Today's topic: Fisher Price McDonald's Soft Serve
This toy was tremendous in so many ways. Manufactured in 1988, it was part of a time when people weren't concerned about what their children consumed for fear of them ballooning to elephant proportions. Granted, there was Richard Simmons and Jazzercise, but that was geared toward the adults. Today's obesity epidemic among children makes me yearn for the days when you could give your child a toy that encouraged them to make milkshakes and orange sodas without worrying about the implications. *sigh*
Also, how cool is it that this toy allowed your child to see how awesome it would be to work at Mickey D's? Combine this toy with a viewing of Bye Bye Love, and McDonalds would never be hurting for employees.
Now on to a description of the machine: The main dispenser had a variety of dispensing options. Should one pull the far left lever, and BAM! Orange soda. Ok, maybe not real orange soda. It was more like a bright orange plastic tube would appear instantaneously, only to be sucked back into the machine when the lever was released. I believe the term for that is "Indian giver."
The same would happen with the milkshake lever, although the tube was a bit thicker, true to the thickness of the McDonald's milkshake. Also, it was pink, indicating the shake was strawberry. Should you like some ice with your beverage, a shoot from the top of the dispenser would nicely drop 2 fused plastic cubes into your cup. I believe originally there was a second set of ice cubes, but naturally, we lost those long ago. **UPDATE: I did some research, and this fountain in fact only came with one set of ice cubes. Good for us for managing to keep them all these years. In addition, I wondered what the holes in the top corners of the dispenser were for. Apparently, they're to store white plastic spoons. I know we still have them, but they're stored with our kitchen utensils at the moment. You'll see them in a later post.** Also, if you did not want a clear glass, you could choose to use the very authentic looking McDonalds cup with lid.
These don't match the cups of today, but back in 1988, this is EXACTLY what the styrofoam coffee cups looked like. Well done FP, nice design.
Should you not be thirsty, another option with this device was the beloved ice cream cone. A circular wheel at the top could be loaded with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. We always alternated chocolate, vanilla, chocolate, vanilla. Once loaded, all you had to do was slide the red button on the right to the side and a perfectly swirled portion of ice cream would fall from above into your cone (your cone also had the McDonald's stamp). Having worked at an establishment that sold soft serve, I can appreciate a cone that is pre-swirled, because a good looking swirl required practice.
These flexible rubbery toppings could easily be plopped on your faux dessert. The brown topping was obviously hot fudge, but what the heck was the red supposed to be? I have never seen an ice cream topping that took that form and color. Maybe it was supposed to be strawberry sauce? Or cherry? No clue. Did McDonalds serve that in real life in the 80s? They sure don't now.
Overall I rate this toy an 7 out of 10*. It worked well, had great variety, and was true to real life.
*I've decided I'm going to start rating the items I review. Eventually, I'll go back and edit pre-existing posts to include ratings. For now, I'll start with this one.
