leaps and Bounds above the quality of Chuck-E-Cheese and Cha's pizza and design but they were looking to raise the bar technologically designers brainstormed ideas to bring the Looney Tunes review to life on an even grander scale the concepts kept on growing and while work progressed the seventh gadgets location opened in January of 1984 this time in Fort Lauderdale Florida but Sammy is more than just a nightmare come true a bad uh cocktail singer who never shuts up he's just one of many things going on at a new restaurant in Fort Lauderdale it was just as eclectic as the other restaurants and while bug's bunny was Serena the Floridians of the Sunshine State the world of technology and entertainment wasn't all sunshines and rainbows Atari was really feeling the effects from the video game Crash of 1983 the market became too saturated and Atari was rushing poor quality games into production while atari's sales dropped dramatically Chuck e- Cheese's pizza time theater was also seeing the red the restaurant chain had now expanded to 250 locations but business was no longer booming they had debts of at least $80 million and in March of 1984 Pizza Time theater filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy analysts were blaming a combination of the economic recession competition from other restaurants and a market that turned out to be very limited gadgets already appealed to a larger demographic but they were determined to not make the same mistakes as Pizza Time theater they really needed to switch gears and zero win on the older hip demographic that would spend more money on alcohol one thing about the restaurant business is that the high margins come from alcohol sales not food dining out is one of the fastest growing leisure activities of the 1980s and I think we're getting a more and more sophisticated audience that expects good food but they want to be entertained and we want to entertain them and give them a place that's fun to come to or they can spend the entire evening in June of 1984 two gadgets Cafe locations opened in Atlanta Georgia and Tampa Florida gadgets Cafe was a version of the restaurant that did not include the Looney Tunes review and only had Sammy sanss on the piano in an attempt to be more hip they kept the video arcades introduced even broader menus built larger bar areas with cozy nooks and there was late night dancing plus excluding the Looney Tunes review knocked $300,000 off the $2 million price tag it cost to build a Gadgets in April they even closed the Ohio location to remove the Looney Tunes review it was supposed to reopen without the animatronic but strangely enough that never happened then the updated Looney Tunes review show which was prepping for production was unexpectedly paused designers were in the midst of sculpting the final full-size clay molds but behind the scenes everything was about to shatter into a million pieces in August Warner announced gadgets was no longer profitable with the updated Looney Tunes review show now flat out cancelled they quickly began closing the unprofitable gadgets locations to minimize their losses for a company that was only 3 and 1/2 years old it makes you wonder if they were ever profitable to begin with there was certainly a reason why they weren't expanding at the rate they initially intended one by one restaurants were powering down the animatronics and locking the doors for Good by February 1985 nine out of the 11 gadgets locations were closed with the entire chain now up for sale the operating costs were just too high Warner Leisure found themselves in a negative cash flow to the tune of $122 million over 3 years in an attempt to offload some of their debt Warner offered to sell Warner Technologies back to the original owners of advanced animations they bought the company back for only $800,000 which included $3.5 million in assets and by May of 1985 the last remaining gadgets location was sold off none of the animatronics from the gadgets restaurants were ever seen again but it wasn't the end of the Looney Tunes review part of the assets Advanced animations inherited included the Looney Tunes programming stage after getting permission from Warner they managed to fit the show into a trailer and at some point it was sold to a carnival company for years it traveled to fairs and carnivals around the United States then it kind of just disappeared from existence in 2020 the trailer was rediscovered in Daytona Beach Florida when it was put up for auction thankfully this set of animatronics are now in the hands of many private collectors and some have even been restored pep Leu here is owned by rer CEC and he's done a fantastic job restoring the figure back to its original Glory rener along with many others in the animatronic Community were so helpful providing information for the this video gadgets was an ambitious concept and a product of the times but there were just too many things stacked against it maybe there really wasn't a place in the market for more sophisticated animatronic restaurants it's really unfortunate that the Looney Tunes review fell victim to gadgets downfall because it was truly a special show now it just has a place as another moment in animatronic history so had you ever heard of gadgets restaurant and the Looney Tunes review what are your opinions on animatronic restaurants as a whole I'd love to know leave a comment down below to start a conversation and don't forget to hit that like button if you enjoyed the video

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Keywords: animatronic, animatronic show, audio animatronics, animatronic abandoned, disney animatronics malfunction, animatronics abandoned, animatronic family, animatronics, looney tunes revue, gadgets restaurant, looney tunes animatronics, looney tunes, buggs bunny revue, looney tunes revue gadgets, animatronic show looney tunes, chuck e cheese, chuck e cheese animatronics, animatronic restaurants, animatronic restaurant, animatronic fail, animatronic fails, looney tunes show

Id: Dxvoo5CzzI0

Length: 21min 38sec (1298 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024