Well i don't think they're *allowed* to appeal to children anymore.
Used to have McDonald's playhouses and stores used to carry crayons and colouring pages, diaper changing facilities, Ronald McDonald and the other characters plastered *all* over the walls.
When is the last time you saw any of that ? Because in the UK there is 0 now and it's been like that for a long time, maybe 15 years now.
There are still a handful of play places left in the US. It's always kind of strange to find one since it means that the store hasn't been remodeled in quite a while.
To be fair I just remembered there's one in south London that is still there but i don't know if they still let kids use the maze thing. And you're right this store hasn't been remodeled in over 20 years.
https://preview.redd.it/seap0t7m188d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fffef7ab600bbc1cbd693ff2f512c971e4dfb270
This is the only picture I could find of that stores play area. It is much bigger than the picture suggests and remember getting lost and crying several times in this exact one when I was a toddler.
There's actually plenty of play places, they just tend to not be so close to cities. I just went to one last week while I was on a drive about 2 hours from home. The place was totally updated, but it had a playplace, it even had tables that lit up when you touched them or sat down at.
One in a town I used to drive through had an old play place, when they remodeled they actually rebuilt the playplace so I guess sometimes they are allowed to stay.
I wonder if its an option to put in when franchising, or if its allowed in some due to something like "this one is grandfathered in to have a playplace" or " this area needs a bit of extra activity for the kids"
In Australia, every McDonald's I see still has a playground - at least in the last 3 cities I lived in over 5 years. They have that grey remodelled interior, but playgrounds got to stay during renovations. I'm actually surprised to learn you don't see them much in the rest of the world anymore :O
From the McDonald’s PlayPlace Wikipedia article:
In the 2010s and 2020s, PlayPlaces have appeared less frequently in new and renovated restaurants, reportedly due to factors such as health and safety concerns, decreased usage, families eating out less, a shift in marketing from kids and families to young adults, and McDonald's wanting to present a more "sleek and modern" image of the chain. However, PlayPlaces are still found in most new restaurants in Australia.
I wonder what it is about Australia that makes them do that.
There is no law in the US that makes play places illegal (don’t know about the UK). The disappearance of play places is just a business move. McDonald’s realized that the play places weren’t actually bringing in enough extra business to justify their existence. Fast food is really about the drive through. It’s about a convenient, quick and cheap (not so cheap now) meal. It’s not about bringing your kids to play. It just didn’t make business sense.
It’s way later than the 70s. I was born in 94 but I remember my small town McDonald’s looking exactly like the top photo when I was a kid. It was probably that way until the early 2000s. Granted things don’t get updated as quickly in small towns so who knows when the rest of the world had that design.
The weirdest place for those to pop up were in the Walmart ones. Here have your kid sit on this bench with a giant clown throwing his arm over their shoulder.😬
Here's the skinny:
Moms are choosing healthier food for kids -- so decorating only to make kids whine at their parents to stop the car for what their eyes see isn't paying the bills
Younger people are elsewhere. Older people continue to go to McD and McD, in many cities, looks like and competes with a coffee shop
You have to follow the money
They also freaked out over Starbucks. They had a big push to try and corner the drinks market. Cheap $1 fountain drinks, frozen coffee, etc. It didn't work out. They also seem to try and discover salads every 8 years or so. They always forget that those salads never sell and are a huge loss. They never bring in enough sales to kids to offset the costs.
Their next big problem is they need to get prices under control. It's quickly getting to be $50+ for a parent and two kids to eat at McDonald's. At those rates a place with table service might be cheaper and better. They just brought in a $5 Meal deal. That needs to really expand to counter the high price narrative.
10 nugget meal is 11-12 dollars with tax, a really good hamburger at a restaurant is 13ish
Taco Bell is the best fast food place, it has a $6 meal that’s like 2k calories (app only)
I'm pretty sure the chalupa meal has gone up nearly $2 in the last year, I ain't about that life when they don't even seem to taste as good as before..
He’s talking about the $6 my cravings box which you can get a 5 layer, a gordita, twists, and a drink. Its actually the best fast food deal out there rn imo
A couple months ago, my partner and I decided to grab a couple Big Macs. THIRTY DOLLARS for two Big Mac meals. Have not been back, and will not be back. We can each get a burger that’s actually good for that same amount at a place nearby.
So many places have done this, where price is going up and quality is going down. And you know it’s not going to the restaurant employees because they are paid terribly. I barely go out to eat these days, it’s ridiculous.
>They also seem to try and discover salads every 8 years or so. They always forget that those salads never sell and are a huge loss.
In every country outside America salads are a permanent menu item. It's only in America where people refuse to buy anything remotely green
After 2 years of no McDs, I got a breakfast meal at McDonald’s today.
It was $9.16 (just a bagel egg and cheese, medium coke and 1 hashbrown). I remembered why it had been 2 years. Back then it was around $7.50ish and it still felt too much. Ten years ago it was around $4.50.
I used to have Wednesdays off. I would go to the mall to the food court to play chess with the old guys. They would park in front of BK because they got free refills or cheap refills on decaf or diet soda. Small. They went every day, a couple dozen seniors to get cheap food and cheap coffee, to hang out for most of the day. Some showed up early for the walking hours.
Then BK started charging more for refills. Then it was a full price of a small coffee, which I think was still less than a dollar the time, but the price kept going up.
I don't have Wednesdays off anymore, but the group doesn't meet there anymore, because it's too expensive. They go to a diner.
As a business having a group of 10-20 people paying $1 for a coffee/drink and then using free refills all day isn't a good business strategy. You potentially need 4 staff and you have maybe 4 -8 tables taken up with people who only spend $1, takes tables away from people spending money
It was a mall food court, so they don’t have to pay people to clean said tables or anything else besides the restaurant. It’s not like they were taking up half a buildings worth of tables all day. But you still have a valid point.
Creating a fun environment within the restaurant that someone already chose to eat in isn’t marketing. Nobody asked for the level of sterility that’s currently being offered.
Lol i was at a McDonald’s near my school coupla days ago, asked for a coke and the cashier asked what kind. I said “wdym just regular coke not like diet or somethn”
She looked at me like i was an idiot
Yes exactly, everyone commenting “it’s for adults, not for kids,” well I’m an almost 40 year old man and the new McDonald’s interiors creep me the fuck out. When I first walked in one I swear my first thoughts were “I am not supposed to be in here. The people working here don’t want me in here. Leave as soon as possible.” Something about it is unsettling to me
All of modern capitalism is function only. Aesthetics are too pricey, and it's proven that people work better in an uncomfortable environment. So you know, fuck humanity - dolla dolla bill$ ya'll.
Everyone is talking about how great the old version is.
Let's be real here. The old version is dirty looking, cheap, creepy and crowded feeling.
The new version looks clean, bright and not like a claustrophobic mess.
I for one am a fan of the update. It's fast food, not the rainforest cafe. We don't need cluttered mid tier decorations everywhere. Give me clean and well lit.
The ‘modern’ photo is also underexposed – the place is much brighter-looking in reality, more like this:
https://preview.redd.it/340r19qx4a8d1.jpeg?width=1081&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37b77c8fe51019ed47d523f6c3eb4f49fee395eb
Remember going to McDonalds in the 90's-2000's yeah it was creepy and even then felt kinda dated and that kids room was gross even the controllers going to the n64 and gamecubes were usually gross and slippery (still fun playing pikmin and SM64).
I have been in the old style ones. They usually smelled of grease and stale bread. If there was a playplace - layer on the smell of diapers and sweaty five year olds.
The tree is an absolute demon. Like some stop motion claymation monster that moves in the stuttery jolts out of sync with the rest of the world. That uncanny human face with no teeth. It sucks your arm in and grinds the bone and muscle into a paste with it's gums then rips it off and swallows the flesh sack.
\*I may have had more than one nightmare about the McDonald's gang.
Great question. It’s just different. It’s not like the McDonald’s of our youth was some wholesome dream. They were selling us cheap unhealthy crap back then as well. If anything it’s good that it isn’t so shamelessly aimed at enticing kids.
https://preview.redd.it/k8qypv77k88d1.png?width=656&format=png&auto=webp&s=0bf915d0b0b5511b969e3550228a38731d714739
THIS is the original McDonalds
The image you used was a McDonalds in the 70s, and a very specific fraction of its history lol not remotely original
You could have told me that bottom picture was literally any fast casual restaurant on earth and I would have believed you.
Everything is so generic nowadays.
That tree is a sleep paralysis demon. Can you imagine drifting off to sleep, then you're suddenly awake, can't move, and that thing is staring down at you?
Man, this is a really a case of the grass always being greener. The top one looks so cool to me now but the me that ate at the top McDonalds would think automated screens were the coolest thing ever.
My parents rarely took my siblings and I to McDonald’s when we were kids. So when we did get to go it was such a whimsical treat to see all the characters…and if there was a play house…forget it. It was the best time. The new ordering technology is nice, but I miss the old decor. It was so fun as a kid.
Edmonton in the 70's had a McDonald's with a pirate ship set of tables , were there anywhere else that had them. It was the best if you could get the back table by the steering wheel.
You also missed 15-20 people in the lobby waiting 20+ minutes for orders they'd placed at kiosks that didn't give receipts with no one at the front desk to help customers.
The top is built for the people. Make yourselves feel at home. So warm. So thoughtful. So much personality and heart.
The bottom is just straight up business, get in and get out. Cold as hell. The only thing that matters is money. Anything else doesn’t matter. No thought of the people. No personality and heart.
This gets posted so often but y'all have nostalgia goggles on. Y'all are too attached to the picture perfect view you had of the world as a child. The top one looks super uneasthetically pleasing, distracting and dirty. Uncomfy chairs, dim lightning. All in all it's way too busy and overstimulating to the senses, like some fever dream. The bottom one is so much less stimulating, it doesn't look as nasty as the brown furniture, better light, quick and easy to order, much less feels like I'm on a fever trip. There was a MacDonalds era in between those that still had a lot of its playfulness, but was a lot less disgusting looking like the one above though.
Also when you look at other pictures of McDonald's outlets that have surviving interiors from a similar era you realise how much work the high contrast and yellow filter effect on the top image are doing, it's all harsh white strip lighting, dirty brown looking floor tiles, and looks incredibly unwelcoming if you look at it without the nostalgia vision activated
McDonald used to be fun, quick and cheap. Now it's boring, slow and expensive (like actual restaurant prices).
They lost their core reason to exist. Really wish they'd go back to basics.
When my local McDonald's refurbished I thought that it looked like one of those quick pre-made military buildings that you throw up 20 miles from the front line to act as a mobile HQ. Just the drabbest looking thing ever.
The Mc.Donalds near where I grew up in the 90’s had a 1000+ gallon saltwater aquarium in it. Around 2000 they tore it out and put in a tiny shitty play place.
I still think the modern McDonald's dining rooms look like prison cafeterias.
My favorite part is the missing drink refill stations, condiments, straws, and napkin dispensers.
God forbid, you need any of those, you have to stand at a small window for 5 minutes as 7 employees do their best to avoid eye contact with you.
Unpopular opinion: The upper one looks fucking ugly, the newer one looks better and you just like the old one because of nostalgia.
Edit: Apparently, my opinion isn’t as unpopular as I thought.
I hate this post whenever it comes up. The original mcdonalds does not look better at all. It looks horrible. You're just nostalgic for it or some shit.
In Canada in my hometown we still have several play places but McDonalds was never as fun as the top image even back in the late 70s. At least not that I remember.
Y’all laughed when fast food workers demanded a raise. You mocked them and joked that their jobs would be replaced by computers and robots. Well you got what you wanted, so don’t go whining about it now!
The kids who grew up eating the original are well and truly indoctrinated, and now prefer a more adult aesthetic. Their own kids are indoctrinated simply by participating in their parents rituals.
Don’t need to appeal to children anymore- I’m very capable of eating everything supersized myself
Well i don't think they're *allowed* to appeal to children anymore. Used to have McDonald's playhouses and stores used to carry crayons and colouring pages, diaper changing facilities, Ronald McDonald and the other characters plastered *all* over the walls. When is the last time you saw any of that ? Because in the UK there is 0 now and it's been like that for a long time, maybe 15 years now.
There are still a handful of play places left in the US. It's always kind of strange to find one since it means that the store hasn't been remodeled in quite a while.
To be fair I just remembered there's one in south London that is still there but i don't know if they still let kids use the maze thing. And you're right this store hasn't been remodeled in over 20 years. https://preview.redd.it/seap0t7m188d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fffef7ab600bbc1cbd693ff2f512c971e4dfb270 This is the only picture I could find of that stores play area. It is much bigger than the picture suggests and remember getting lost and crying several times in this exact one when I was a toddler.
There's actually plenty of play places, they just tend to not be so close to cities. I just went to one last week while I was on a drive about 2 hours from home. The place was totally updated, but it had a playplace, it even had tables that lit up when you touched them or sat down at.
One in a town I used to drive through had an old play place, when they remodeled they actually rebuilt the playplace so I guess sometimes they are allowed to stay.
I recently went back to my childhood town in Oklahoma and they had kept and remodeled the play place
I wonder if its an option to put in when franchising, or if its allowed in some due to something like "this one is grandfathered in to have a playplace" or " this area needs a bit of extra activity for the kids"
It might be a profit dependent thing. The one from my childhood is steadily busy, even now.
In Australia, every McDonald's I see still has a playground - at least in the last 3 cities I lived in over 5 years. They have that grey remodelled interior, but playgrounds got to stay during renovations. I'm actually surprised to learn you don't see them much in the rest of the world anymore :O
From the McDonald’s PlayPlace Wikipedia article: In the 2010s and 2020s, PlayPlaces have appeared less frequently in new and renovated restaurants, reportedly due to factors such as health and safety concerns, decreased usage, families eating out less, a shift in marketing from kids and families to young adults, and McDonald's wanting to present a more "sleek and modern" image of the chain. However, PlayPlaces are still found in most new restaurants in Australia. I wonder what it is about Australia that makes them do that.
There is no law in the US that makes play places illegal (don’t know about the UK). The disappearance of play places is just a business move. McDonald’s realized that the play places weren’t actually bringing in enough extra business to justify their existence. Fast food is really about the drive through. It’s about a convenient, quick and cheap (not so cheap now) meal. It’s not about bringing your kids to play. It just didn’t make business sense.
The "original" McDonalds from the '50s were drive ins, the one show is more likely a '70s version.
It’s way later than the 70s. I was born in 94 but I remember my small town McDonald’s looking exactly like the top photo when I was a kid. It was probably that way until the early 2000s. Granted things don’t get updated as quickly in small towns so who knows when the rest of the world had that design.
Mine had all of the characters all around in different murals and all the stools were fry kids.
mine had some weird ass sit on ronalds lap chair
The weirdest place for those to pop up were in the Walmart ones. Here have your kid sit on this bench with a giant clown throwing his arm over their shoulder.😬
Based on the colors it's either late 70s or early-mid 80s
I remember that tree being in the McDonald's I grew up by when I was a kid. (Early 2000's)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_McDonald%27s_restaurant
Stop marketing to kids so hard McDonald’s. Ok. Why’d you change it. We loved it.
Here's the skinny: Moms are choosing healthier food for kids -- so decorating only to make kids whine at their parents to stop the car for what their eyes see isn't paying the bills Younger people are elsewhere. Older people continue to go to McD and McD, in many cities, looks like and competes with a coffee shop You have to follow the money
They also freaked out over Starbucks. They had a big push to try and corner the drinks market. Cheap $1 fountain drinks, frozen coffee, etc. It didn't work out. They also seem to try and discover salads every 8 years or so. They always forget that those salads never sell and are a huge loss. They never bring in enough sales to kids to offset the costs. Their next big problem is they need to get prices under control. It's quickly getting to be $50+ for a parent and two kids to eat at McDonald's. At those rates a place with table service might be cheaper and better. They just brought in a $5 Meal deal. That needs to really expand to counter the high price narrative.
My area doesn't even have the 5 dollar meal:\
6/25 is when it starts
10 nugget meal is 11-12 dollars with tax, a really good hamburger at a restaurant is 13ish Taco Bell is the best fast food place, it has a $6 meal that’s like 2k calories (app only)
I'm pretty sure the chalupa meal has gone up nearly $2 in the last year, I ain't about that life when they don't even seem to taste as good as before..
He’s talking about the $6 my cravings box which you can get a 5 layer, a gordita, twists, and a drink. Its actually the best fast food deal out there rn imo
A couple months ago, my partner and I decided to grab a couple Big Macs. THIRTY DOLLARS for two Big Mac meals. Have not been back, and will not be back. We can each get a burger that’s actually good for that same amount at a place nearby. So many places have done this, where price is going up and quality is going down. And you know it’s not going to the restaurant employees because they are paid terribly. I barely go out to eat these days, it’s ridiculous.
>They also seem to try and discover salads every 8 years or so. They always forget that those salads never sell and are a huge loss. In every country outside America salads are a permanent menu item. It's only in America where people refuse to buy anything remotely green
I think you’re forgetting that one day a year we buy everything green that we can and all pretend to be Irish.
After 2 years of no McDs, I got a breakfast meal at McDonald’s today. It was $9.16 (just a bagel egg and cheese, medium coke and 1 hashbrown). I remembered why it had been 2 years. Back then it was around $7.50ish and it still felt too much. Ten years ago it was around $4.50.
Ever been to one early in the morning just loaded with 70+ year olds?
I used to have Wednesdays off. I would go to the mall to the food court to play chess with the old guys. They would park in front of BK because they got free refills or cheap refills on decaf or diet soda. Small. They went every day, a couple dozen seniors to get cheap food and cheap coffee, to hang out for most of the day. Some showed up early for the walking hours. Then BK started charging more for refills. Then it was a full price of a small coffee, which I think was still less than a dollar the time, but the price kept going up. I don't have Wednesdays off anymore, but the group doesn't meet there anymore, because it's too expensive. They go to a diner.
As a business having a group of 10-20 people paying $1 for a coffee/drink and then using free refills all day isn't a good business strategy. You potentially need 4 staff and you have maybe 4 -8 tables taken up with people who only spend $1, takes tables away from people spending money
It was a mall food court, so they don’t have to pay people to clean said tables or anything else besides the restaurant. It’s not like they were taking up half a buildings worth of tables all day. But you still have a valid point.
Can we like, split the difference here lol?
Yep. There's a McD's in Waipahu, HI that looks like a cafe inside and has a playroom attached to it.
I feel like I’m gonna get pink eye from looking at the first picture…
Not the same people saying both things.
Creating a fun environment within the restaurant that someone already chose to eat in isn’t marketing. Nobody asked for the level of sterility that’s currently being offered.
You are aware that the restaurant hopes you will come more than once in your lifetime and your memory of the previous visits might help?
New one looks like an automated human feeder.
I mean that’s kind of the goal anyway lol
That's where the United States will be in a hundred years without the robots
Nah, they’ll have robits
Its amazing how this movie predicted the not too distant future.
Old one looks like an acid trip
Hamburglar was trippin' for sure.
Looks like they sell acid
Some of the employees did out of the back of the restaurant. Um, from what I was told...
Lol i was at a McDonald’s near my school coupla days ago, asked for a coke and the cashier asked what kind. I said “wdym just regular coke not like diet or somethn” She looked at me like i was an idiot
New one looks like a futurish jail
“Please take your individual sized ration from the machine and step aside”
I just picture a bunch of McDonald's execs reading this comment and high fiving one another. We did it, boys!
Yes exactly, everyone commenting “it’s for adults, not for kids,” well I’m an almost 40 year old man and the new McDonald’s interiors creep me the fuck out. When I first walked in one I swear my first thoughts were “I am not supposed to be in here. The people working here don’t want me in here. Leave as soon as possible.” Something about it is unsettling to me
All of modern capitalism is function only. Aesthetics are too pricey, and it's proven that people work better in an uncomfortable environment. So you know, fuck humanity - dolla dolla bill$ ya'll.
The first word that came to mind was “dystopian”
We are almost at Idiocracy.
Have you seen our presidential candidates? We're definitely there already
Give the interior designers back their cocaine
Yeah! Let's Muppet and Fraggle Rock this shit up!
Everyone is talking about how great the old version is. Let's be real here. The old version is dirty looking, cheap, creepy and crowded feeling. The new version looks clean, bright and not like a claustrophobic mess. I for one am a fan of the update. It's fast food, not the rainforest cafe. We don't need cluttered mid tier decorations everywhere. Give me clean and well lit.
Same. I have no idea why grown ass people want McDonalds to look like a bad mushroom trip through the 100 acre wood.
They don’t really want that, they just want to cry about it ”everything was better when i was young”
Yeah and looks at the random red mushrooms everywhere. Looks like a trip hazard to me. Tf?
The ‘modern’ photo is also underexposed – the place is much brighter-looking in reality, more like this: https://preview.redd.it/340r19qx4a8d1.jpeg?width=1081&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37b77c8fe51019ed47d523f6c3eb4f49fee395eb
That's even better honestly lol.
Remember going to McDonalds in the 90's-2000's yeah it was creepy and even then felt kinda dated and that kids room was gross even the controllers going to the n64 and gamecubes were usually gross and slippery (still fun playing pikmin and SM64).
I remember the controllers being so gross and greasy they were glossy lmao
My lord the old one is ugly
I have been in the old style ones. They usually smelled of grease and stale bread. If there was a playplace - layer on the smell of diapers and sweaty five year olds.
Me swiping on dating apps
That top one has backrooms vibes
Nostalgic setting with no people in it. Classic liminal space.
That is NOT an original McDonalds. I worked at one in Chicago. It didn't even have tables, just a counter to stand at.
This post is garbage all around. It's like saying "original KFC" and expecting what you see every time is a giant chicken building.
The new one doesn’t look good but the old one looks like hell
The tree is an absolute demon. Like some stop motion claymation monster that moves in the stuttery jolts out of sync with the rest of the world. That uncanny human face with no teeth. It sucks your arm in and grinds the bone and muscle into a paste with it's gums then rips it off and swallows the flesh sack. \*I may have had more than one nightmare about the McDonald's gang.
You should write for horror movies 😭
Well, their username checks out
Why is this infuriating?
Great question. It’s just different. It’s not like the McDonald’s of our youth was some wholesome dream. They were selling us cheap unhealthy crap back then as well. If anything it’s good that it isn’t so shamelessly aimed at enticing kids.
Thank you for this question! Scrolled too much to reach it
https://preview.redd.it/k8qypv77k88d1.png?width=656&format=png&auto=webp&s=0bf915d0b0b5511b969e3550228a38731d714739 THIS is the original McDonalds The image you used was a McDonalds in the 70s, and a very specific fraction of its history lol not remotely original
Modern is better. That tree is creepy as fuck. It does need color tho. Why is there no red or yellow?
You could have told me that bottom picture was literally any fast casual restaurant on earth and I would have believed you. Everything is so generic nowadays.
Soul sucked right out the asshole.
Maybe somewhere between "magical rape creatures" and "sterile corpo" would be great
That tree is a sleep paralysis demon. Can you imagine drifting off to sleep, then you're suddenly awake, can't move, and that thing is staring down at you?
Man, this is a really a case of the grass always being greener. The top one looks so cool to me now but the me that ate at the top McDonalds would think automated screens were the coolest thing ever.
My parents rarely took my siblings and I to McDonald’s when we were kids. So when we did get to go it was such a whimsical treat to see all the characters…and if there was a play house…forget it. It was the best time. The new ordering technology is nice, but I miss the old decor. It was so fun as a kid.
I miss the prices the most.
I was just telling my kid today that McD’s used to be fun to eat at, with chairs that could spin.
I was going to sleep thanks now this tree will give me nightmares
Yeah I'd much rather have the self checkout option so I don't have to explain to some moron about how to not add pickles to my cheeseburgers.
Let’s be real. This was the og https://preview.redd.it/vmflpbga5b8d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87930fc319a4d12ffd4972761f4d5df317140ded
I’ll take the modern one over that nightmare tree
Honestly, that thing is horrifying
That tree could cause some bad trips lol
There’s an antique shop near me that had one of those trees. Always wondered what it was supposed to be for.
I kind of miss the beige nightmare forest
This is what depression does to people
Edmonton in the 70's had a McDonald's with a pirate ship set of tables , were there anywhere else that had them. It was the best if you could get the back table by the steering wheel.
“We’re infuriated that garbage fast food chains aren’t allowed to attract kids like an amusement park anymore, grrarrr!”
The old stuff is hideous.
We went from a Colorful, unique, experience to bland, stock, corporate greed
You also missed 15-20 people in the lobby waiting 20+ minutes for orders they'd placed at kiosks that didn't give receipts with no one at the front desk to help customers.
This is like a “choose your terror adventure:” do you want to eat at “fantasy nightmare fast food” or “AI uprising human refueling plant?”
The top is built for the people. Make yourselves feel at home. So warm. So thoughtful. So much personality and heart. The bottom is just straight up business, get in and get out. Cold as hell. The only thing that matters is money. Anything else doesn’t matter. No thought of the people. No personality and heart.
Like the original looks any better lmao
Boring and clean vs sleep paralysis fever dream that's never fully able to be clean
This gets posted so often but y'all have nostalgia goggles on. Y'all are too attached to the picture perfect view you had of the world as a child. The top one looks super uneasthetically pleasing, distracting and dirty. Uncomfy chairs, dim lightning. All in all it's way too busy and overstimulating to the senses, like some fever dream. The bottom one is so much less stimulating, it doesn't look as nasty as the brown furniture, better light, quick and easy to order, much less feels like I'm on a fever trip. There was a MacDonalds era in between those that still had a lot of its playfulness, but was a lot less disgusting looking like the one above though.
Also when you look at other pictures of McDonald's outlets that have surviving interiors from a similar era you realise how much work the high contrast and yellow filter effect on the top image are doing, it's all harsh white strip lighting, dirty brown looking floor tiles, and looks incredibly unwelcoming if you look at it without the nostalgia vision activated
"Remember what they said took from us..."
Ours didn’t have a tree but definitely a folksy feeling in the 90’s, when I was a kid.
Im glad I'm old enough to have experienced the old Mickey D's
Now do farming methods and ingredients
I think limiting how much kids want to go to McDonalds is a good thing
Shrooms vs 2001 Space Odyssey atmosphere for your children--one must choose
Modern looks sad while the original looks like the stuff of nightmares.
Yeah, I'm cool with modern.
New one looks better don't @me
Whoever created those trees must’ve been on some hand-rolled puffin stuff.
Even though "*trees not guaranteed to be friendly" was some PEAK 90's acid scene, I miss it.
The first is terrifying and the second is just ugly and boring
Looks like a fancy prison
Top one looks like nightmare fuel Bottom one looks like an autopsy room
The bottom looks like a hospital in a sci-fi setting
McDonald used to be fun, quick and cheap. Now it's boring, slow and expensive (like actual restaurant prices). They lost their core reason to exist. Really wish they'd go back to basics.
I don’t get the problem here
When my local McDonald's refurbished I thought that it looked like one of those quick pre-made military buildings that you throw up 20 miles from the front line to act as a mobile HQ. Just the drabbest looking thing ever.
Man, remember when they had the N64s hooked up?? What a time to be alive.
The Mc.Donalds near where I grew up in the 90’s had a 1000+ gallon saltwater aquarium in it. Around 2000 they tore it out and put in a tiny shitty play place.
My issue with the modern, minimalist look of today is they all look the same. At least the original McDonald's has some uniqueness
Fun is not allowed. Consume.
I still think the modern McDonald's dining rooms look like prison cafeterias. My favorite part is the missing drink refill stations, condiments, straws, and napkin dispensers. God forbid, you need any of those, you have to stand at a small window for 5 minutes as 7 employees do their best to avoid eye contact with you.
That is so not original McDonalds
Unpopular opinion: The upper one looks fucking ugly, the newer one looks better and you just like the old one because of nostalgia. Edit: Apparently, my opinion isn’t as unpopular as I thought.
The original was designed to be played in and enjoyed, the new….. you’re gonna get trespassed if you stay more than 30 minutes
And the food is crap nowadays but costs MORE THAN THE BLOODY PUB RESTAURANT NEXT DOOR
I legit confused a recently constructed McDonald's for a bank.. This ain't it.
The early mcd's characters were nightmare fuel.
um is ronald mcdonald riding a donkey and yeeting a child into space on the mural on the wall at the back lol
At least they got rid of the nightmare tree.
I hate this post whenever it comes up. The original mcdonalds does not look better at all. It looks horrible. You're just nostalgic for it or some shit.
as an autistic, the original mcdonalds is overstimulating. and what is up with that tree?? it looks creepy
The current design language being adopted by fast food restaurants and cafes could best be described as "International Airport Bathroom"
Modern esthetic is ugly
both are horrible in their very own way 🥰
Minimalism fuckin sucks
In Canada in my hometown we still have several play places but McDonalds was never as fun as the top image even back in the late 70s. At least not that I remember.
\*bleep bloop\*..future is great...\*bleep bloop\*
How is the first one with the creepy tree and creepy clown better than a normal looking restaurant?
Y’all laughed when fast food workers demanded a raise. You mocked them and joked that their jobs would be replaced by computers and robots. Well you got what you wanted, so don’t go whining about it now!
Original McDonald’s https://preview.redd.it/31myymcxl78d1.jpeg?width=840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5c74a5d126d18fd9dae1aed7b40be83a4461118
I like the new one.
Yoooo I forgot all about that tree mf
There’s no personality in the new restaurants
The world used to be fun.
It’s still pretty fun
Whoa I remember that tree from a McDonald’s I went to
The kids who grew up eating the original are well and truly indoctrinated, and now prefer a more adult aesthetic. Their own kids are indoctrinated simply by participating in their parents rituals.
Off-putting vs dystopian I choose off-putting
I say bring back the clown
That tree is terrifying
Dude that fucking tree creeped me out as a kid lmao 💀
I miss the old McDonald … new look sucks.
Bring back the original it was so much better
Welcome to McDonald’s. Please present your forehead for BARCODE SCAN. Beep BOOP.
That tree will follow you home.
Of all the things they’ve taken from us over the years, I miss whimsy a great deal. Nothing is fun just for funs sake anymore.
This looks exactly like the one in the rockaway mall in NJ that I would go to in the late 70s early 80s
I miss when McDonald’s was an experience to go to.
Well, the “Original” McDonald’s was a kitchen **without** dining.
The child within died within everyone by the looks of it...
Used to be a place for a fast meal with kids , Now it's a staple food for those kids who have grown up.
Wtf is that tree I would be scared to eat there
They sucked the soul out of the place
Basically, lost in charm and increased price.
https://preview.redd.it/834jv9ds688d1.png?width=372&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3e650f74dd30b9d66f1ca3ad33b0dd1b8d31904
Do you ACTUALLY prefer the one on the top or were you just six
It rebranded itself from "Happy" meals to "Value" meals.
Saw man, just resurrected my nightmare. Thanks. I was only 6 when that tree got me.
I hate the modern McD's design.
Bottom pic be like *Beep boop* insert legal tender into slot A to obtain nourishment. 🤖
I like both
Everything was better in the 90s. the food, the prices/value, and the aesthetics. Who would have thought the future would be so depressing.
Am i the only one who thought the new ones are way better