1. Children’s playgrounds
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Most restaurants and drive-thru’s back in the 80s would have a children’s play area attached – usually food-item themed, with at least one Ronald McDonald statue or bench. That seems to all be in the past now, as it’s rare in this day and age to see any Big Mac-themed kids area outside!
2. Burger stools!
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It’s a sad time if you accidentally sit on your cheeseburger – luckily, back in the 80s you could actually sit on a McDonald’s burger without worrying about squishing your food. The restaurants back then had much more quirky interiors and features, tailored to their menus, than they do these days.
3. Branded ashtrays in restaurants
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If there’s one thing you certainly won’t find in McDonald’s restaurants these days, it’s ashtrays – and ones personalised with the golden arches at that. Back in the 80s, smoking in restaurants while enjoying your large fries was just the norm, but it’s something we can’t even fathom these days.
4. The toys used to be so much better
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Back in the 80s, the collector’s items you could get from McDonald’s, including the Happy Meal toys, used to be so much more exciting – with so much more for your money! These days, they’re very much on the smaller side, and it’s also planned that plastic Happy Meal toys will be got rid of altogether by 2025.
5. Those paper hats!
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This is a view you definitely wouldn’t get these days – not only the paper hats the employees have to wear, but the manager on the floor wearing a full suit! These days you can expect either a baseball cap or no hat at all – maybe at the very least your hair tied back – while the manager is probably lurking wearing a casual shirt.
6. Polystyrene packaging
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Who remembers when the burger packaging actually looked like this? Some of us have eaten at restaurants when the polystyrene was still being used, and before the switch to cardboard. And back in the 80s, the packaging was a lot more simple, stating the name of the item in block letters and no fancy artwork, pictures of the burgers or fancier fonts.
7. Bowler shirts were the uniform back then
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At McDonald’s restaurants these days, you can expect a polo shirt or just a plain grey-colored shirt, but back then, their uniform progressed to something a little more exciting. Bowler shirts were the norm, namely with huge stripes and paired with cloth caps that replaced the paper hats.
8. A presidential visit
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If there’s one thing that the 80s seemed to have more of, it was presidential and celebrity visits to McDonald’s restaurants. Reagan wasn’t the only famous person to visit a McDonald’s restaurant or two, and all part of his campaign. McDonald’s was also known for being a classic place for touring bands to visit for a quick meal! You don’t really see that these days when you can order it to your door instead.
9. Remember Ronald McDonald?
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Most of us will still have nightmares about him, but back in the 80s, Ronald was very much the active mascot of McDonalds, and he could be spotted in every store. These days, since his official retirement in 2016, you don’t expect to hear a whisper of him in any restaurant.
10. The golden arches
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The architecture of McDonald’s restaurants has changed a great deal over the years, and while the golden arches are still synonymous with McDonald’s branding, it’s rare to actually see literal arches on the restaurants these days, like the buildings had back in the 80s.
11. It actually didn’t take long for restaurants to look more ‘modern’
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By the mid 1980s, McDonald’s restaurants had already started to change the look of highstreet restaurants by making them look more simple and modern. The more vintage font is a big giveaway that it’s still the 80s, but they came a long way in looking more modern in such a short space of time!
12. Who remembers these spoons?
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With the focus these days on being environmentally-friendly, there are many things that restaurants like McDonalds have had to cut back on – including pointless plastic utensils. But back in the 80s, when there was less worry about that, these spoons were in-demand.
13. The high chairs used to be so much more interesting
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If you need a high chair for a family meal in McDonald’s these days, you can expect the whitest, plainest plastic option available – back in the 80s, they tried a little harder to provide something more fun and vibrant for your baby to peer at while you tucked into your chicken nuggies!
14. Flooded with natural light
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Some McDonald’s restaurants from the 80s also had amazing existing features, like this spiral skylight, as well as upgrading to rather modern seating that wouldn’t look out of place today. These days, you’d get more glass walls and side windows than you would any natural light from the actual roof!
15. When you could get these cookies from McDonald’s
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You can still order a standard chocolate chip cookie, or a brownie, from McDonald’s these days, but back in the 80s the cookie selection used to be so much cooler! Not only was the packaging so much better, but the cookies themselves were made out of the shape of the beloved McDonald’s characters.
16. When everyone had their birthday parties there
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You can still have your kid’s birthday party at McDonald’s these days, but it’s just not as big (or as legendary) as it used to be. Kids birthday parties back in the 80s at Maccy D’s were something different entirely. You could even rent out the whole place so you and your friends could have the run of it!
17. This epic cooler
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Back then, this McDonald’s cooler was a thing everyone wanted at their function – it was filled with orange drink and could be used at things like school events. People who were lucky enough to be able to try it will still remember how good that orange stuff tasted!
18. No digital menus back then!
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Not only do we have digital menus these days, but we also have the reality of self-serve where you can touch the screen yourself and avoid the counter. Back in the 80s, their only option was a classic menu board which had to be manually arranged with the letters and prices!
19. This vintage advert
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The vintage adverts and items from the menu back in the 80s were truly something else – you just don’t get vibes like this anymore! Sure, you can get the latest and greatest taste of a McFlurry, but just look at those cones! They definitely did it bigger and better back in the 80s.
20. Some restaurants back then were built into existing buildings
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One thing that was a lot bigger back in the 80s was McDonald’s restaurants that were built into existing buildings or historical houses, maintaining the original architecture and simply putting a yellow ‘M’ above the door! These days, most restaurants are built from scratch with very modern architecture.
