McDonald's is known for a lot of things: Big Macs, fries, Happy Meals, and a global footprint that's hard to wrap your head around. But for a brief stretch in the early 1990s, the company tried something that went well beyond fast food. It launched a separate children's play space business called Leaps & Bounds.
The idea may sound strange now, but it made sense at the time. McDonald's had already spent decades building itself into a family destination, not just a place to grab lunch. PlayPlaces were part of that strategy, giving kids a reason to beg their parents for a trip to McDonald's and giving parents a few minutes of relative peace.
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Leaps & Bounds took that idea and supersized it. Instead of adding a play area to a restaurant, McDonald's created standalone indoor play centers where kids could climb, crawl, slide, and burn energy in a colorful, controlled environment. It was essentially the PlayPlace concept reimagined into its own business.
For a moment, it looked like McDonald's had found another way to extend its brand beyond burgers. But Leaps & Bounds didn't last long. Within a few years, it was folded into a competitor, and the name mostly disappeared into 1990s kid nostalgia. So what happened?
What Was McDonald's Leaps & Bounds?
The interior of a Leaps & Bounds in Naperville, Ill.Courtesy Brian Kendrick
Leaps & Bounds was not just another PlayPlace attached to a restaurant. According to Brian Kendrick, an architect who worked on the original concept, Leaps & Bounds was designed from the ground up as a "stand-alone experience." Kendrick, who was with Archiplan Ltd. in Rolling Meadows, Ill., at the time, co-developed the design of the first several Leaps & Bounds, including the initial location in Naperville, Ill.
Kendrick explained the concept as a separate family entertainment space built around physical activity, birthday parties and kid-friendly play structures. The centers, whose slogan was "play with a purpose," featured large indoor play areas, tube mazes, ball pits and other attractions designed for children. Unlike a regular McDonald's, food was secondary, and it wasn't the standard restaurant menu. The concept leaned on concession-style options like pizza, popcorn and turkey dogs instead of Big Macs.
In other words, Leaps & Bounds was McDonald's attempt to turn the play part of the McDonald's experience into the main event.
When Did McDonald's Launch Leaps & Bounds?
Leaps & Bounds' quiet roomCourtesy Brian Kendrick
McDonald's launched Leaps & Bounds in 1991. According to the Los Angeles Times, the company opened five locations in the first two years, with plans to top 30 by 1994. At its opening, admission was $4.95 for an all-day pass, with parents entering free. Kendrick noted that children and parents received matching, coded wristbands that were scanned by security in order to exit the building.
That detail says a lot about the concept. Leaps & Bounds was not meant to be a quick stop or drop-off location. It was designed as a destination where families could spend an entire day together. Kids could climb and play while parents joined in, or relax and view the action from an elevated "Quiet Room" outfitted with TVs and magazines.
Why Did McDonald's Start a Children's Play Space Business?
The concessions area at Leaps & BoundsCourtesy Brian Kendrick
Leaps & Bounds built on McDonald's long-standing focus on families, extending the PlayPlace concept into something much bigger.
By the early 1990s, McDonald's PlayPlaces had become a major part of the chain's family appeal. Eater notes that McDonald's branched off the PlayPlace idea into Leaps & Bounds as a standalone indoor playground brand.
The concept also fit the larger family entertainment boom of the era. Chains like Chuck E. Cheese and Discovery Zone were proving that kids' play spaces could be businesses on their own. McDonald's already had the brand recognition, kid-focused marketing and a family audience. Leaps & Bounds was a logical, if ambitious, next step.
How Many Leaps & Bounds Locations Were There?
Leaps & Bounds grand openingCourtesy Brian Kendrick
Leaps & Bounds grew quickly, but it never became a massive chain. By 1995, there were 45 Leaps & Bounds locations before Discovery Zone acquired the concept, according to Kendrick.
That number is important because it shows both momentum and limitation. McDonald's got the concept far beyond a single test location, but it never reached the scale of Discovery Zone's 200-plus locations.
Leaps & Bounds didn't fail because kids didn't like it. The problem was that running a giant indoor play center is very different from running a fast-food restaurant.
Indoor play spaces require a lot of square footage, constant maintenance, staffing, cleaning, insurance and safety oversight. Those costs are a lot harder to justify when the business is not built around McDonald's core product: fast, repeatable restaurant sales.
Additionally, by the late 1990's, fast-food play areas became less attractive to restaurants due to lawsuits, higher square-footage costs, maintenance and insurance. Leaps & Bounds faced those challenges on a much larger scale.
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When Did McDonald's Shut Down Leaps & Bounds?
McDonald's effectively exited Leaps & Bounds in 1994, when the concept was acquired by Discovery Zone and Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. The business was folded into the indoor entertainment company, which, by the end of the decade, began to face its own financial struggles and was forced to file for bankruptcy. Several locations were bought by Chuck E. Cheese and converted into their concept in the early 2000s.
Basically, yes, though it is better to say Leaps & Bounds was acquired by Discovery Zone rather than saying it simply "turned into" Discovery Zone.
Discovery Zone already existed before the deal, having opened in 1989. But in 1994, it acquired the 45 Leaps & Bounds locations, expanding its footprint and absorbing McDonald's short-lived play center business.
That is why the two brands are often remembered together. Leaps & Bounds was McDonald's version of the indoor play center boom. With nearly 250 locations across the country, Discovery Zone became the bigger name most people remember.
Has McDonald's Tried Other Side Businesses?
Yes. Leaps & Bounds was not the only time McDonald's experimented outside its core burger business.
The company also had McKids, a children's clothing brand connected to Sears in the late 1980s. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1988 that Sears had begun selling McKids clothing inspired by McDonald's advertising characters.
McDonald's also invested in or owned restaurant brands including Chipotle, Donatos Pizza and Boston Market. In the early 2000s, the company began selling off or reducing those non-core brands. Reuters later reported that McDonald's sold Boston Market after previously selling secondary brands, including Chipotle and Donatos, to focus on boosting sales at the Golden Arches.
Why Did McDonald's Move Away From Ventures Like Leaps & Bounds?
The simplest answer is focus. McDonald's is very good at operating and scaling restaurants. Leaps & Bounds asked the company to compete in a different business, with different costs, different risks and a different model.
That does not mean the idea was foolish. Leaps & Bounds grew out of McDonald's strength with families and children, arriving during a period when indoor play centers were having a real moment. But the business was harder to scale than a menu item or restaurant format. Eventually, McDonald's moved back toward what it does best: running restaurants, modernizing stores and keeping the core brand consistent.
Leaps & Bounds remains one of the stranger side quests in McDonald's history, but it also explains a lot about the company's ambition. For a few years, McDonald's did not just want to feed kids. It wanted to own the whole playdate.
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