Disneyland cuts ties with McDonald's

Disneyfan1981

Active Member
This is a little disheartening. I cared less seeing anything McDonalds or any other fast food company in the parks in all honesty. I liked being able to walk up to the kiosks and get some fries while walking around Frontierland/Critter Country. I'm sure there is more to it than a company trying to improve its health image but as far as I'm concerned complaining about not liking seeing these things in the parks or saying they should take them out because you feel its not the best image to be portraying is the same as complaining that certain rides shouldn't close because you'll be at the parks that day.

You don't like it or don't want your kids to eat it, then don't buy it for them. No reason to enforce choices or options on people, the more choice, the better.
 

Scooter

Well-Known Member
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I just think Disney wants you to buy THEIR greasy fries instead of you buying McDonalds Greasy fries, so it just makes sense to get rid of them in the parks. It certainly isn't about healthier options because we all know that Disney offers the same unhealthy crap that McDonalds does (By the way... I LIKE unhealthy crap when I'm on vacation)

Personally, I think it's more about Big business than it is about healthy food.
But I could be wrong.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Disneyland cuts ties with McDonald's
Aug 8, 2008

September 2 marks the end of Disneyland's association with McDonald's. The California theme park is closing the three McDonald's kiosks operating there. Disneyland spokeswoman Lisa Haines indicated they will reopen "with other theming and branding."

Miceage first mentioned this change a few months ago, and then followed up with another update on the McDonalds departure last Tuesday. It seems that with the Tuesday update on Miceage the media has picked up on the story, once the Orange County Register used the Miceage story as a reason to write an article about it. On Thursday the OC Register got a very vague statement from Disney from this same spokeswoman, but it looks like by Friday they were realizing the cat was out of the bag and Disney is now talking just a bit more.

The Miceage updates by Al Lutz are still available in his archives, if you care to know about the kitchen equipment issue, how the McDonalds Burger Invasion plays into the Billion Dollar Makeover of that park starting in September, etc., etc.

Disneyland is also phasing out all Nestle' brands. And several years ago Disneyland dumped General Motors, and now uses Honda as its big car sponsor with a robot show and exhibit in Tomorrowland and sponsoring the nightly fireworks and yearly Grad Nite.

This isn't the first time Disneyland dumps a big national sponsor, while Disney World keeps the same sponsor in the same role. It's interesting that this McDonalds change is only at Disneyland however. That would seem like it would need to be a company-wide change, not just a regional change for the SoCal audience.
 

dvitali

Active Member
When this apply to WDW it would be instesting to see what Disney will do with the McDonald stand alone building near the All Star entrance/ Ak overpass. I wonder if they will raze the building and expand the all star cast members parking or bring in another company.
 

DTM93

Member
I wouldn't lose much sleep worrying about that. Disney's still a business, not an activist group. As long as they can make money off of burgers and fries while offering salads and carrot sticks as an alternative, that's exactly what they'll do.

Yeah, that is probably exactly what they will do aswell.
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
Burning Straw

Strawman...unless of course you fell the exact same way about Dole, Coca Cola, Kodak, etc, etc...:confused:

Yes I do feel the same about it if I were to see those sponsors in Frontierland or Liberty Square. Now a coke sign in Asia or Africa at AK or the Kodak sign at Imagination seem acceptable to me because they do not conflict with the back story. Guess that "strawman" is on fire.


PS--I would love for Ghiardelli's to permanently sponsor an Ice Cream shop in the old Diamond Horseshoe Saloon because the sponors backstory would then at least somewhat match the land it's in. It's just a matter of them staying true to the original vision. :)

McDonalds in the MK does not do that except possibly if it had been in Tomorrowland
 

copcarguyp71

Well-Known Member
I think disney should have played hard ball and made McDonalds sponsor a revised BodyWars/cranium command in which you had to navigate through clogged arteries, supress uncontrolable urges to eat junk food by blocking common sense synapses, squeeze into pants that used to fit, and then there could be a body fat moonbounce:ROFLOL:!

Hooray!!! Another body wars thread sucessfully started...LOL:sohappy:
 

Dayma

Well-Known Member
I understand their change but I honestly don't think that the fried food that WDW makes is that much better for people. This is nothing more than a good marketing move for them.

Everything in moderation!
 

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
Personally, I'm kinda sick of hearing about how everyone has to be healthy. Especially being in High School. (I swear they cram it down our throats. It's all anyone ever talks about.) Leave people alone and let them have a varaity of options.

And I guarentee you Disney will continue to carry unhealthy food. From my observation, when people go on vaction, they like to eat whatever they want (especially when in Disney, 'cause they figure they'll just walk it off), and I can just imagine the amount of complaints Disney would get if they chose to not serve fries.

If you're in high school, you might not be aware of this...or you might notice it more than most grownups. The reason there's more of an effort to promote healthy eating in schools is because just about every study made indicates that not only are there more fat kids than there used to be, but they're getting fatter, earlier, for lots of reasons. What's in our diets has changed. A lot of schools have given up on Physical Education Departments due to increased insurance liability. And what constitutes a "portion" has changed in definition over the years. Kids are consuming more sugar, not only in increased consumption of sweets, but increased consumption of soda (hell, I remember when Kool-Aid started to promote the fact that their beverage was a healthier option than soda because it had LESS sugar. Even water now has sugar in it). There's a rise in Type 2 diabetes nationwide, especially among kids, and it all ties in to our diet. Fast-food restaurants, plentiful enough when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, are now everywhere...

Trust me, I'm not trying to sound like an old fart (failing, but trying). It's just that the prevailing wisdom is now to try to train kids to eat healthier, and hopefully they'll develop better eating habits for the rest of their lives, better than the past few generations of overweight Americans. So that's why they're inundating you with it in high school. If you don't have a problem with it, awesome, more power to you. But I'll bet you have a lot of classmates who could bear hearing it a little more often.

As far as McDonald's leaving WDW, and WDW still offering burgers is concerned, when Mc'Ds becomes as well known for their salads & grilled chicken as they are for their burgers & fries, maybe WDW will revisit an arrangement. As it stands, WDW made a good chunk of money, up front, with allowing McD's access to their customers in exchange for all that Happy Meal cross-promotion for a relatively lackluster decade of tie-ins. But people now equate McDonald's with obesity and crap food the same way they equate Big Tobacco & lung cancer (for the record I don't know why DTD felt the need for a Sosa Cigar Store, but at least cigars have a reputation of being an occasional pleasure in comparison to cigarette smoking which tends to be more frequent). It might be an unfair knee-jerk reaction, but for the moment there's not as much of a upside for WDW to be associated with McD's, so why bother? Besides, if all the schools become successful in training their students to eat & live healthier, McD's won't have the sort of cache amongst young uns that it's had for a while, so even in the future, there might not be as much of a need for an arrangement between the 2 companies.
 

DABIGCHEEZ

Well-Known Member
I think it's pretty hypocritical of Disney to eliminate McDonald's from it's parks over health reasons, when they serve their own greasy burgers and fries all over the place. And then, of course, there is the famous "Kitchen Sink" which isn't exactly a healthy choice, along with the slew of other fatty foods they serve all over the resort.

And the fact that it is hypocrisy is what kind of scares me. I'm afraid Disney is going to realize the same thing and decide to eliminate all the good food from the entire resort. I can see a day when all that's on the menu is unleavened bread and water. :shrug:

Obviously I'm exaggerating slightly, but I do fear a day when I can't get a good thick steak and buttered baked potato, or when I can't get a big hunk of cake or whatever, all because the health police have deemed it too "un-PC" or whatever to have that stuff served to the public.

I've never eaten at the McDonald's locations on Disney property and I couldn't care less if they are there or not. But if they get rid of them, it's not that they are getting rid of them that bothers me...it's why.

Wow... it may be snowing in WDW right now.. I actually agree with you.:lol:

Hmm.... I control the hand the puts the fork in my mouth.. no one else is to blame if I am overweight or have dibetes. Hypocrisy... but somehow I don't think all the Goofy Candy Co snacks will disappear or Beachs N Cream will close.
 

comics101

Well-Known Member
If you're in high school, you might not be aware of this...or you might notice it more than most grownups. The reason there's more of an effort to promote healthy eating in schools is because just about every study made indicates that not only are there more fat kids than there used to be, but they're getting fatter, earlier, for lots of reasons. What's in our diets has changed. A lot of schools have given up on Physical Education Departments due to increased insurance liability.

I've seen the studies, and I understand that's why they cram the health thing down our throats. I just don't see many fat kids in my school. In fact, I'll say that kids nowadays (or atl east in my school) are way too vain to ever allow themselves to get heavy (I know I am...) I live in the Chicago area, and I could be wrong on this, but I think I heard on the film Supersize me that Illinois is the only state in the union that mandates PE. I'm not trying to say that there aren't obese kids in my school, but I would bet that 7 out of 10 kids in my district are average.

And what constitutes a "portion" has changed in definition over the years.

I would argue what constitutes as a "portion" varies from person to person. We're all different, and we all have different body types. On average I eat about one full sized meal a day around dinner time. I usually end up skipping breakfast and only having a coke and half a sandwich for lunch. A good friend of mine, eats breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and he probably weighs about as much as the average person (He certainly isn't fat.)

Kids are consuming more sugar, not only in increased consumption of sweets, but increased consumption of soda (hell, I remember when Kool-Aid started to promote the fact that their beverage was a healthier option than soda because it had LESS sugar. Even water now has sugar in it). There's a rise in Type 2 diabetes nationwide, especially among kids, and it all ties in to our diet. Fast-food restaurants, plentiful enough when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, are now everywhere...

I'm just gonna trust that you know what you're talking about because you're probably a heck of a lot wiser than I am. That thing about Kool-aid though, that's just hillarious!


Trust me, I'm not trying to sound like an old fart (failing, but trying).

Nah, you don't sound that old...

It's just that the prevailing wisdom is now to try to train kids to eat healthier, and hopefully they'll develop better eating habits for the rest of their lives, better than the past few generations of overweight Americans. So that's why they're inundating you with it in high school. If you don't have a problem with it, awesome, more power to you. But I'll bet you have a lot of classmates who could bear hearing it a little more often.

It may be prevailing wisdom, but Ronald Reagan is the one who said, "Facts are stupid things." Most people would probably dismiss that as foolish, but I believe there's a ton of wisdom in that ol' saying. I think alot of people would be supprised what would happen if they allowed kids to make decissions for themselves.
 

Dragonrider1227

Well-Known Member
Has anyone considered that this isn't about keeping people healthy so much as it is making sure no more fat people break any more of their rides? :lol:
Strawman...unless of course you fell the exact same way about Dole, Coca Cola, Kodak, etc, etc...
and thank you for saying that. McDonalds arches are a problem, but stands with Coca Cola logos on them arn't? XD
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
Has anyone considered that this isn't about keeping people healthy so much as it is making sure no more fat people break any more of their rides? :lol:

and thank you for saying that. McDonalds arches are a problem, but stands with Coca Cola logos on them arn't? XD

It helps to read the entire thread rather than operating on groundless assumptions.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
I centainly think it sends an interesting message.

If you can prove they don't monetarily benefit from this decision, I would commend the company, human vacationers eating habits or not.

Disney has stated that the decision isn't part of the "need to get healthy" program, but just a normal part of refreshing things. And I believe that. I'm sure the decision is based entirely (or in large part) on what Disney believes will increase profits, either through enhanced guest satisfaction, less sharing of revenue, or what have you.

Same here!
Plus, on all of our trips to WDW, we have never eaten at any McD's locations. I wish they would get rid of the ones in WDW.

I actually like the ones in WDW outside the parks. WDW has great restaurants of all kinds, but sometimes, especially with kids, being able to go somewhere that is exactly like it is at home is a useful thing. On average, we wind up at the McD's near the All-Star's about once in every trip to WDW, and it's generally because my son gives off that "can we eat somewhere where I know exactly what I'm going to get" vibe.
 

fosse76

Well-Known Member
I think it's pretty hypocritical of Disney to eliminate McDonald's from it's parks over health reasons, when they serve their own greasy burgers and fries all over the place. And then, of course, there is the famous "Kitchen Sink" which isn't exactly a healthy choice, along with the slew of other fatty foods they serve all over the resort.

And the fact that it is hypocrisy is what kind of scares me. I'm afraid Disney is going to realize the same thing and decide to eliminate all the good food from the entire resort. I can see a day when all that's on the menu is unleavened bread and water. :shrug:

Obviously I'm exaggerating slightly, but I do fear a day when I can't get a good thick steak and buttered baked potato, or when I can't get a big hunk of cake or whatever, all because the health police have deemed it too "un-PC" or whatever to have that stuff served to the public.

I've never eaten at the McDonald's locations on Disney property and I couldn't care less if they are there or not. But if they get rid of them, it's not that they are getting rid of them that bothers me...it's why.

Sometimes I think you people overreact to the stupidest things. Do you really believe that Disney's stated reason is the actual reason? I'm sure there are a slew of reasons for Disney getting rid of McDonald's, and I seriously doubt the lack of healthy food is one of the top reasons. It's very easily the PR reason (such as when politicians retire to spend time with their family...which is 9 out 10 times NOT the real reason). They are getting rid of McDonald's. Get over it. Why anyone eats McDonald's anywhere is beyond me...just walking past one makes me naseous.
 

Mrs.Toad

Well-Known Member
Everything in moderation. I like an order of McDonald's fries every now and then. However, there are like 20 McDonald's near my home and the whole point of going to Disney World is trying different foods. Being a fry lover, I also like to try different cuts of fries and tastes. Seeing the arch ruins the Disney fantasy aesthetic for me. When I see the McDonald's fry stand at Hollywood studios, I head for anything else I see.

If I saw McNuggets I would walk away too. I can have them at home if I want. If I want chicken strips I can go to Gasparilla and order them. They are all white meat and have a crunchy spicy coating. I love seeing and tasting the black pepper in them. Actually, I haven't ordered them in awhile and I hope they're still good.
 

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