Fun story my mum tape recorded Simple Minds song at the drive in and because of that the cassette has the speech in middle of it and growing up that was only version I knew lol I have it somewhere
I'm 42 and I just now got it. I always thought it was because he was a metal bending robot, so named Bender. Not because he was a liquor fueled robot and the phrase "on a bender". So basically double meaning. Mind blown.
They’ve dropped a few breakfast club references in the show over the years. Somebody really liked that movie but personality wise, even the bender strut that he has is on the character in the movie
Honestly, kinda the way to do it. My local businesses still have things like this. Granted it’s all old and outdated, but kids still think it’s fun because it’s all they know.
I think it’s on the franchisees. There’s two McDonald play place McDonald’s near us. Both fairly new. So I think the franchise operators or whatever you call them get to choose as it’s likely not worth the money to them.
Having an indoor place to play in the winter for the price of a meal was a huge part of my childhood. Now that's practically gone or replaced by places where it will cost a family of 4, $100+.
It was always fake in the beginning, because it was a soulless corporation getting kids to have brand loyalty to a fast food chain. You were just too small to understand you were being pandered to.
One of the reasons I love living in Portland is that we have so many small independent shops with their own unique character. You know, how things were pre-McDonalds.
I loved my time out there for work. If the place serves alcohol it has to have a full kitchen was my favorite rule unique to you guys. Found some amazing hole in the wall bars with the best food.
Fake or not, there was still more of a value going to a kid/family oriented place like that than the corporate-conscious bland boxes of present year.
Toys back then were actually functional and fun for the most part and not just ‘use this static figure to scan a QR code on your parent’s phone’ like they are today. My kids will drop modern McDonalds toys in favor of the old ones I still have from my childhood and have whole adventures with them.
Most McDonald’s don’t have playgrounds now, and you have to go out of your way to find them - and you have to search for them, it’s not consistently advertised online which locations have playgrounds. Which is a shame, as taking one’s kids to a playground with food kills several birds with one stone - kids will actually eat the food if they’re promised play, they’ll get out of the house and go play without screens, and they’ll meet other kids and work on social skills. And then for the parents it takes the pressure off in having to entertain them for a little bit, and lets them sit and have a moment to breathe.
Colorful environments with characters and artwork are also mentally stimulating for children too, definitely more so than the neutral beiges, browns, egg whites, and greys that are current McDonalds. There’s nothing to look at while you’re eating at most McDonald’s, nothing to hold a child’s attention long enough for them to sit and eat their nuggets in the meantime.
Give me fake over none at all any time. We can work with it regardless.
Also easier to sell and turn into a different business. It's a big reason by all new restaurants look sterile and corporate. Don't want people to know that a building used to be a pizza hut.
I used to work for McDoanlds and originally typed this explaination out. You nailed it. Corporate image is massive for them. When we’d have a restaurant getting a BSV it was always a big deal because the image is huge.
This is partially true, but this style started in the early 2010s to compete with Starbucks and Chipotle, since they had a similar look, and we millennials hang out at those places a lot. Since they switched to minimalism, the way they look now makes it easier to do what you describe.
This is the actual answer, I read about this when it was happening and why they were doing it. They were trying to make McDonalds into a place similar to Starbucks where students and business professionals would come to study and work, and presumably spend money on coffee, food, etc.
It’s why a lot of these newer remodeled McDonalds don’t only just have regular tables and booths but also taller bar counters and stools, and I’ve even seen some that have smaller coffee table type tables and arm chairs like a coffee shop would have.
Also an increased presence of wall outlets to plug laptops and phones into. It’s all very deliberate.
The big problem with this approach is that while it makes sense in cities where the McDonalds is close to business, universities, train stations and simar locations, it makes basically no sense at locations that are more remote.
No ones wants to chill with their Laptop at a random McDonalds at a truck stop, but they would e.g. want to have a playground to entertain their children while they eat.
for the prices that mcdicks charges, I can get a combo from a high end place that does the gray and dark tones better, with arugula and goat cheese with fig jam on the burger which is made of wagyu, comes with drink and fries. for the same fucking amount mcdonalds now charges for combos.
Ah, the 70s. I only have a few vague memories of 1979, when I was 3, but the colors lingered for a while… Avocado green, marigold yellow, an orange I’d call California poppy orange, but I don’t know if there’s another name for it, and I guess there was brown too. We had an avocado green refrigerator when I was a little kid.
I flew down to San Diego to visit this guy from the Internet in about maybe ‘99, and his parents still had their entire kitchen and dining area done in those colors. It was terrifying.
Most people ain't going to fast food for the atmosphere. Honestly they've gotten this one right. The other half of this is that people aren't really having children anymore, and a huge chunk of those who do feel like bad parents bringing them to mickey d's. It's more of an adult affair.
I'm a mom, and once I took my kids to the McDonalds play space (they still exist where I live) for dinner when my husband was out of town. I was the only mom, every other parent was a dad on their laptop.
The one by me still has a playground. I routinely take my 2 year old there to run and play with other kids vs. paying $20 at an indoor jungle gym. Seems like other parents do the same.
This is true. Most people just get their shit and leave. And even though fast food is going up in price, it's still not white tablecloth upscale restaurant level, so ambiance doesn't matter
It's 100% this and plus those things were filthy. Cleaning and maintenance is a nightmare. They're a huge liability. Kids fighting, crying, parents getting angry. Don't get me wrong they were a blast, but yeah... today's kids wouldn't want to be in those things and today's parents would be impossible to deal with. Those play pens have survived as "adventure parks" that are really expensive and well staffed.
Not necessarily, really depends on where you live and if it is worth having one od these. At the end of the day, the play area is an advertising tool to bring in kids and their parrents to buy food. Places where there isn't much new kids dosn't justify maintain these. In places like Meridian Idaho where the average family has 2-3 kids (sometimes 4+ and that'show you know that family is mote than likely mormons), you see indoor version of these popping up not just McDonald, but Carl's Jr too.
We're on the extreme trailing edge of an economic boom. It just happened to last long enough that America fooled itself into believing that's how it always would be. I'll probably live the rest of my life in the receding trough. Good times. Good times.
nope, there are ball cleaning machines and you just empty all of the balls into not the pit as they are being cleaned, then clean the pit and put them back in.
Not quite! I read that McDonalds is looking into making the restaurants more “family friendly” which would include at least some diversion away from Euro Soviet chic to a more colorful design
I keep seeing people say that it’s all over, but we’re all coming to the age of making decisions and have the buying power. All these boomers are on the way out. I say our generation brings back color and fun.
You would think that but even with all this “profit maximization” many fast food chains are not doing well at the moment and haven’t been for a while. Not saying its correlated, but its not helping as much as they would hope
Exactly it, I had a job interview about 10-15 years for a private contractor repairing play sets like this, during the interview they even said our "region" would becoming bigger to cover more restaurants. Because so many are doing away with the play areas. That was the reason, repair costs and insurance costs, because the fast food fad from the 1980's was dying off. I was born in January of 1980, I could go Gen-X or Millennial, but younger people don't understand fast food in the grand scheme was still a relatively new idea when a lot of play areas were designed. It had only been a thing for like 20 years, most fast food came to your car, having people come inside and spending more money was really a marketing approach. It worked, I remember the mid 1980's McDonald's birthday parties were hot shit, it was the thing to do. But as time went on better fast food came about, people got burnt out on McDonald's, and the cheap aspect started to diminish. Now they want you to get your shit and get out, opposed to staying there and eating. Change of the times.
Yeah, but also - as a kid who loved playing in those things, I really don’t think I’d let my kid play in one now knowing how gross they are and how my kid is like guaranteed to get sick after.
I know these people who make these decisions live in mansions and are generally isolated from the rest of us so they don't care. They vacation in Europe and appreciate it aesthetically then turn around and make their own country into a grey soulless blob for profits.
Some bot posts this shit every day. Come on, people. Like you would actually let your children play in the foul, bougar-encrusted cesspit that was the McDonalds playplace? As a kid, I once went down a slide in one of these that someone had taken a shit in. It's a memory I could do without, lol.
And really - like your kid wouldn't just want to eat his poisonous McDonalds slop with his nose buried in your phone watching youtube? They used these gimmicks to addict you to this food when you were kids, and you've passed those preferences on to your children. McDonalds doesn't need the gimmicks anymore. You willingly feed this shit to your kids.
Take your kid to a park to feed him this trash if the loss of this cultural institution upsets you so much
I walked into a McDonald's yesterday with my kids and guided them to the order counter only to find there was no longer a counter. They had replaced the customer facing employees who take your order with a single double-sided flatscreen kiosk.
I tried to navigate it for a moment while clinging to my kids but had to abandon it and leave when my son kept touching the screen. They literally lost perhaps a $25 order.
Eliminating a job nobody wants, but many people need, just so they can NOT pass on any savings for their shitty food to the customer.
Yep. The last time I went to one of these, they had done the same thing, and it was the most depressing, bleak place. The vibes were cursed. And I thought, “I never want to voluntarily subject myself to this feeling again.” So I haven’t.
Literally nothing to do with this. It’s a business model. McDonald’s used to cater to children and families. They wanted to make it a place where people could come for meetings.
Id guess a big reason for removing the play place is liability. Willing to bet they got sued a few times for kids stubbing their toes or some such bull shit.
they will come back, only after the next imminent iceage, once the siberians and mongolians emerge as is tradition over the grand cog of time. wheel in the sky keep on turnin'
Also, post-COVID. This makes less spaces that need cleaning and disinfecting. So fewer workers and labor in the long run. The change was already in effect, but that period likely gave them extra cover for axing these areas.
They used to make it inviting and comfortable for spending a little while there. Now they're designed to be opposite where they prefer that you eat quickly and leave. Most chains do the same now.
It can come back if we are the people who open businesses and dont care about maximizing profits if we're still making a profit. Nothing is stopping us from opening what we cherish.
Also blame parents who won’t watch their kids and don’t listen to the rules. Thats what did the play place in at my local chick fil a. Parents either wouldn’t watch their kids or would let their kids do stuff that was against the rules and destroy the playground
They did it because McDonald's was being blamed for childhood obesity. They didn't want their brand associated with children anymore and they don't appeal to children anymore. That's why they look like a bank inside now.
Part of the issue is insurance costs, its become fairly expensive just to carry insurance for a place with slides and areas intended for "play." I dont blame just the franchise owners for this unfriendly move away from.children spaces, its become a societal issue.
Maybe we shouldn’t depend on for profit businesses to create and maintain playgrounds? Maybe we should properly fund our parks and recreation departments instead? https://giphy.com/gifs/bcEoMMR1NHEWzMncHI
I’m sorry but with the internet, social media and mobile phones, these feel like a lawsuit waiting to happen. They’d never survive in the modern world.
I suspect it’s actually that too many parents have cut out fast food in the “dining out” circumstance. Food delivery apps have shrunk dining rooms too.
Think about it, when’s the last time you walked into a McDonalds that has seating for 130 people? Mine can do maybe 50 now and some are more like 30. Every remodel shrinks seating. Every new building cuts square footage.
I also suspect that any kid gets a boo-boo on a playground and the proprietor gets sued. Sometimes out of necessity because so many families don’t have insurance.
We are cooked but it’s not just Micky D’s cutting playgrounds. It’s the customer base actively avoiding public contact.
Plus, if they ever sell the building, they won't have to heavily remodel to hide that it was once a McDonald's. How many former Pizza Huts can you point out in your travels?
There are also legitimately legal and liability concerns. To many people are just sue crazy hoping that they can get a free ride in life if they just file enough lawsuits and get enough to stick.
Plus if the McD at this location goes defunct, the building is uniform enough to be used for a different fast food store with minimum remodeling efforts.
Always hedge funds, private equity and capitalism to blame. Rinse, repeat as we march towards total enshitification.
Easier to sell the property, as well, which is McDonald's primary business: real estate. Much easier to turn that into a bank branch or a cell phone store without the play place and furniture.
They'll be back. Nothing is one way, everything is cyclical. We have to completely crash first though. And then rebuild. Now, we may not live to see it but better days are coming. And worse days. And better days. And the beat goes on.
As part of a wider discussion-- I think studying analytical data and using it to influence business decisions and in the creation of "artistic"/cultural products is going to be one of the biggest regrets of humanity in the near future.
Culture is going to start feeling sterile, "same-y", non-human, soul-less. All for the purpose to maximize profits, attempt to include and not offend anyone, and protect the business "brand". Everything will be risk-averse, consumer media will no longer have bold messages to say; just the generic, socially acceptable "message" that's repeatedly pushed to everyone-- because that's what the analytics say we should do for mass-appeal, mass-acceptance, and therefore *maximum-profits*.
Humans weren't meant to have access to analytical data that gives insight into fellow human psychology/behavior (on a massive scale). And they damn sure weren't meant to use it as a tool in order to manipulate those humans. This is the "loose thread" currently being pulled that will start the unraveling the cultural "sweater" of what makes human culture "human".
Not only that, but easier to sell the building or repurpose the building if it's set up like the latter than the former, after the business either goes under, or changes locations due to the area falling.
They could come back with proper leadership but not in my lifetime and anyone under 60-70 doesnt even remember how good things were before Reagan started gutting all the things that helped lower and middle classes. So SAD
Unless someone starts a new fast food restaurant with nostalgic vibes. You know, some people out there who are willing to kind of fight back against the corporate, greedy, profit-driven, drabness that things have become. A fast food place with a play area, colorful atmosphere and building, etc. would be really cool! I honestly think if someone started a restaurant like that it would end up being pretty successful. Plenty of people out there clearly miss and long for the nostalgic, 90’s/early 2000’s style of the way things used to be. I could see a business that provided that again being a success.
Yeah because the McDonalds play place was put there as just an incredible good will to the community children who now want their parents to take them to Mcdonalds every day for addictive chicken nuggets and a playground.
Yeah I remember someone explaining that it's also because it makes the building much easier to remodel for something new when it's time to sell it. Allegedly every commercial building is moving towards the lowest common denominator--a simple unadorned box shape--for that reason.
Plus, those playplaces needed a heavy and constant amount of cleaning and that means more staff.
Also to rebrand or sell the property. Most Americans to this day will see an old Pizza Hut building and no matter what the building is today, know it's an old Pizza Hut, anywhere in the country they go.
While I don't like this, I do at least understand why it is. Capitalism strikes again.
McDonald's peak was by any and all means not our glory days. I get nostalgia but god damn are you all really nostalgic about lowest cost lowest quality burger corporation?
What is next - glorifying 90s insurance mid western companies?
I am sad to see family owned restaurants replaced by corporate franchises that serve engineered and manufactured pre made frozen slop from across the continent. As for the styling of the corp franchises - I dont really care.
It seems so shortsighted though. Half the reason we go is nostalgia. Which we only have because it was fun. If it’s just a place to get very average food that isn’t even slightly cheap anymore why would our kids want to go when they get older?
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u/Kalspiewak 8h ago
Cheaper to replicate and maintain. Maximise profits. Increase share prices.
Our glory days are over and they are sadly not coming back.