If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably run into some short online video talking about the greatness of the world’s largest McDonald’s. The location is in the heart of the downtown Orlando entertainment area, and from all accounts sees plenty of traffic. This destination has been on our “to visit” list for awhile, and we had some slack time during a recent road trip to the Sunshine State that allowed us to pop in.
The buzz
Everything I had seen or read about the “entertainment McDonald’s” touted the restaurant as being a unique, must-do experience, with non-traditional menu items such as pizza or pasta. I don’t normally wear my full opinion on my sleeve so early on in a review, but I’m gonna throw some cold water on any visions of a grand experience you might have.
The building stole the title as the “world’s largest” from the former, which was located adjacent to the current location. A 1992 “Orlando Sentinel” article talked about the former title holder having been taken over in 1981, when purchased by Gary Oerther. The new construction was complete and the current building stole the title. There was a bit of hub-bub revolving around the 2016 grand re-opening.
Content creators, bloggers, and news people talked up the restaurant. Hey, it is the world’s largest entertainment McDonald’s, with a play area spanning two stories, and an arcade with a prize counter.
A special menu?
It’s the special menu that seems to garner the most attention. There’s the standard fare that any plain old McDonalds would offer, as well as special items. The site will serve up Philly cheese steaks, different pasta dishes to order, omelets, Belgian waffles, or a designed-by-you brick oven cooked pizza. Pretty cool.
My experience was not full of glitz and glam, as some of these influencers might make a pilgrimage to the location seem it would be. At best, it was okay – overall.
What was epic about my and my family’s experience? The crowds. Before we even got into the restaurant, there were two Sheriff’s Office SUVs parked in the lot, not in spots, but in the drive, conducting some sort of “business.” I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad sign? Good that they respond, or bad, as in is this a regular occurrence?
Long lines and busted machines
There were a ton of people on our August 27th, 2023 evening visit. Many were waiting on line to use one of the electronic ordering systems, with equal numbers in line to order their food from a conventional cashier. Several of the electronic menus were not working, which overloaded those that were. And the system that I ended up using had an extreme latency that would pause until reacting to a selection being made. The system was downright glitchy.
We were there for the full experience, so I was slightly dismissive towards my frustrated wife when she was trying to make menu selections that weren’t going so smoothly. I offered up the consoling word of “patience,” while she had a manual tap dance on the screen, getting nowhere fast. We just needed to be patient.
Out of stock
Well, that was until it came time to order my food and I realized that many of the “special” items I was interested in were out of stock. “You’re right honey, this is bullshit,” I said. Even though she did not say it was “bullshit” and I did not say that to her either – we both thought it though.
I was interested in giving the omelet a shot, but that opportunity was robbed from me. I had a standard menu item instead, as did my six-year-old travel companion. My other roommate, she ordered a plain pizza. The food was par for course as far as my meal went, and the same for our junior explorer. My wife said her pizza was “good” (I’m from Jersey and she’s from Massachusetts, so we have slightly different pizza standards).
Waiting on wait staff
What was not good, aside from several items not being on the menu, was the service. There is a wait staff that delivers your food to you, which is challenging considering there are two floors for them to contend with. Our waitress did not bring us everything we asked for or ordered, and when we explained we were missing things, she indicated she’d be right back with them, she never returned. A second employee said she’d help us, but also never returned. We ended up having to contend with getting a staff member’s attention at the front end to finish having our order fulfilled.
Across the board, the service was awful. The only employees who impressed me were the ones that were bussing tables and cleaning up, however their work was lion’s share. The location was what I’d consider less than clean, versus squeaky.
The play area and arcade
The play area was good. How our little one had the energy to run around the two-story indoor play place after spending all day trekking around a theme park is beyond me, but he was a pepper of energy. Both the step counter on my fitness overlord and some thigh chafing told me it was a long and grueling day.
Our age-challenged dining companion loved both the play area and the arcade. I have to confess, the “bang for your buck” on the cost of credits to play the games was not a bad value. I did leave with credits to use in the future, if I decide. The issue with the arcade was that there were several games that were out of commission, and the prize area was shut down that night.
Sell some wares and tighten up the largest McDonald’s
If I had to make recommendations about how to enhance the experience, at a minimum, have a specialized location gift shop. I would have gladly plopped down a few bucks for a “The World’s Largest McDonald’s” t-shirt or other swag. It would be a great conversation piece for sure and could be proudly worn/toted about as a symbol that I attained some sort of an apotheosis from completing the pilgrimage. The substandard experience would be washed away by the bragging rights I’d have from cool gear.
After some cool swag to enhance the experience, get your employees caring a bit more. That’s a high bar to rise to, understandable, in this economy and with how awful people are…but, do people deserve a quality experience when they visit the location? A little more attention to detail on the employee’s part and all menu offerings being available would be great.
All that is gold does not glitter
When I left the location, I was less than fulfilled by an experience that was built up in my mind to be something epic. The atmosphere was okay, but overcrowded, there were technical issues with ordering, the wait staff was awful, the prize counter was shut down, etc.
In the car on the way back to our lodging, I said something to the effect of, “Well, we don’t have to go there again. Check it off the list.” To which my little adventurer said, “Why wouldn’t we. Of course we’re going back.” I guess let it be written, let it be done – he has spoken. The world’s largest McDonald’s left a big enough impression on the six-year-old, and we do, after all, have some credits left on our arcade card as well as some prize tickets. So we shall see.
Check it off the list?
Should you go? If you’re in the area and you want bragging rights for some street cred that you’ve gone, sure. If you want to check out the special menu items for yourself, sure. But I personally would not suggest going too far out of your own way to visit, except to be able to say, “Been there, done that.”
The world’s largest McDonald’s is located at: 6875 Sand Lake Rd, Orlando, FL, 32819
Editor’s Note: We did attempt to contact the owners of the World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald’s. Unfortunately the founder, Gary Oerther, passed away in 2016. The phone number for Oerther Foods that was listed online was disconnected. Gregg Oerther, Gary’s son, is listed as the current owner and did not respond to our social media private messages — blocked us as a matter of fact. Oerther Foods did not respond to our query on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. We wanted a chance to discuss our experience prior to publishing this review with the ownership. Should this review find its way to the owners of this location, please reach out to us, we’d love to chat with you and conduct an interview.
