McDonald's Facts

I know...I know...my best friend doesn't like it when I give free plugs to McDonald's like this, but I'm bored, and I'm reading up on McDonald's. But, this isn't going to be facts like what's really in the special sauce and how many kids they employ in sweat shops to make Happy Meal toys. No...these are trivial facts:

- The northernmost McDonald's is in Rovaneimi, Finland. It sits precisely on the Arctic Circle.

- The southernmost McDonald's is in Punta Arenas, Chile

- The largest McDonald's PlayPlace is in Orlando, Florida. It boasts two levels, arcade games, and a gourmet sundae bar.

- The lowest McDonald's is in Ein Bokek, Isreal, on the shores of the Dead Sea.

- The highest McDonald's is in the KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

- The busiest McDoanld's in Canada is in Cambridge, Ontario.

- The McDonald's in Salen, Sweden boasts a ski-thru window.

- The McDonald's at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba is the ONLY McDonald's in Cuba.

- There's a McDonald's in the Pentagon.

- The most visited McDonald's in the world was the "McBarge," the floating McDonald's at Expo 86 in Vancouver. McDonald's abandoned the ship after Expo 86 closed; it now rusts in Burrard Inlet, in Burnaby, BC. Vancouverites can see it when they take the West Coast Express.

- There's a McDonald's in Hong Kong that boasts a hostess who directs you to the shortest lines.

- There's a McDonald's in New York City that has a doorman, mable tables, chandaliers, a private dining room with silverware, and live music played on a baby grand piano.

Oh, and here's one on Burger King:

In Australia, Burger King is known as "Hungry Jack's." This was because there was an existing restaurant chain in Australia that used the name "Burger King." Even when the Burger King name became available, Burger King opted to keep using the name Hungry Jack's.

I remember there was a similar situation in Alberta. If you grew up in Alberta in the 1980s, you may remember that Burger King was tough to come by. This was because there was a restaurant in Edmonton that already had the name "Burger King." In the mid-1990s, the Edmonton Burger King closed down, the name "Burger King" became available, and Burger King moved into Edmonton, and launched an agressive expansion into Alberta.