Port Orange, Florida (5539 S Williamson Blvd) was a Chuck E. Cheese's that opened on December 26, 2013 with a Circles of Light, 32M. It would close temporarily on September 29, 2022 due to the structure caving in on itself during Hurricane Ian. The building has been tore down, and it was slated to be reopened in March 2024, before being delayed to the end of the year[1].
History[]
Opening[]
Shortly after the Studio C animatronic was removed from the Dallas, TX (13125 Montfort Dr) location, Port Orange, FL (5539 S Williamson Blvd) opened and after a year when the animatronic was removed at montfort, the animatronic taken to port orange and was placed there on their circle of lights stage. This has been confirmed, as both serial codes have been checked, and they matched. The Port Orange, FL (5539 S Williamson Blvd) Chuck E. Cheese opened with the 2013 update CoL stage and closed before a remodel was ever able to take place. The animatronic character was in good condition for the first half of it's life cycle, but then slowly fell into disrepair. Just before the store closed, the mouth, eyes, foot, and body movements barley worked at all.
Hurricane Ian[]
Port Orange, FL (5539 S Williamson Blvd) was a fairly large store that stood in the middle of the Port Orange Pavilion, but tragically on September 29, 2022 the building would stand no more. In the midst of Hurricane Ian the roof of the building would give out, simultaneously causing the east wall to cave in as well. No one is sure why this happened, but since there were little to no drains on the roof many assume that the intense amount of rainfall from the hurricane created a "swimming pool" of sorts on the roof, and the weight of the water was too much for it to handle. After the dust settled the interior and exterior were completely totaled. The left, and most of the back side of the building suffered minimal damage, however almost the entire right side of the store was practically gone. Nearly the entire arcade was crushed by insulation and metal support beams that had fallen from the roof. The eerie sight of a destroyed Chuck E. Cheese lasted for almost 2 weeks. While the animatronic and did survive the initial impact from the hurricane, they were destroyed after the building was demolished in October.
Reopening[]
It was confirmed in an official email sent by CEC Entertainment that reconstruction of the store would begin in May of 2023, and the store would hopefully reopen in November of 2023. The location would reopen as a Pizza & Games (2.0) remodeled store, featuring the Chuck E. Live stage. This had brought a new hope for the store. However, the reconstruction date of the store was later officially pushed to October 2nd 2023, with a set opening date of March 4th, 2024 by Parkway Construction & Architecture.
Trivia[]
- Port Orange opened at the same time as the West Palm Beach, Florida (2471 Okeechobee Blvd) location. West Palm Beach also opened with a Circles of Light stage but unlike Port Orange, is still open today with the Pizza & Games (2.0) remodel.
- Port Orange was confirmed to have 2 walkarounds in-store, as 2 were found during the demolition process. Sadly, they were both destroyed by corporate shortly after they were found.
- The serial code on the Port Orange animatronic was #155, which matched that of the Dallas, TX (13125 Montfort Dr) location's, meaning that it has now been confirmed that those are in fact the same animatronics.
- Some of the party table benches were salvaged from Port Orange and were used at the West Orlando, Florida (7456 W Colonial Dr) location before it got 2.0.
Gallery[]
