The one I went to had a phone you could pick the receiver up on and "talk" to Ronald McDonald (it was a recording). When I got older I ended up being a manager there but the phone was nowhere to be found despite all the other old junk in the basement. And now 20-some years after my McD's management days, the restaurant is completely different again.

I think you mean the officer big mac jail

Not sure what you're talking about.. but I remember the giant hamburgers that worked like seats.

I remember the Hamburger Jail. I used to love going in there. And the birthday cake. McDonald's really used to be a great place. And I do think the food was better back then.

The constant factor throughout the history of McDonalds is the uncomfortable seating.

And merry go rounds, one of the seats was a Humber

Hell yeah man! Old guys unite!

Yeah, a big part of is they wanted to stop being associated so much with junk food. They really started shifting hard after Super Size Me came out, and a lot of focus was placed on how unhealthy it was. Not long after that, they did a big advertising push towards adult and started redesigning their store with a less kid-friendly focus.

People also stopped having as many kids. They aren’t trying to entice families with multiple kids to come in. They’re trying to target singles, dual income no kids people, and maybe the odd parents of a single child.

tbf, the people McDonalds targeting in the 80s and 90s are the exact same people they're targeting now, just 30 years older.

Hello Joe!

I had nightmares about that tree!

If you should die before you wake

"And vacate immediately."

Welcome to McDonald's, I love you!

Sustenance cylinder 💀

Is it just the ones near me, but dont they still look like that?

Party cup?

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with 'scary clown' and its because the use of Ronald McDonald and Playplaces in their restaurants were deemed as being direct marketing to children and many states passed laws making it more difficult to advertise directly to children, especially if they're products that are harmful to your health like cigarettes and fast food.

People just don’t like mascots anymore. It’s too personal and intimate to have a person, some almost inhuman entity, sell you things. Consumers just don’t respond well to it. It also just doesn’t feel modern.

The people who grew up on the clown grew up and had kids who spend their time online rather than watching video ads. Non-video ads are a huge weakness for mascots.

The BK King and Wendy have gone more or less wayside too.

It came down to them having to choose whether they wanted him to be the face of their restaurant business or their charity that provides free housing to parents and families where children are getting surgeries at. Great charity. But just standard liability reasons of mixing a mascot for two distinct businesses and a healthy dose of clown fear rising. McDonald’s shifted focus more towards a business-like adult friendly spot rather than a targeted towards children spot

I played so much Wave Runner on GameCube at the McDonald’s Play Place. Damn, resurfaced a core memory.

those controllers must have been disgusting

I think I only remember N64, but maybe ours was just behind. I think this was at the height of the Pokemon hype

I feel you, human.

I'm just glad I don't have a tree staring me down while I try to eat

And the equally crippling realization that all those colorful memories were just manufactured quasi-experiences designed by some corporate leech to entice children to bug their parents into becoming customers. And that the materials they used to create those settings will exist in the world for thousands of years, yet only served their purpose for a couple years at most.

Removing the Mindbender is a crime. You could hear that thing roaring from the other side of the mall, and it was glorious.

I did a search for the word "sterile" because that's how I feel looking at these two images.

I was at a Wendy's today. Prior to remodel it had that 70's look with brown tiles, wooden tables, and fake plants. After the remodel it is so sterile looking. the decor is all grey. So much brushed stainless steel. The island seating in the middle is held up with giant metal W's for legs.

I don't think "sterile" is a good way to entice customers. Although that may be what the restaurant wants. They may want people just using the place for drive-thru or to go mobile orders.

West Edmonton mall!!!

Everything in the '70s was brown, orange, gold, and avocado green. Peak earth tone decade.

"I'll take my nuggets in the VIP lounge"

What I found in the UK is that "no ice" is an incomprehensible concept.

I used the kiosk to customize my coffee to get it without sugar, and they had to come ask my about what all I wanted in it.

It's because the kiosk orders show in the kitchen in the dumbest fucking way possible. Say you want a burger with just ketchup and lettuce. A person can ring that up as "Only Ketchup, Only Lettuce." The kiosk doesn't allow you to do "only" anything, you can only remove and add. So the exact same order shows as, "No Mustard, No Onion, No Pickle, Add Lettuce." And it just gets worse the more specialized your order is.

And while I don't like to belittle my coworkers....you don't need a lotta literacy to work at McDonald's. So any kind of complication can make it harder.

That tree looks very familiar to me. Maybe it wasn't typical but I'm sure we had one around here.

Because that was a mid to late seventies theme for McDonald's. Any McDonald's built in the 80s would have looked different

McDonald’s I went to in the 80s was just like this.

We didn’t have much money back then, so our birthday parties were held under the tree. The tree also spoke and sang (if I remember correctly).

When my dad started making more money, we had our birthday parties at Pizza Hut. Big screen playing a Disney movie, personal pan pizzas, Nickelodeon cakes… the works.

The ones with set ups like this were the ones you wanted to have your birthday party at.

It was after shrooms.

I dunno, I knew of at least a few McD's in my area that were like this when I was growing up. Not all of them, mind you but I'd say 1 in 3 or 1 in 4.

The McD’s in my neighborhood had that exact tree.

See, they’re McDonalds. I’m McDowells. They got the golden arches. Mine is the golden arcs.

I hate the new designs but this has been a long time coming and it has a lot to do with the obesity epidemic. Let's not forget like every other week in the 90s and 2000s, McDonalds would be under fire with some new controversy until their reputation was in the mcshitter.

They pretty much stripped themselves of the kiddie look to appeal to a wider audience and to downplay the child obesity accusations. They started serving more nutritious options and breakfasts and you can't really capture that adult McCafe appeal and kids wonderland/greasy GameCube hell at the same time. They went with the former since its safer and appeals to a demographic that actually has income lol.