Whether you frequent McDonald's often or not, you've probably noticed there aren't too many PlayPlaces left. They used to be at pretty much of all of them but over the past years McDonald's seems to be doing renovations in all their restaurants making them much more modern and leaving out the PlayPlace. This could definitely be a result of heath and safety concerns. There were many horror stories over the years, both true and untrue, that came out about kids getting injured and getting sick from germs or bacteria, etc. but according to an article first posted by Reader's Digest, the internet is one of the main reasons PlayPlaces are going away. Kids just aren't as interested in them anymore. With iPads and phones kids have all they need to play with right in the palm of their hands instead of going down slides and climbing through tubes. The amount of attention PlayPlaces are getting isn't worth the cost of maintaining them.
It makes me a little sad since I would much rather see kids running around playing then seeing them with a phone in their hand but truthfully as I got older the less I enjoyed those PlayPlaces. You definitely felt a little grimy after leaving! This Reader's Digest article also talked about the history of McDonald's PlayPlaces which I thought was super interesting. Click here to read about that and more.