McDonald’s menu adds meal celebrating classic characters | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

For most of the 2000s McDonald’s ignored the McDonaldland characters.

That made sense for its signature mascot Ronald McDonald because clowns are creepy. The success of the movie “It” did the chain no favors when it came to orange haired clowns and many of its other characters simply were not known to kids.

Over the past few years, however, McDonald’s has realized that its classic characters have nostalgia value to parents. The kids may not know Mayor McCheese, Hamburglar, or Grimace but many adults have happy associations with those characters.

That has led to McDonald’s MCD selectively, using some of its classic characters. Grimace, for example, was brought back to launch the viral Grimace Shake.

That purple monstrosity was a true hit for the brand which at least partly made it realize that it’s past had real value.

The chain has since used classic characters in adult, happy meals, and it brought a version of Hamburglar back when it introduced for fresh burgers last year.

Now, McDonald’s has a new meal and a new shake based on its classic McDonaldland characters.

It’s probably worth noting that Ronald McDonald has still been left on the sidelines.

Image source&colon; Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images

McDonald’s menu adds McDonaldland Meal

“In a tribute to its most iconic landmarks and a reunion of popular characters, including Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Mayor McCheese, Hamburglar, and the Fry Friends for the first time in over 20 years, McDonald’s today announced the new McDonaldland Meal featuring the Mt. McDonaldland Shake, available at participating locations starting August 12, 2025,” the Fast Food Post reported.

The McDonaldland Meal features your choice of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese or a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, plus a side of fries, the new limited-edition Mt. McDonaldland Shake, and a collectible souvenir.

Mt. McDonaldland has not previously been mentioned in McDonald’s lore.

“Inspired by McDonaldland’s volcano, the Mt. McDonaldland Shake features a vibrant blue topping that resembles both the volcano’s lava and the pink clouds of Mt. McDonaldland,” according to the website.

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Every McDonaldland Meal comes with one of six exclusive collectible tins, each themed after a different character and filled with postcards, stickers, and surprises.

In addition, McDonald’s has partnered with Pacsun on a clothing line featuring sweats and graphic tees.

The McDonaldland Meal and Mt. McDonaldland Shake will be available at participating McDonald’s locations nationwide for a limited time starting Tuesday, August 12, 2025.

McDonald’s has momentum

After struggling for a few quarters, McDonald’s appears to have its mojo back. The chain posted very strong second-quarter results.

“Turning to the U.S. business. Comp sales were up 2.5% in the quarter. We outperformed near competitors on both comp sales and comp guest counts,” said CEO Christopher Kempczinski during the Q2 earnings call.

International sales were up by 4% as well on a same-store basis.

That does not mean the company does not face challenges.

“Certainly, overall QSR traffic in the U.S. remained challenging as visits across the industry by low-income consumers once again declined by double digits versus the prior year period. Reengaging the low-income consumer is critical as they typically visit our restaurants more frequently than middle- and high-income consumers,” the CEO shared.

Kempczinski has repeatedly stressed the importance of the chain’s value offering and he talked about that again during the second-quarter call.

“The $5 Meal Deal continues to resonate with consumers as we recently celebrated the 1-year anniversary of the program. We’ve also continued to see incrementality from our McValue platform which also includes our Buy One, Add One for $1 deal, which launched at the beginning of this year,” he said. “And, of course, we’re excited to welcome Snack Wraps back onto the menu after a 9-year hiatus. We launched Snack Wraps with an attractive $2.99 nationally advertised price point and early results are encouraging.”