Birthday Party Upgrading

Birthday parties for kids these days range from "little get-together at the house" to "themed excursion at the park with actors showing up to add to theme idea" to "holy hell, what are we supposed to do next?"

Unfortunately, Cass's birthday this year was canceled due to the invasion of the pandemic into our house. But we had planned a baseball-themed day at the park, complete with old baseball card giveaways (thanks to thousands of worthless cards in my possession).

The ante was jus upped again for us parents. 

Cass was invited to a birthday party at a John's Incredible Pizza, specifically the Anaheim location (which is technically Buena Park).

A 'John's Incredible Pizza' is an enormous buffet/arcade/ride-having establishment, much like a Chuck E. Cheese, only this one seemed like a bigger deal. The establishment in Anaheim took over the entire bottom floor of a dying mall. It had rooms to eat and sing songs in; it had a ton of games and ticket-yielding activities as well as the necessary prizes to buy with the tickets; it had a pizza/pasta/salad bar/dessert buffet; and it even sold beer and had a spot to put eyes on sports while you drank that beer.

This depth and distance involved here can be seen in some of these pictures. I'm not sure what the costs were, since each kid was given a card with a magnetic strip with $15 worth of gaming purchases as well as  everyone having access to the buffet.

Corrie rode the ride with Cass and his buddy, but only Cass is visible below in the green shirt:

I tried to take a picture where you could see the mall proper (behind the glass, able to look longingly at the fun being had) above the John's Incredible zone below:

Our engagement was quite early in the day, starting at 10 am. By the time we were leaving, close to 2 pm, the place was a total zoo. The buffet is apparently quite popular.

It was a good time, and while we may not ever go here for the birthday experience, it's nice to have another arrow in the quiver for possibilities.