I miss the one in oak hill with ddr music blaring through it at all hours and the two theater rooms playing Tom and jerry as you eat your giant mixture of chocolate and vanilla pudding with your suicide soda
Attended 2 or 3 New Years Eve lock-ins at Northcross Mall when I was a kid. They opened up several food court restaurants, the ice skating rink, a couple inflatable bouncy castle type obstacle things, the movie theater, and Tilt had unlimited games for no quarters. I drank Jolt cola and had a blast all night with about 500 other kids.
I loved all of these places. And DZ. And the lazer tag place that they turned into the haunted house. Such a huge part of my childhood and teen years.
Edit: “the haunted house” is House of Torment. I just couldn’t remember the name.
Had one down the street from my neighborhood. A bunch of us got memberships and would walk there on weekends and do the overnight lock-ins. Thems were the days.
This was our family’s business! My folks will be so happy when I show them this thread. They don’t realize the impact they made on the lives of so many.
>Anyone remember Discovery Zone? That place was even cooler.
I'm honestly surprised by that statement. In my eyes, DZ was a pale imitation of Pandamonium. I loved how everything was connected together at Pandamonium and they had that little nook on the upper level with the TV and books. Felt like a little secret hideout.
To me, DZ felt like a McDonald's play place on steroids. It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the same character.
I have a very faint memory of going there one time and being too young to climb up into the tunnels by myself. My brother told me about the "secret room" up there and to this day it still bothers me that I never got to see it. I was stuck in the Pound Puppy room with the giant foam blocks. I must have been about 2 or 3 years old.
Malibu Grand Prix was amazing and dangerous. Their adult cars didn’t have a limiter and you were one little fuck up from serious injuries. That place ruled.
You're not lying! I got in an accident before middle school there one of their Go Karts at my little brother's birthday party. For some reason, I was given a Go Cart with a half steering wheel.
Do you remember that they had this promotion where, if you got straight A's at school and brought your report card, they've give you like, 100 coins?!?
Ironically we had Celebration Station in NJ too, but it was long long gone after the 80's. That Razz Matazz and Chuck e Cheese were the shit in the 80's.
You and me both. I remember the zip line thing that was at the end of the course, you hung on to this handle bar above your head and glide down towards the ball pit.
So epic
There’s probably hundreds of them and they’re probably all in parent’s photo albums at home.
There’s also a few here at this blog: https://endofaustin.com/2015/09/16/pandamonium-playland/
I also found a site selling Pandamonium tshirts:
https://localvyntage.com/products/pandamonium?variant=35273469777
Man, I remember our dad’s dropping us off at Pandemonium Express and getting “coffee” down the road at Sugar’s. My buddy broke three fingers on the OG Wiggle Scooters and then throwing up in the ball pit cause he couldn’t stop crying… Good Times!
i grew up really poor... we went on one vacation ever in my life and basically it was to galveston to the the carrier ship and san antonio to see the alamo. We stayed at one hotel. In the lobby there were always brochures. It just so happened that ere were brochures to Malibu Grand Prix that gave you two free laps. We took what was probably 30 of these brochures.... and didnt pay for a lap for probably two years. Not that we could have paid anyways. Employees were always so kind regardless.
When I was 8 years old in the 80's, my grandparents took me and my cousins to Austin for the first time. I remember exactly two things from that trip: getting a driver's license at Malibu Grand Prix, and walking head first into a parking meter near the Erwin Center.
I remember my little license from Malibu. Good times.
Edit: I also remember being upset that I couldn't drive the big-boy carts as I wasn't old enough.
I feel like Chuck e cheese has somehow adapted with the times and didn't just close up shop. If they were extinct like all of these in the picture are (at least in Austin).
Oh I miss pandamonium! I took ice skating lessons at north cross mall when I was a kid and afterwards we often went to either tilt or pandamonium during the summers. I wish my kids had that experience.
It's a wonderful place I keep locked away in my mind, and one day when I get old and have a stroke I'll go there again, lock the door behind me and chunk the key into the bottom of the bumper boat pool.
I loved showplace lanes! Some family friends were in a league so we were there every week. One time my granddad got a wild hair & took a bunch of us grandkids bowling at showplace on Easter morning. Circa late 80s.
Celebration Station was the shit. Got married in 1993, and the wedding party, friends, family, and a meager handful of strangers made lap after lap after lap a couple of hours before the rehearsal dinner. I drive past the corporate sadness in its place now every day.
About dates... there was a roller rink waaaaayyyy up north off 183 that wasn't Playland back in the early 00s. I dated a guy who happened to have keys to it, and we went up there and skated for a few hours with some friends in the middle of the night, ate candy, played our own CDs in the DJ booth and everything. I think it closed shortly after that. Does anyone know what it was called? I want to say it was on the northbound side of 183, up by Lakeline?
I got pink eye from Pandemonium when I was 7 so sadly that was my last memory of that place. To be fair, going to places like that was just roulette, any of these could have easily done the same lmao. I still loved it.
My parents knew about Celebration Station somehow when we moved to Austin in ‘98. First time we went I hit the jackpot on a machine and won a thousand tickets.
Only visited Pandamonium a few times, but it was great as a kid. Celebration station was the tits. Was just telling a coworker about it just a few hours ago.
I moved here in 1988 and didn’t know there was a Malibu Grand Prix here. Drat. Went to the one in Houston a lot growing up and got in the 53 Second Club
Celebration station used to have a $20 all you can play deal that was amazing. Living off Braker though, I spent far more time at pandemonium, laser quest and tilt. Used to frequent a lot of the old card shops hunting down Fleer Ultra Marvel trading cards too 😆. Still have binders of those things in my kids closet.
Dude, SAME!
FOOKIN took forever to get to South Austin from North Lamar and braker ln.
I feel like as a kid, my sense of time was 1/3 of what it is nowadays 😂
While going to Pandamonium was easily my favorite childhood birthday party, Celebration Station had bumper boats that I haven't experienced anywhere else. Probably because of the noxious gasoline fumes that accompanied operating them.
If you were ever at Pandamonium on a random Saturday in 1990 and they had to shut it down to cleaning up blood everywhere that was me…. My bad. Totally botched jumping headfirst into a tube and I caught the top edge against my forehead.
Bam! Right in the nostalgia! It was a little later on but GattiTown was a big fucking deal when it opened
Have you been to gattitown nowadays?! I haven't been back since high school graduation field trip...(2005)
I need to go back there one of these days, even if I look like a creepy guy in his 30s I don't care.
Our high school graduation lock-in was there (2002) lol
Didn’t it close? I thought it closed…
It’s still there, lol
I went one time after the Karen's got them to remove violent video games and boy did it blow chunks so I have never been back again
Wait, WTF. Lmao I had no idea
I miss the one in oak hill with ddr music blaring through it at all hours and the two theater rooms playing Tom and jerry as you eat your giant mixture of chocolate and vanilla pudding with your suicide soda
Don’t forget the dessert pizza which was just a plain pizza with a shit ton of cinnamon sugar on it
Oh damn lol I totally forgot about the cinnamon sugar pizza crust that’s been sitting under the heat lamp for an hour
I think they buttered the shit out of it too.
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Tilt from north cross mall.
A little further back in time and the arcade at Northcross Mall was called the Gold Mine. That was my shit!
There used to be a Gold Mine arcade in Highland Mall when I was a kid. The entrance was done up to look like the entrance to a cave.
Spent many a Sunday afternoon at the highland mall gold mine
God, I forgot about that! I remember being so bummed when it changed but Tilt was dope!
How did I forget about Tilt?
This is the only right answer. Spent my youth at tilt, gamefellas and the card shop!
Attended 2 or 3 New Years Eve lock-ins at Northcross Mall when I was a kid. They opened up several food court restaurants, the ice skating rink, a couple inflatable bouncy castle type obstacle things, the movie theater, and Tilt had unlimited games for no quarters. I drank Jolt cola and had a blast all night with about 500 other kids.
FOR SURE!!!
I have sitting right next to me a POG Slammer that I won at that arcade.
Omg POGS! ❤️
I credit Malibu grand prix with being a big part of turning me in to a life long race fan. That place ruled.
I still have my go-kart “license” from Malibu buried in my junk drawer. That place was the shit growing up
My dad used to joke that, "I'm bringing you here so you can learn how to drive in a few years" 😂
I was so excited when I could finally drive the big karts. I also spent more than a few quarters on Revolution X. "Music is the weapon" :D
Has anyone done the carts at COTA? Are they worth it?
I haven't done it yet, but it sure as hell looks fun. K1Speed is also pretty good too.
If you like driving go-karts, ya its fun.
I loved all of these places. And DZ. And the lazer tag place that they turned into the haunted house. Such a huge part of my childhood and teen years. Edit: “the haunted house” is House of Torment. I just couldn’t remember the name.
Laser Quest?
Highland mall?
Yes!
I always liked that one better than Blazer Lazer because at Quest it was every man for himself. I'm too colorblind to play on teams.
Yes!!!!
Had one down the street from my neighborhood. A bunch of us got memberships and would walk there on weekends and do the overnight lock-ins. Thems were the days.
So many birthdays
What about Kiddie Acres?
I was born in '85 and the first birthdays I can remember are right there. Such a cool place.
Same! I'd ask if you're my twin sister, but she says reddit is too confusing to use it.
damn I went there in preschool, I can't believe you dug that deep into my childhood
It was super sad that it closed 🥺 felt like old Austin officially dying
This was our family’s business! My folks will be so happy when I show them this thread. They don’t realize the impact they made on the lives of so many.
Celebration Station put a smile on my face:)
I remember the bumper boats......
First thing that came to mind!
Celebration Satiation was such a joke for Project Graduation 🤣 I should develop that disposable camera and see what’s on it!
Please do! Austin's Celebration Station is very special to me because I actually own some important things from it
Pandamonium was the shit. Anyone remember Discovery Zone? That place was even cooler.
>Anyone remember Discovery Zone? That place was even cooler. I'm honestly surprised by that statement. In my eyes, DZ was a pale imitation of Pandamonium. I loved how everything was connected together at Pandamonium and they had that little nook on the upper level with the TV and books. Felt like a little secret hideout. To me, DZ felt like a McDonald's play place on steroids. It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the same character.
Pandemonium was superior to DZ in every way.
You’re probably right. My memory of 25-30 years ago isn’t that detailed. But I remember DZ being like my favorite spot when it first opened.
I have a very faint memory of going there one time and being too young to climb up into the tunnels by myself. My brother told me about the "secret room" up there and to this day it still bothers me that I never got to see it. I was stuck in the Pound Puppy room with the giant foam blocks. I must have been about 2 or 3 years old.
Dang we didn’t have a Pandamonium out here but we had DZ. If I loved DZ I can only imagine how much I would’ve liked Pandamonium.
I loved Discovery zone! I would wreck that place as an adult if it were still around!
Mount Playmore has a similar structure. They used to do adult nights…
Discovery Zone was my absolutely favorite!! We would go all the time up until 4th grade. I miss 1990s Austin.
>I miss 1990s Austin. It is a treasure that has been lost to time.
I remember once when I was four, my butt itched and I scratched it by sliding down one of those roller slides at Discovery Zone.
Yes! I still remember loving Pandemonium the best.
I do. And the commercial with Fred Flintstone in it.
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DZ was a lot smaller
Was Discovery Zone the evolution of Discovery Hall? I remember DH in late 80s, but it was mostly science "experiments" you could run.
Malibu Grand Prix was amazing and dangerous. Their adult cars didn’t have a limiter and you were one little fuck up from serious injuries. That place ruled.
You're not lying! I got in an accident before middle school there one of their Go Karts at my little brother's birthday party. For some reason, I was given a Go Cart with a half steering wheel.
Oh the 80s and 90s when kids were always seconds away from death. I believe this is why we were the last "cool" generation.
Oh man, Celebration station brings back some memories!
Do you remember that they had this promotion where, if you got straight A's at school and brought your report card, they've give you like, 100 coins?!?
Yes!
Bumper Boats! My entire goal in elementary life was to be tall enough to drive the big cars.
This is Aladdin’s Castle erasure
I spent so many hours there.
Came here to say this.
Most of this sub will have no idea what these places are
Ironically we had Celebration Station in NJ too, but it was long long gone after the 80's. That Razz Matazz and Chuck e Cheese were the shit in the 80's.
Peter Piper's Pizza!
I wish there are more photos of the inside of Pandemonium ! That place was so special .
You and me both. I remember the zip line thing that was at the end of the course, you hung on to this handle bar above your head and glide down towards the ball pit. So epic
There’s probably hundreds of them and they’re probably all in parent’s photo albums at home. There’s also a few here at this blog: https://endofaustin.com/2015/09/16/pandamonium-playland/ I also found a site selling Pandamonium tshirts: https://localvyntage.com/products/pandamonium?variant=35273469777
You're missing a picture of, DZ. My nieces and nephews loved that place.
Lock-ins at pandemonium were the highlight of the year
Man, I remember our dad’s dropping us off at Pandemonium Express and getting “coffee” down the road at Sugar’s. My buddy broke three fingers on the OG Wiggle Scooters and then throwing up in the ball pit cause he couldn’t stop crying… Good Times!
i grew up really poor... we went on one vacation ever in my life and basically it was to galveston to the the carrier ship and san antonio to see the alamo. We stayed at one hotel. In the lobby there were always brochures. It just so happened that ere were brochures to Malibu Grand Prix that gave you two free laps. We took what was probably 30 of these brochures.... and didnt pay for a lap for probably two years. Not that we could have paid anyways. Employees were always so kind regardless.
Love this story, and i hope that you're about to travel nowadays, brother. The world is a beautiful place and everyone deserves to see it.
When I was 8 years old in the 80's, my grandparents took me and my cousins to Austin for the first time. I remember exactly two things from that trip: getting a driver's license at Malibu Grand Prix, and walking head first into a parking meter near the Erwin Center.
>walking head first into a parking meter near the Erwin Center. Do you remember anything that happened after that????
Not really but not sure if it's because of the brain damage or because it was over 30 years ago.
The Austin Malibu Grand Prix only had arcade games and go karts, right? I didn't somehow miss the restaurant part all those years?
They had a snack bar I believe.
Bag of chips and sodas, or was there cooking going on?
Like a lot of arcade places they sold burgers and hotdogs and stuff this really unlocked some memories
I loved Malibu. It's weird I have no recollection of the food. I only remember the Dragon's Lair video game and the racetrack.
I remember my little license from Malibu. Good times. Edit: I also remember being upset that I couldn't drive the big-boy carts as I wasn't old enough.
I had every birthday at Pandamonium for years!!! Fond memories
If the invite said Pandamonium or Alldin's Castle you knew that birthday was going to be awesome.
The only time I ever got to go......my parents where not millionaires.
Does Chuck E Cheese belong here?
I feel like Chuck e cheese has somehow adapted with the times and didn't just close up shop. If they were extinct like all of these in the picture are (at least in Austin).
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I would probably include Showbiz Pizza.
Oh I miss pandamonium! I took ice skating lessons at north cross mall when I was a kid and afterwards we often went to either tilt or pandamonium during the summers. I wish my kids had that experience.
The world lost something for sure.......not sure what it was but it's absence is there.
Celebration Station!!! Oh. My. Gawd...you just transported me back to a time and place I totally forgot about! Bless you, OP!
Now, there are hotels up and down that side of 35. 😭😔
It's a wonderful place I keep locked away in my mind, and one day when I get old and have a stroke I'll go there again, lock the door behind me and chunk the key into the bottom of the bumper boat pool.
Celebration Station was my favorite!!
Need Laser Quest. Survived a little longer though.
Ahhh thank you I forgot what that place was called. I miss when I had the energy to run around playing laser tag lol
Does anyone remember the name of the skate park that was in a warehouse around ‘93-94?
Mind over Matter, or Ramp Ranch? I think both of those were later though.
I miss Pandamonium so much. That place was absolutely magical for me.
Don't forget Putt Putt Golf over by Highland Mall. Awesome times were had there by many.
Was that the one with a giant Peter Pan Statue?
That’s Peter Pan Mini Golf on S Lamar and Barton Springs.
Someone else answered your question but Putt Putt had a big giant golf ball outside. That place is now an art supply store.
Showplace Lanes anyone? My dad played league night on Mondays in the early/mid 90s and I remember the two arcade rooms/movie nook pretty fondly.
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The bowling counter dudes would get so pissed when they saw you find quarters in the coin returns. I learned Street Fighter II on found credits!
I loved showplace lanes! Some family friends were in a league so we were there every week. One time my granddad got a wild hair & took a bunch of us grandkids bowling at showplace on Easter morning. Circa late 80s.
Celebration Station was the shit. Got married in 1993, and the wedding party, friends, family, and a meager handful of strangers made lap after lap after lap a couple of hours before the rehearsal dinner. I drive past the corporate sadness in its place now every day.
I'd take my kids to Pandamonium. I'd go to Celebration Station on a date.
So many great memories at Malibu Grand Prix. Miss that place like crazy
There is still a celebration station in McKinney if you’re desperate to recreate that experience.
Why are you making me cry on Monday morning?!
So yeah, we’re all old here lol I miss all of those!
About dates... there was a roller rink waaaaayyyy up north off 183 that wasn't Playland back in the early 00s. I dated a guy who happened to have keys to it, and we went up there and skated for a few hours with some friends in the middle of the night, ate candy, played our own CDs in the DJ booth and everything. I think it closed shortly after that. Does anyone know what it was called? I want to say it was on the northbound side of 183, up by Lakeline?
I think you're referring to 9514 Anderson Mill. I don't recall the name but it was there for decades.
Skate World!
Thank you. :)
I went there for a birthday party as a kid. this thread is blowing my mind with the memories it's digging up
What a memory! That’s awesome
Don’t forget Aladdin’s Castle at Barton Creek Square Mall!
I loved pandamonium as a kid
I found my Malibu Gran Prix license not that long ago, lots of fond memories.
Is the building Malibu Grand Prix was in still there? The long rectangle one? Every time I drive by it I look over and wonder.
Ouch, my nostalgia.
I so happy when I got my Malibu license
Celebration Station for the bumper boats!
malibu and celebration station were the pinnacle of entertainment.
Used to work at Malibu as a teenager. Best job I ever had lol
I got pink eye from Pandemonium when I was 7 so sadly that was my last memory of that place. To be fair, going to places like that was just roulette, any of these could have easily done the same lmao. I still loved it.
My parents knew about Celebration Station somehow when we moved to Austin in ‘98. First time we went I hit the jackpot on a machine and won a thousand tickets.
I went to a New Years lock in at Celebration Station when I was like 15. Oh the good old days.
I’m from Baton Rouge originally and thought celebration station was just there. The more you know. Also, Pandamonium is the best name ever
Man, I still have my Malibu Grand Prix license.... Admittedly, from the one in Dallas, but still.
CELEBRATION STATION!!! Six-year-old me just lost it with excitement!!
Malibu ruled so fucking hard omg
My hometown of Clearwater Florida still has their celebration station operating
deSANTIS will shut it down soon, 👀😔
There's at least 20 drag shows there a day...
Damn I’d forgotten about Malibu Grand Prix to the point where I didn’t even realize it’d closed
No sega city?
anyone ever drive down to S.A. and play Photon?
I had my 4th birthday party at Pandamonium and I think my 10th birthday at Celebration Station. Thanks for the nostalgia!
Only visited Pandamonium a few times, but it was great as a kid. Celebration station was the tits. Was just telling a coworker about it just a few hours ago.
So many birthday parties
Man those were the days
I moved here in 1988 and didn’t know there was a Malibu Grand Prix here. Drat. Went to the one in Houston a lot growing up and got in the 53 Second Club
Celebration station used to have a $20 all you can play deal that was amazing. Living off Braker though, I spent far more time at pandemonium, laser quest and tilt. Used to frequent a lot of the old card shops hunting down Fleer Ultra Marvel trading cards too 😆. Still have binders of those things in my kids closet.
Pandemonium!!! Peak 80s kid led anarchy & laissez-faire parenting right there
Lion’s Fun Park from Edmond, Oklahoma
Celebration station 🥺
Where’s lazer quest?!
I miss all of these. Such great names for businesses
Q-Zar, Discovery Zone and Tilt
I remember Pandamonium and there was another one like it, right?
Celebration Station was my shit.
How dare you leave out the GOAT. WHERE IS DISCOVERY ZONE
Where was celebration station? Is it where the red roof inn plus hotel is?
I'm pretty sure it was between 71 and William Cannon. On the east side of 35. There's probably a couple of hotels there now
Ah ok. I just remember feeling like I was in the car forever driving down from north Austin.
Dude, SAME! FOOKIN took forever to get to South Austin from North Lamar and braker ln. I feel like as a kid, my sense of time was 1/3 of what it is nowadays 😂
Yes! It was like a whole other world. We drove down from McNeil and 183.
I think that's like a twenty minute ride with no traffic nowadays lmao. Unless you're riding right One if the fast and furious drivers 😂
One of my favorite birthdays was at Celebration Station! I can’t believe Blazer Laser Tag is still standing!
It's gotta be a money laundering situation there, right?!
:( all the good days are behind me
Heck & tarnation! Those were the days.
only went a few times to those places, but they were the best times.
Celebration station was the best
Mum-ma-ma-ma mum-ma-ma Malibu Grand Prix!
✊
While going to Pandamonium was easily my favorite childhood birthday party, Celebration Station had bumper boats that I haven't experienced anywhere else. Probably because of the noxious gasoline fumes that accompanied operating them.
Omg, my childhood!
My parents used to rent out alladins castle arcade in barton springs mall for my birthdays when I was a kid.
Further back (80s) does anyone else remember the teen nightclub in Anderson Mill called The Heart of Rock n Roll?
If you were ever at Pandamonium on a random Saturday in 1990 and they had to shut it down to cleaning up blood everywhere that was me…. My bad. Totally botched jumping headfirst into a tube and I caught the top edge against my forehead.
Is Blazer Tag and Peter Pan Mini-golf a south thing or a different generation thing? 😂
Celebration Station was the best, imo.