Chuck E Cheese (Dartmouth, MA)

In short, we spent $29.99 for hours of fun for mom, dad, a one year old, and a three year old, and that included dinner: large pizza and drinks.  Totally worth it!  The pizza reminded me of Elio's pizza (that I haven't had since 1994), but the kids loved it, and the amount of food was perfect for our whole family.  Once you order, you take a number and put it onto your table.  The staff come and deliver it to your table.  My one year old daughter and I were sitting there when the guy came over, and I spilled an ENTIRE fountain drink.  He was super cool and wouldn't let me help clean it up (I felt awful).

After we ate, the kids played and played.  We did use tokens, but there is a maze climber thing with a slide that our three year old son kept going on over and over again.  We didn't bring socks, and the people who worked there said absolutely no problem to go with bare feet if we didn't have a problem with it (we didn't care).  We used our tokens on the toddler sized whack a mole and other VERY easy games that our three year old could play.  Our daughter rode a few of the toddler rides, and she loved the music and going in a circle.

We arrived at 4ish on the first night that the Whaling City Festival opened, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  There were two dads alone with their toddlers and one other family.  It seems like a place that is probably a singles "bar" for people with kids, but there weren't enough people there for us to get to people watch any mingling or pick-ups (bummer).  They have a VERY cool kid check so you leave with your own kids and nobody else leaves with them.  They stamp your hand and their hands with a number that needs to match.  I know it's more for show, but still, it's nice.

As parents, we could have lived without turning in the tickets and getting some fake bugs, but our three year old was pretty thrilled.  It was also obvious that if there had been a birthday party or as many families as there were tables in the place, it would have been WAY to congested to be enjoyable. We will definitely go back at an awkward time for some inexpensive family time that is sure to tucker out the kiddies.