McAwesome

The new McDonald's restaurant on State and Center had it's grand re-opening yesterday with much hype and recognition from the Saginaw community. All day a steady stream of cars flowed through the two seperate drive-thrus. The less-than-large parking lot was packed every time I drove by. Finally, with a failed night of realizing that paying $14 to bowl is $13 too much, we high tailed it out of Stardust lanes and had our McPilgrimmage. The atmosphere at the new McDonald's is pretty classy; decor includes paintings on the walls with subtle hints of M's on them. The point of interest for me, was the new Playplace, which is somewhat of a McChildFitness center. The area has two racing bikes that are connected to a video game, an indoor basketball hoop, air hockey table, trampoline, video games, and the signature 'PlayPlace'. Upon walking into the seperate children's area to eat our food, we were greeted by a McBouncer who enforced the rules strictly. If you are not between the ages of 3 and 12 you can only watch with jealous eyes as kids play free air hockey. It's almost unfair. The alternative for teens and parents is the free wireless internet capabilities. The booming success of the grand re-opening was a huge accomplishment for Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar.

I have a few McGripes however. I do not like the overall shape of the new McDonald's. It is lacking it's classic look and maybe that was the whole point. Never the less, the building where we walked to in our parochial youth is no more. In it's place, is the future of McDonald's: flat screen tv's, pimped out playplaces, and booths of slightly higher quality than before. The parking lot has a few parallel spots and that is just a recipe for disaster. I think it would have been extremely cool if the drive-thru had a touch tone menu screen allowing people to order their own food simply by pushing the corresponding button for it. It'd be quick and it reminds me of a drive-up ATM style of ordering.


Overall, I think the grand re-opening was hyped up a little TOO much. So many people making their way to McDonald's as if it was selling McMarijuanna or something. No people, the hamburgers still taste the same.