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SWANSEA, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) – A young man from Swansea has started a movement to keep a beloved entertainment venue in its original format.
12-year-old Logan Carreiro is a regular at the Dartmouth Chuck E. Cheese. At least once a month he goes for the food, the games and, most of all, the singing animatronic characters.
Unfortunately, Chuck’s show is facing a final curtain call as the company is slowly getting rid of the lovable robots and replacing them with some extra televisions and a dance floor. This is something that Logan has been dreading and wants to prevent.
“I was heartbroken honestly,” he said. “They’re adding TVs and that’s giving kids bad screen time habits.”
CEC Entertainment, the company that owns Chuck E. Cheese, has been scaling back on the use of these animatronics for a couple of years. Back in 2017, CEC Chief Executive Tom Leverton told CBS News the revamp was designed to reengage families and kids with a more modern experience.
"It's the biggest thing we've done for the look and feel of Chuck E. Cheese for two decades," 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."
Logan, however, felt different about these claims and launched an online petition called “Save Chuck E. Cheese” to help keep the iconic mouse in the house. He even has a Facebook page and YouTube channel explaining his campaign.
While Logan says the company has not responded to his emails, it’s not game over just yet as lots of locals have signed up for the fight.
“I really appreciate everybody that’s put their name on there.”
WBZ’s Matt Shearer (@MattWBZ) has more:
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