'The shift in McDonald’s vibe from 90’s to today captures everything wrong with society': Paltry McDonald's PlayPlace features only 2 screens and 2 chairs for kids to play with

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Mar 9, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

If you were a child of the '90s or the 2000s, there's a good chance you have some vivid memories in the hallowed tubes of a fast-food playplace. I remember playing in the Chick-fil-A playplace with my friends after finishing our Winnie the Pooh KIDS performance and telling the other kids there that our names were Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, etc. If that theatre kid hogwash isn't your vibe, you probably tried to go down the slide at the same time as someone else, leading to bruises and irritated skin from that colorful plastic. Hopefully, you weren't the kid who went number 1 or number 2 in the ball pit, but you have a right to be nostalgic even if you were. You had an experience very few kids will ever get again because, in 2025, McDonald's PlayPlaces contain no more than some chairs and some screens affixed to the walls.

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At this point, why even bother calling it a play place at all?
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I'm unsure if McDonald's would qualify as a "third space."
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Companies are more liable for scraped knees and broken bones than for a lifetime of bad attention spans and lack of interest in anything but a screen.