The Mysterious History of Restaurant Playgrounds in Folsom and saying goodbye to the last piece of 90s McDonald’s nostalgia.

 

 

If you have been at the Folsom Premium Outlets on Iron Point Road since it first opened, you may have noticed the McDonald’s restaurant next door at 170 Iron Point Road. The one with the massive indoor playground. You may have taken your kids to play there or even played there yourself as a kid. And that was around when adults in their 30s were kids (1). Sadly, according to observations from recent visits, that playground is no more.  This is quite a shock since the restaurant kept the old school playground when the restaurant received its remodel in late 2022, seeming like its future was secured for years to come. I believe this was the last of the mid to late 90s McDonald’s playgrounds remaining in Northern California, and it became the last one when the Bradshaw Road McDonald’s in Rancho Cordova received their remodel in late 2022 also, which replaced the old playground equipment with a small new play area. 

     The McDonald’s on Broadway in Placerville with the modern indoor playground equipment

                                        Modern McDonald's Play Equipment. The fun version. 

                                    Modern McDonald's Play Equipment. The little version. 

McDonald’s is apparently waiting to receive new playground equipment, which might be a really good explanation of why McDonald’s retained the old school playground equipment, because of the ongoing supply chain issues during 2020-21. It was (or depending on whether the play equipment gets built, is) the last McDonald’s Play Place in the city of Folsom in general, two other locations formerly had Play Places being at Folsom-Auburn Road and East Bidwell next to Grocery Outlet, having been dismantled in 2014 and 2018 respectively. It was a privilege that Folsom was able to be home to one of the last classic restaurant playlands in Northern California and it leaves a hole in the community and the area since it appears that they don’t build play places the way they used to, ditching the amazing tunnels and adventure and colorful scenes for a more open concept and safer feel. It was a destination for the kids who went to the outlet mall. It was a fun nostalgic experience for millennials in their 20s and 30s who reminisced about their childhood and how fun it was (2).  It wasn’t just a mere visit to a McDonald’s to get a happy meal. It felt like visiting one of the last remaining locations of a once large restaurant or store chain (Sears, Bonanza/Ponderosa Steakhouse, RadioShack, Blockbuster, Sam Goody, Suncoast, etc.), since McDonald’s has changed so much since then now marketing more toward adults and becoming more like a fast casual restaurant in its interior with a gray exterior and a modern interior (3).

Fortunately, this isn’t the end of indoor or outdoor jungle gyms in the city of Folsom or the region. The Chick-fil-A at East Bidwell still has an indoor jungle gym, and Skipolini’s Italian Restaurant still has its outdoor jungle gym. And there is the Wacky Tacky indoor playground in Rancho Cordova which still has plenty of fun jungle gyms for the kids. And Kid’s Empire may be looking at opening a location in Rancho Cordova in the Mills Shopping Center (4). McDonald’s has 15 other locations with Indoor PlayPlaces in the region, including Broadway in Placerville, Sunrise/Auburn in Citrus Heights, and Sierra College, Foothills, and Stanford Ranch in Roseville.

McDonald’s on East Bidwell St in 2013 when it had outdoor PlayPlace, during its second iteration.

Going in a more historical, not all that long ago, trip, the restaurant playground craze started at the first McDonald’s location in Folsom, on East Bidwell next to the then Lucky’s, now Grocery Outlet, when they added an outdoor playground in the late 80s/early 90s. This one continued to have an outdoor playground and was such a success and received such use that it warranted a new play structure to replace the old one in 2006. Interestingly, the location removed the playground in 2018 when it received a remodel and didn’t add a new one. Then came the McDonald’s on Folsom Auburn Road in the early 90s, which is in the Ashland Station center where the Ashland Train Station once stood, which had a small outdoor tunnel playground until 2014 when the restaurant decided to expand their patio dining section. Interestingly, the restaurant has kept their classic mansard roof even after their remodel last year which is one of the last mansard roof McDonald’s in the area, the other one at Marconi Ave in Sacramento, which received a remodel also.

 

Then Burger King added an outdoor playground at their Iron Point Road location when it opened in 1997(5), and lasted until 2008 when the most Burger King restaurants did away with the outdoor playground concept, including local locations in Loomis and West Roseville. McDonald’s built the Iron Point Road location, mentioned above, with the first indoor restaurant playground in the city in 1997.

 

 

 Carl’s Jr in Greenback Lane in Folsom in 2013. Looks like I am using an old camera with poor quality. Adds to nostalgia. This playground was removed in 2014 and actually replaced by a much smaller play area, shown in the photo below. 

Carl's Jr on East Bidwell Street in Folsom, see the large patio area to the right. That was where the playground was at. I didn't take any photos of that Carl's Jr when it had the playground because they removed it shortly before I started taking pictures in 2012. 

Here's a photo from saopaulo1 from the Waymarking page of when it had that outdoor playground.

Carl’s Jr on Iron Point Road in Folsom in 2013. This restaurant removed the play area in 2021.

 

                 The interior of that Carl's Jr playground. Courtesy of screenshot from Google Maps.

Carl’s Jr (6) jumped into the craze by building outdoor playgrounds at their locations on Greenback/Madison and then on East Bidwell in 1996 and 1997. Then in 2004, Carl’s Jr decided to build one of their first indoor playgrounds in the area, and maybe their last, at their Iron Point Road location. Since I (Hayden) played on that playground as a kid and mainly founded my strong interest in PlayPlaces at that restaurant, I found it a surprise that it was one of only three indoor Carl’s Jr playgrounds in the Sacramento area. The others having been in Citrus Heights at Auburn/Sunrise (removed in 2021) and Sierra College in Granite Bay (removed, year unknown or even if it had one is unknown, but it has the large room which indicated its presence at one point). Then after 2004, the craze started to die down as a slew of lawsuits (7), supply exceeded demand in the industry, and people made fewer trips to fast food restaurants. This led to Burger King dismantling their outdoor playground in 2008, Carl’s Jr to dismantle their playgrounds at the East Bidwell location in 2012, Greenback in 2014 (which got replaced by a small kid’s play area in 2017 which is still in use), and then Iron Point Road in 2021, McDonald’s at Folsom Auburn removed theirs in 2014, and East Bidwell removed their playground when the restaurant remodeled in 2018.  But there were some new ones put in during that period. Chick-fil-A opened in 2012 in Folsom with an indoor play place, which is commonplace at most Chick fil A restaurant locations. And Skipolini’s, which replaced Tahoe Joe’s (a chain that used to have many locations that is down to three Central Valley locations, another nostalgic chain) added an outdoor playground when they opened in 2013, which is a treat since it is one of the only sit-down restaurants with a playground.

 

What do you see in the future for Play Places? Where are kids playing at the most these days? Where are kids eating these days? How can 90s indoor playgrounds be preserved or restored or rebuilt as replicas for future generations?

Sources on PlayPlace Information:

(1)    https://malls.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_McDonald%27s_Playgrounds

(2)    https://www.geekextreme.com/old-mcdonalds-playplace/

(3)    https://www.lovedbycurls.com/business/19-obsolete-companies-you-probably-didnt-know-still-exist/

(4)    https://folsom.macaronikid.com/articles/5826587424d8f4da3ab46592/a-guide-to-indoor-play-areas-in-folsom-el-dorado-hills-and-beyond

(5) https://malls.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Burger_King_Playgrounds

(6) https://malls.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Carl%27s_Jr_Playgrounds

(7) https://www.cnn.com/2001/US/06/12/burger.king.netting/index.html

 

All photos are credited to Hayden LePore, the author of the article, except for the Burger King photo, which was from Google Maps streetview from 2007. The Skipolini’s playground photo, came from the Jessica’s Corner of Cyberscape page,