McDonald’s Play

The history of McDonald’s Play started in a McDonald’s in Chula Vista, California. It was in this unassuming, often quiet restaurant where the very first McDonald's PlayLand opened in the early 1970s.The very first McDonald's PlayLand brought a 34 percent increase in business to it's location before the park was completed, and rose to a 63 percent in volume over subsequent months. Ronald and his friends were based on characters from McDonaldland, a make-believe world brought to life by advertising agency Needham, Harper & Steers. The characters populated the earliest McDonald's PlayLands in the form of dubious-looking rides, including Captain Crook spiral slides, Hamburglar swings, Mayor McCheese round-a-bouts, Filet-O-Fish springs, and McDonaldLand teeter-totters. The PlayLands were overlooked by Officer Big Mac, who's open mouth served as a ominous climb-in jail