McDonald’s Playland takes over Circular Quay

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Giant Playland in Circular Quay 2-lowres.jpgMore than three stories high and taking up the entire forecourt of Customs House at Sydney’s Circular Quay, Sydney office workers were this morning stunned at the sight of the biggest McDonald’s Playland ever constructed as they made their daily commute to work.

Taking eight weeks to build mostly by hand, the Playland set wasconstructed by Gregsets, who have also worked on the setproduction for blockbuster movies such as StarWars, Moulin Rouge andAustralia. A combination of design ideas from DDB Sydney, productionhouse Revolver, Rhinoplay and renown art director Karen Murphy; thegigantic Playland set is based on those built in McDonald’s restaurantstoday while including retro elements from the 1970s and 1980s.

The Playland has been opened up for the playing pleasure of more than300 everyday Australians on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th March as partof the filming of a McDonald’s TV commercial. The largest single setever built in Australia for a TV commercial, the Playland is double thesize of those normally found in McDonald’s restaurants around Australiaat 10 metres high by 20 metres wide.

The massive structure is set to ignite intrigue among office workersand tourists alike as a dazzling world of slides that twist, turn anddip into a colourful ball pit; playful tunnels that wind and loopacross a 20 metre area; and the fun of an adult-size aeroplane,helicopter and giant bus bring fun back to adults in the city.

“Adult life carries many restrictions so we want to remind people thatMcDonald’s is still a place were you can have fun, be yourself and notbe judged.  A place where you feel like a kid again,” said HelenFarquhar, Director of Marketing, McDonald’s (ANZ).  “This adult-sizedPlayland allows us to forget about the deadlines, budgets and stressesof life and just revel in this incredible childhood arcadia.  And thebest part is the McDonald’s characters we loved as kids are back oldschool style giving us the opportunity to reclaim our childhood, tolook at the world through younger eyes again and just lose ourselves -if only for a minute.” 

Set to reignite many childhood memories, passers by will also see a 3metre tall Officer Big Mac checking the height of participants underhis arm, Fillet-O-Fish bouncers, a retro Grimace cage and Hamburglarswing, as well as a Ronald McDonald bench reaching 2.5 metres in height- about double the size of an average Ronald bench found in McDonald’srestaurants.

A launch date for the campaign is yet to be confirmed.