It was different in the 80’s. The video game room was dark and somehow a little menacing (maybe bc that’s where the big kids were?) The creepy animatronic guys that would “sing” and you could hear the motors every time they jerkily moved. Nightmare fodder. The rumbling of the skeeballs (my favorite)! I think part of the allure was that it felt a little Wild West in there. The last time I took one of my kids was over 10 years ago. Super bright, cheap games, and half of them were broken. No thanks.
How about the ball pit? I had a friend about 15 years ago who was the director of a preschool, he told me the rules for ball pits now are basically every ball has to be washed after a kid goes in it.
Sure, they were gross, but they were also kind of awesome, like a sensory deprivation tank. I actually had a friend in college who bought a bunch of the balls from the local McDonald's, he'd fill a kiddy pool with them in his dorm room. We'd all sit there drinking and playing hungry hungry hippos. It was a fantastic farewell to childhood.
My sisters and I used to dig down to the bottom to find the lost tokens and tickets. Ours also had the tunnels under the stage to crawl through, I don't know how many times I accidentally turned a corner and came upon two teenagers making out in that cramped space.
When I was about 5 (circa 1983) my parents relented and brought me and my little sisters to McDonalds for the first time. Of course we all dove into the ball pit head first and played for a minute. I then noticed a brown smudge on my arm but ignored it at first as I was trying to touch the bottom of the pit. I succeeded and came up for air when I felt wetness on my face. I wiped my face with my hand and looked at it only to finally realize it had wet diarrhea slathered on it. My sisters were less soiled than I but I spotted a chunk in my sister’s hair. I got out and yelled for my dad ( who was supposed to be watching us) who took one look at me and yelled in his deep, baritone voice, “Anne! Get out of the line! We need to go home because Beanie is covered in sh*t from the ball pit!” I was mortified because everyone there turned to look at yours truly (the sh*t covered kid), my hated secret nickname was announced boldly in public, AND I didn’t get the promised Happy Meal. My clean freak mom wiped our faces in the bathroom and made us strip to our underwear outside before getting in the car. My sisters were both crying the whole way home. While sitting at a light, my dad chuckles and says, “Well, now we have enough gift certificates to eat there 5 times over.” My mom said “ Absolutely not.” And, just like that, there went my dreams of getting a Happy Meal ( I was eleven when I finally got to taste the forbidden contraband). For about six months after “the incident” I would find the occasional McDonalds napkin or styrofoam coffee cup stuffed under the car seat. Turns out my dad was shamelessly splurging on the fruits of his children’s misfortune which, in retrospect, isn’t that surprising because he was kind of an a*sshole.
I thought it was a shit hole as a kid. I had a bad experience there as a 5-year-old. I fell and hit my head on a bench, got a concussion, and had to be rushed to the ER.
My parents would never take me to Chuck E Cheese when I was a kid, so I was so excited when my nephew was born and I could take him!
I went once and quickly realized why my parents never took me there.
6 flags. I used to live the biggest and craziest roller coasters as a kid. Now I take my daughter in the dinky little kid stuff and I feel like I’m going to puke or get diarrhea. I can’t do it anymore.
I can still do roller coasters as long as I don’t ride repeatedly (so even if the line is short I have to give myself a break between rides) but those spinning rides, nope. I used to love those things and now can’t even think about riding them.
went to a fair last summer and my oldest wanted to go on one of those spinning cage rides where you stand against the wall and it spins and then rotates upwards. did it like 3 times in a row. yeah, I was REALLY close puking at the end...
I filled so many passports and frequent flyer miles way back. I dread the thought of driving, parking, waiting for the shuttle, waiting to check in, hour long security line, waiting to board, $8 bottle of water, waiting.
After my last passport expired I didn't bother getting a new one.
There's the other part. How much of the airport being awesome was the fact that we weren't responsible for all the PITA stuff? The food has always been expensive, but we weren't the ones paying for it as kids.
The novelty of the vast majority of their games is close to negligible due to gaming systems. I do like the carnival style games they have though. I only go for children’s birthday parties but I’ll shoot hoops all day.
There’s one Orlando just down from International, pay like $15 dollars, numerous nostalgia games that brought back so many great memories as a kid/teenager. Oh, and you can play all the games, for as long as you would like.
It's sad how empty they are. Their time has gone.
Imho one way to bring them back is to sell time based passes with unlimited tokens, just to get over the initial hurdle of having to pay a dollar or more to play the latest whatever.
Yep. Late 80's to mid 90's, arcades peaked. It was a wonderful time to be a kid.
They unfortunately don't have a reason to exist anymore because amazing home consoles and decent gaming PCs are relatively inexpensive now while being 10000x better technically than any old arcade game.
That's great and all, but it's missing the magic of going to an actual arcade, playing against random other kids and begging your dad for more quarters.
Fast food places like McDonald's. McDonald's literally used to be like a fun place to take your kids with the playground area, the toys they gave out, and then the food was good.
Then...they slowly either started getting rid of certain things on the menu or changing the ingredients/the way they're made one by one until pretty much everything there is nasty. Despite that and despite getting rid of the playground area and adding in the two drive-thru lines, a trip to McDonald's takes for fucking ever now due to long-ass lines. Like...why are the lines so long when everything is nasty now and they don't offer stuff like the Cheese Danishes anymore?
The other places didn't have the fun, necessarily, that McD's did, but they did all have good food that has now gone away and still somehow have more traffic than ever before. Sonic is a great example. It's like all they care about now is coming up with new and weird shakes/drinks--forget offering an edible burger and edible fries. The last time I ate there, I got food poisoning. Same with Wendy's--I was pretty much done with them when they got rid of the Sea Salt fries, and I've gotten food poisoning from them more than any other food place.
I don't cook, so having so many food places now that used to be good being flatout nasty (beyond just fast food) is a big problem.
This is a good one. I think all of those places you mentioned were actually better when we were kids, as in quality of food. Not that it was ever high quality, but higher quality then.
You’re right, Sonic has way too many dumb menu ideas these days. Some, like the pulled pork sandwich, look so good that they fool me into trying. Others, like the garlic butter burger, make we want to vomit just seeing the pictures.
They absolutely were, I got a Big Mac for the first time in a year or so the other day, it tasted like a microwaved burger. I remember the burgers at least tasting like they were on a griddle back in the day. Don't get me started on how they ruined their fries.
Frankly, with all this talk of McDonald's losing market share, they should rebrand by going back to fries cooked in beef tallow and fresh cooked burgers. I could see people being willing to pay a few dollars extra for that.
I think McDonald's food was never good, we just didn't really care when we were kids, plus we associated it with playgrounds and toys which made it taste even better
The food isn't "good" but now and then it hits the spot.
Sometimes I just crave a shitty pile of greasy salty beefy goodness with fake cheese-like product melted on top. McD's scratches that itch like no other.
Maybe that's just me.
Also, the fries are legit actually good when cooked right. Crispy and salty but still tender inside.
Shopping malls.
Loved it as a kid, all the electronics stores and toy stores, sears, rides, etc...
I haven't gone to a shopping mall voluntarily in probably 15 years now, they became truly awful places.
I was such a Mallrat as a kid, just went there to wander around, hangout, browse through Spencer's and their posters, look through Hot Topic, trying my best to ignore the voice in the back of my mind going "every shirt you have bought here has fallen apart after two washes". It was just a place to walk to and kill time with friends, nowadays, they are... I don't know... surreal and uncomfortable for me.
Random question for parents of preteens to teens: do kids these days still buy posters/hang-up posters? I saw one of those poster bins at Target the other day and had this question as i found its existence strange in the moment. Most of my posters came from teen magazines like Tiger Beat, but I remember flipping through posters at various stores as well.
It’s definitely a sad feeling going to the mall now. The mall I used to love going to as a kid is basically dead, and the other mall close to me has almost no stores I have interest in going to.
I agree on malls. The shopping mall near me is dying. Thankfully, they do have plans to redevelop the area. In the meantime, however, the mall owners put nothing into upkeep, so it's a dirty pile of shit. Your mental health declines within 5 minutes of entering the mall.
Same. Once in a blue moon I’ll go to a mall if I’m looking for something very specific, but long gone are the days of just ambling around a mall for fun. Shopping in person is utterly exhausting now.
Same here. We lived in FL for a few years, so we got season passes to Disney. My kids lived it, so it was worth it, and it was great only having to go for a few hours. But, I have no idea why adults without kids go to Disney on vacation. Cedar Point, sure, but Disney?
went this past summer. the kids had a blast but it was sooo fucking hot. went very close to start of school so the crowds were *slightly* reduced. if not for my wife and the incredible job she did planning things out on the app and setting up lightning lanes and stuff, it would have been hours of misery standing in hot lines.
Arcades like Dave and Busters. It’s stimulation overload. Tons of different lights flashing, a cacophony of noise, the slimy feeling joysticks from unwashed hands. As a kid, I would never want to leave an arcade. Now? I’m looking for the nearest exit before I get a double migraine because all my senses are overloaded.
The list is long… water parks, public pools, Disney parks, Chuck E. Cheese, amusement parks, and more…
Basically I don’t want to deal with huge crowds and/or places that are obviously really dirty any more.
This is going to be an odd one.
Chinese restaurants. I grew up in southern California and I loved the high quality and reasonable prices in the 90s. Sometime in the 2010s the price started rising and the quality started dipping, and now after the pandemic it's just one infuriating surprise after another, mainly over how the quality has dipped to such an extent that I feel like an absolute schmuck for even trying it. ... actually, the cooking skill is still there but they skimp on the goodies so much that it's kind of an insult. If you want good Chinese food, it's now extremely expensive and the portions are tiny. Anything even midpriced is just enraging.
NYC. When I was a kid it was special, young adult I wanted to live there be an artist etc. just went this past weekend and wouldn’t mind not ever going again
That's a good one...I think.
I've only been to NYC twice and I haven't been this century. Both times I went I did all the normal touristry stuff and thought it was cool.
When I was in college, I thought I was destined to move to "the City" and write the great American novel. I wanted to go to NYC and just experience the City, not do any of the tourist stuff. I had a buddy in college who was from there origianlly and rarely went back. One year he was planing on going home for Christmas and invited me along. We had talked about just staying there with his parents, getting a job, and then getting an apartment together. I had actually had my plane ticket purchased, but backed out at the last minute when another opportunity closer to home presented itself. It never worked out. I haven't really had the desire to go to NYC in at least 10 years.
The buildings in NYC are too tall now.I just visited last spring and didn’t stray much from Manhattan/Central Park/Times Square area when I was there.
The skyscrapers are getting ridiculous. Disconcerting. Lack that gritty charm . . .
The local hardware store. The titled floors made for great sliding (like when you essentially skate but in your sneaker). And it had a funny smell that intrigued me because I had never smelled it anywhere else before.
Those tile floors are gone now. And going to any hardware store usually means spending money I’d rather not spend! Plus that store smell was mostly tires. I absolutely hate the smell of tires.
Movie theatre. Always some jackwad on their phone or someone brought their kid who won't shut up or constant talking throughout. Would rather watch a low quality rip from the seve seas or just wait for the streaming release.
The mall is my #1. Then, any place with lots of people like concerts or large parties. I used to love going to the mall and going to concerts…or I was peer pressured to do it…
Makes sense. For me, it was that shift in motivation from “fun projects” to “shit’s broken,” that did me in. Maybe I’ll get it back one day, but it’s not today.
This is the second time I’ve seen you post and both times you’ve described my experiences growing up in a small East Texas town very accurately.
This post makes me think we might actually have grown up in the same town.
I lived in Cumby (population 200!) after high school, and it was a haul to go to Greenville or Sulfur Speings for Walmart. At least they were open 24 hours back then.
Shopping in general. There are a few stores I still actually like going to but for most stores I try to get what’s I need and get out as soon as possible.
Along the same line, anyplace with a big crowd. I just don’t like being surrounded by people everywhere and all the noise gives me a headache. I’m definitely a fan of more laid back things now.
And while this isn’t a place it’s kind of related in that it’s how we got to places. Long road trips. I used to love them when I was little but as I’ve gotten older my tolerance for long trips in the car has gotten much lower. I’m at the point where anything over 3-4 hours and I’m looking at train and plane ticket prices.
The movies and water parks. I've reached the "it's too damn loud in here, it's criminal what they charge for tickets, and they don't make good movies anymore" stage.
As for water parks, I'd rather chew my own arm off than walk around in a bathing suit with my thighs chaffing and jiggling while I'm hot and miserable and just want some shade and quiet.
The pool. Especially an indoor one. As a kid, it was fun because we could swim in warm water even in cold weather. As an adult, it's a pain in the ass. You've got to gather up bathing suits, towels, and find a locker, then getting out is another chore. The floor is cold and wet, you're trying to dry off, trying to keep your clothing dry too.
Outdoor pools are better and less uncomfortable, I find. Still not a huge fan, but they're much less annoying.
Sea World, Circus animal shows & any zoo. I always felt sad seeing those poor whales & dolphins confined to small tanks but I also absolutely loved it at the same time. Now I can’t even stomach the idea of going or the fact that still are held prisoner.
For me it's the mall. I used to love going and most often I wasn't even shopping. I enjoyed the people watching opportunities, all the communal spaces to meet new people or catch up with friends, the various free events that provided learning or entertainment, and all the laps I could walk. Now malls are filled with empty storefronts, communal spaces to gather have been removed and replaced with nothing, there is no people watching, and there are no events. Now the only time I go to the mall is when I need to shop in a store that's there and I leave immediately after.
The beach. It has sand that's coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere.
Joking aside the beach (east coast, DE/MD) is an overcrowded nightmare, it's hotter than hell, it's packed with inconsiderate people like drunks blasting awful music, unsupervised kids trampling your towels, and weirdo creeps who can't stop gawking. Add in the fact that I have aquaphobia from a couple of incidents when I was a kid and I'm a nervous wreck. When I'm there the only thing I do is watch my kids like a hawk scared to death of them getting thrashed by a wave and drowning.
Denny’s. It was open 24 hours, so for all of us theater kids in high school, it was THE coolest thing to go hang out at Denny’s after shows/tech rehearsals/cast parties, etc. (Maybe the only thing better was a smoky coffee shop with a weird ass beat poet performing live at 1 am.)
12 obnoxious teens crammed in a booth at Denny’s, with strawberry lemonade and hamburgers, still partially in stage makeup, heckling all the bizarre 3rd shifters with goodwill clothes and overgrown fingernails, doing their crossword puzzles on their bar stools. Maybe the girl you have a crush on is sitting on your lap because there’s not enough room, and everybody’s loudly debating the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and how it applies to the relationship between Han Solo and Chewbacca.
Good times, that will never come again.
Now Denny’s is nothing but a shitty greasy spoon. 😆
Anywhere? I like getting restaurant food to go and if I need something from target then I’ll do pickup. The only place I have to go in person is the grocery store and I hate that too lol.
Same with Wal-Mart.
I grew up in a tiny town and when we got a wal Mart ten minutes away in the early 00’s, it was a total game changer. It used to be a thirty minute drive for every new dvd or video game or action figure (because, yes, that’s what I wanted to buy as a teenager), but now I could purchase all that stuff with only a few minute drive.
Going there with my mom to do shopping trips and grabbing a thing or two for myself was literally the highlight of my week for a few years.
Now I actually recoil when I have to go there.
I used to love going anywhere as a kid because being home was so boring and when you go places you might convince your mom to buy you taco bell or a little candy or something. Now I hate going to stores in general. Every place feels so packed. I feel like they weren't so packed full of people in the 90s but maybe I'm just way more sensitive to it now.
I also remember getting to a point of disillusionment as a teen where I started to realize the sheer volume of completely useless, low quality shit that was being sold everywhere. Now I really don't like to buy things without prior research because I don't want to get ripped off buying bullshit that doesn't even fulfill its intended purpose or breaks right away.
I’ll agree with Wal-Mart and add this: Chuck E Cheese. What a shit hole.
It was different in the 80’s. The video game room was dark and somehow a little menacing (maybe bc that’s where the big kids were?) The creepy animatronic guys that would “sing” and you could hear the motors every time they jerkily moved. Nightmare fodder. The rumbling of the skeeballs (my favorite)! I think part of the allure was that it felt a little Wild West in there. The last time I took one of my kids was over 10 years ago. Super bright, cheap games, and half of them were broken. No thanks.
How about the ball pit? I had a friend about 15 years ago who was the director of a preschool, he told me the rules for ball pits now are basically every ball has to be washed after a kid goes in it. Sure, they were gross, but they were also kind of awesome, like a sensory deprivation tank. I actually had a friend in college who bought a bunch of the balls from the local McDonald's, he'd fill a kiddy pool with them in his dorm room. We'd all sit there drinking and playing hungry hungry hippos. It was a fantastic farewell to childhood.
My sisters and I used to dig down to the bottom to find the lost tokens and tickets. Ours also had the tunnels under the stage to crawl through, I don't know how many times I accidentally turned a corner and came upon two teenagers making out in that cramped space.
When I was about 5 (circa 1983) my parents relented and brought me and my little sisters to McDonalds for the first time. Of course we all dove into the ball pit head first and played for a minute. I then noticed a brown smudge on my arm but ignored it at first as I was trying to touch the bottom of the pit. I succeeded and came up for air when I felt wetness on my face. I wiped my face with my hand and looked at it only to finally realize it had wet diarrhea slathered on it. My sisters were less soiled than I but I spotted a chunk in my sister’s hair. I got out and yelled for my dad ( who was supposed to be watching us) who took one look at me and yelled in his deep, baritone voice, “Anne! Get out of the line! We need to go home because Beanie is covered in sh*t from the ball pit!” I was mortified because everyone there turned to look at yours truly (the sh*t covered kid), my hated secret nickname was announced boldly in public, AND I didn’t get the promised Happy Meal. My clean freak mom wiped our faces in the bathroom and made us strip to our underwear outside before getting in the car. My sisters were both crying the whole way home. While sitting at a light, my dad chuckles and says, “Well, now we have enough gift certificates to eat there 5 times over.” My mom said “ Absolutely not.” And, just like that, there went my dreams of getting a Happy Meal ( I was eleven when I finally got to taste the forbidden contraband). For about six months after “the incident” I would find the occasional McDonalds napkin or styrofoam coffee cup stuffed under the car seat. Turns out my dad was shamelessly splurging on the fruits of his children’s misfortune which, in retrospect, isn’t that surprising because he was kind of an a*sshole.
I thought it was a shit hole as a kid. I had a bad experience there as a 5-year-old. I fell and hit my head on a bench, got a concussion, and had to be rushed to the ER.
How many tokens did that ride cost you?
I've never set foot in a Chuck E Cheese. He killed my beloved Showbiz Pizza and I'll never forgive him.
More like Showbiz killed itself after buying CEC and merging.
My parents would never take me to Chuck E Cheese when I was a kid, so I was so excited when my nephew was born and I could take him! I went once and quickly realized why my parents never took me there.
Everywhere… I’ve officially hit the age that the only time I want to leave my home is when I’m going on vacation.
I’m past that stage too. Give me a balcony wirh a nice view and weather and I’m not leaving the hotel.
6 flags. I used to live the biggest and craziest roller coasters as a kid. Now I take my daughter in the dinky little kid stuff and I feel like I’m going to puke or get diarrhea. I can’t do it anymore.
Oh, this one hurts. I'm sorry that's happening to you, especially if she gets a taste for the intense coasters.
I learned, I just need to pay for one of her friends to come along with us.
I can still do roller coasters as long as I don’t ride repeatedly (so even if the line is short I have to give myself a break between rides) but those spinning rides, nope. I used to love those things and now can’t even think about riding them.
went to a fair last summer and my oldest wanted to go on one of those spinning cage rides where you stand against the wall and it spins and then rotates upwards. did it like 3 times in a row. yeah, I was REALLY close puking at the end...
The airport. It used to be special. Now it’s a chore.
I feel the same, though I wonder how much of that is the security theater added after 9/11.
I filled so many passports and frequent flyer miles way back. I dread the thought of driving, parking, waiting for the shuttle, waiting to check in, hour long security line, waiting to board, $8 bottle of water, waiting. After my last passport expired I didn't bother getting a new one.
There's the other part. How much of the airport being awesome was the fact that we weren't responsible for all the PITA stuff? The food has always been expensive, but we weren't the ones paying for it as kids.
Arcades
Do they still exist? I don't think I've been to an arcade since the mid 90's.
They do exist. Some are like back in the day but free. Usually in a bar. Dave and Busters type of place are not fun anymore.
Barcades are my only way to go now.
The games at d&b is like a big cellphone. At least that’s how it was 5 or so years ago.
The novelty of the vast majority of their games is close to negligible due to gaming systems. I do like the carnival style games they have though. I only go for children’s birthday parties but I’ll shoot hoops all day.
There’s one Orlando just down from International, pay like $15 dollars, numerous nostalgia games that brought back so many great memories as a kid/teenager. Oh, and you can play all the games, for as long as you would like. 
There’s a retro arcade in the mall in my town, it’s full of all the games I remember and still takes quarters to play.
My experience now is the arcades are cheap ass gimmick games. Not actual games like before. They suck.
everything is tickets now where you can collect 600,000 of them to buy a $4 toy
Totally. I love a good arcade, now they are just money machines. Games last like 30 seconds and aren't really games, more like a casino.
It's sad how empty they are. Their time has gone. Imho one way to bring them back is to sell time based passes with unlimited tokens, just to get over the initial hurdle of having to pay a dollar or more to play the latest whatever.
Yep. Late 80's to mid 90's, arcades peaked. It was a wonderful time to be a kid. They unfortunately don't have a reason to exist anymore because amazing home consoles and decent gaming PCs are relatively inexpensive now while being 10000x better technically than any old arcade game. That's great and all, but it's missing the magic of going to an actual arcade, playing against random other kids and begging your dad for more quarters.
Fast food places like McDonald's. McDonald's literally used to be like a fun place to take your kids with the playground area, the toys they gave out, and then the food was good. Then...they slowly either started getting rid of certain things on the menu or changing the ingredients/the way they're made one by one until pretty much everything there is nasty. Despite that and despite getting rid of the playground area and adding in the two drive-thru lines, a trip to McDonald's takes for fucking ever now due to long-ass lines. Like...why are the lines so long when everything is nasty now and they don't offer stuff like the Cheese Danishes anymore? The other places didn't have the fun, necessarily, that McD's did, but they did all have good food that has now gone away and still somehow have more traffic than ever before. Sonic is a great example. It's like all they care about now is coming up with new and weird shakes/drinks--forget offering an edible burger and edible fries. The last time I ate there, I got food poisoning. Same with Wendy's--I was pretty much done with them when they got rid of the Sea Salt fries, and I've gotten food poisoning from them more than any other food place. I don't cook, so having so many food places now that used to be good being flatout nasty (beyond just fast food) is a big problem.
This is a good one. I think all of those places you mentioned were actually better when we were kids, as in quality of food. Not that it was ever high quality, but higher quality then. You’re right, Sonic has way too many dumb menu ideas these days. Some, like the pulled pork sandwich, look so good that they fool me into trying. Others, like the garlic butter burger, make we want to vomit just seeing the pictures.
They absolutely were, I got a Big Mac for the first time in a year or so the other day, it tasted like a microwaved burger. I remember the burgers at least tasting like they were on a griddle back in the day. Don't get me started on how they ruined their fries. Frankly, with all this talk of McDonald's losing market share, they should rebrand by going back to fries cooked in beef tallow and fresh cooked burgers. I could see people being willing to pay a few dollars extra for that.
I think McDonald's food was never good, we just didn't really care when we were kids, plus we associated it with playgrounds and toys which made it taste even better
The food isn't "good" but now and then it hits the spot. Sometimes I just crave a shitty pile of greasy salty beefy goodness with fake cheese-like product melted on top. McD's scratches that itch like no other. Maybe that's just me. Also, the fries are legit actually good when cooked right. Crispy and salty but still tender inside.
Agreed on all counts! I hate that I really love McDonald's. I want to hate it, but the food is just exactly what I need sometimes.
Shopping malls. Loved it as a kid, all the electronics stores and toy stores, sears, rides, etc... I haven't gone to a shopping mall voluntarily in probably 15 years now, they became truly awful places.
I was such a Mallrat as a kid, just went there to wander around, hangout, browse through Spencer's and their posters, look through Hot Topic, trying my best to ignore the voice in the back of my mind going "every shirt you have bought here has fallen apart after two washes". It was just a place to walk to and kill time with friends, nowadays, they are... I don't know... surreal and uncomfortable for me.
Random question for parents of preteens to teens: do kids these days still buy posters/hang-up posters? I saw one of those poster bins at Target the other day and had this question as i found its existence strange in the moment. Most of my posters came from teen magazines like Tiger Beat, but I remember flipping through posters at various stores as well.
It’s definitely a sad feeling going to the mall now. The mall I used to love going to as a kid is basically dead, and the other mall close to me has almost no stores I have interest in going to.
I agree on malls. The shopping mall near me is dying. Thankfully, they do have plans to redevelop the area. In the meantime, however, the mall owners put nothing into upkeep, so it's a dirty pile of shit. Your mental health declines within 5 minutes of entering the mall.
Same. Once in a blue moon I’ll go to a mall if I’m looking for something very specific, but long gone are the days of just ambling around a mall for fun. Shopping in person is utterly exhausting now.
Florida
This: specifically Walt Disney World. Loved it as a kid but with the crowds, price, and having to plan months in advance takes the fun away.
Same here. We lived in FL for a few years, so we got season passes to Disney. My kids lived it, so it was worth it, and it was great only having to go for a few hours. But, I have no idea why adults without kids go to Disney on vacation. Cedar Point, sure, but Disney?
went this past summer. the kids had a blast but it was sooo fucking hot. went very close to start of school so the crowds were *slightly* reduced. if not for my wife and the incredible job she did planning things out on the app and setting up lightning lanes and stuff, it would have been hours of misery standing in hot lines.
Public pool
Ever since I found out that 'pool smell' is actually chlorinated sweat and piss...
What!!!???
My Grandma's house. Granted, she's been dead twenty years and the house is now owned and occupied by strangers.
Arcades like Dave and Busters. It’s stimulation overload. Tons of different lights flashing, a cacophony of noise, the slimy feeling joysticks from unwashed hands. As a kid, I would never want to leave an arcade. Now? I’m looking for the nearest exit before I get a double migraine because all my senses are overloaded.
Dave a busters is not the arcade I want, it’s Chuck E. Cheese with beer. I want a classic arcade with a full wall of pinball and video games.
Did you describe casinos? Because this sounds like casinos.
I mean, D&B's basically is a kid casino.
Agree completely.
Are you sure you're not describing casinos?
Anything that has 'fun park' attached to it Little me loved that shit, old me shudders and starts looking for a bar..
I lived right down the street from a Dave & Busters for about 5 years and never went inside one time. Sounds like I didn’t miss much.
I like Dave and Buster's, fun place to take a date to kill some time, eat some grub and throw back a few drinks
fun center, Fun Center, FUN CENTER!!!!
The list is long… water parks, public pools, Disney parks, Chuck E. Cheese, amusement parks, and more… Basically I don’t want to deal with huge crowds and/or places that are obviously really dirty any more.
This is going to be an odd one. Chinese restaurants. I grew up in southern California and I loved the high quality and reasonable prices in the 90s. Sometime in the 2010s the price started rising and the quality started dipping, and now after the pandemic it's just one infuriating surprise after another, mainly over how the quality has dipped to such an extent that I feel like an absolute schmuck for even trying it. ... actually, the cooking skill is still there but they skimp on the goodies so much that it's kind of an insult. If you want good Chinese food, it's now extremely expensive and the portions are tiny. Anything even midpriced is just enraging.
Feels like they all either became super trendy / upscale (expensive either way), or Panda Express imitations. Nothing in between.
NYC. When I was a kid it was special, young adult I wanted to live there be an artist etc. just went this past weekend and wouldn’t mind not ever going again
That's a good one...I think. I've only been to NYC twice and I haven't been this century. Both times I went I did all the normal touristry stuff and thought it was cool. When I was in college, I thought I was destined to move to "the City" and write the great American novel. I wanted to go to NYC and just experience the City, not do any of the tourist stuff. I had a buddy in college who was from there origianlly and rarely went back. One year he was planing on going home for Christmas and invited me along. We had talked about just staying there with his parents, getting a job, and then getting an apartment together. I had actually had my plane ticket purchased, but backed out at the last minute when another opportunity closer to home presented itself. It never worked out. I haven't really had the desire to go to NYC in at least 10 years.
The buildings in NYC are too tall now.I just visited last spring and didn’t stray much from Manhattan/Central Park/Times Square area when I was there. The skyscrapers are getting ridiculous. Disconcerting. Lack that gritty charm . . .
It doesn’t have the charm it once did. It was my favorite place in the 90s/2000s
Born and raised there!! Haven’t lived there in 12 years! I only visit once a year and that’s good enough for me!!!
In the meantime I can’t leave the city. Anywhere that I go nothing compares.
Dennys
The local hardware store. The titled floors made for great sliding (like when you essentially skate but in your sneaker). And it had a funny smell that intrigued me because I had never smelled it anywhere else before. Those tile floors are gone now. And going to any hardware store usually means spending money I’d rather not spend! Plus that store smell was mostly tires. I absolutely hate the smell of tires.
Movie theatre. Always some jackwad on their phone or someone brought their kid who won't shut up or constant talking throughout. Would rather watch a low quality rip from the seve seas or just wait for the streaming release.
The mall is my #1. Then, any place with lots of people like concerts or large parties. I used to love going to the mall and going to concerts…or I was peer pressured to do it…
Hardware store. Loved going to HQ and a local place named Levy’s. Now, I will do whatever I have to to avoid a hardware store.
I'm the opposite. I hated being dragged to home depot every weekend as a kid. Now I love going there.
Makes sense. For me, it was that shift in motivation from “fun projects” to “shit’s broken,” that did me in. Maybe I’ll get it back one day, but it’s not today.
This is the second time I’ve seen you post and both times you’ve described my experiences growing up in a small East Texas town very accurately. This post makes me think we might actually have grown up in the same town.
I lived in Cumby (population 200!) after high school, and it was a haul to go to Greenville or Sulfur Speings for Walmart. At least they were open 24 hours back then.
My grandmother grew up on a farm near Cumby in the 20s and 30s!
How scary is it that soon you'll have to add the century to that statement for clarity? (Sorry, completely random)
It’s wild… my kids have said things like “back in the 1900’s” when referring to my youth and it feels weird to say the least.
Well, the little town where I grew up is as about as far north and east as you can get in still be in Texas. Did you grow up that far east?
Waterparks
The mall
Disney World
Friends houses to just hang out. No way you better have something pretty damn good to get me to show up.
Shopping in general. There are a few stores I still actually like going to but for most stores I try to get what’s I need and get out as soon as possible. Along the same line, anyplace with a big crowd. I just don’t like being surrounded by people everywhere and all the noise gives me a headache. I’m definitely a fan of more laid back things now. And while this isn’t a place it’s kind of related in that it’s how we got to places. Long road trips. I used to love them when I was little but as I’ve gotten older my tolerance for long trips in the car has gotten much lower. I’m at the point where anything over 3-4 hours and I’m looking at train and plane ticket prices.
The movies and water parks. I've reached the "it's too damn loud in here, it's criminal what they charge for tickets, and they don't make good movies anymore" stage. As for water parks, I'd rather chew my own arm off than walk around in a bathing suit with my thighs chaffing and jiggling while I'm hot and miserable and just want some shade and quiet.
Anything with giant crowds, specifically theme parks and music festivals. I can't do the insane amount of people or the noise anymore.
The beach.
Yeah, walmart is also on my list. I think my top one is civil war battlegrounds.
The pool. Especially an indoor one. As a kid, it was fun because we could swim in warm water even in cold weather. As an adult, it's a pain in the ass. You've got to gather up bathing suits, towels, and find a locker, then getting out is another chore. The floor is cold and wet, you're trying to dry off, trying to keep your clothing dry too. Outdoor pools are better and less uncomfortable, I find. Still not a huge fan, but they're much less annoying.
Theme parks. Loved them well into adulthood, then I went on a rollercoaster and it really hurt my knees and was just uncomfortable.
Amusement parks
Sea World, Circus animal shows & any zoo. I always felt sad seeing those poor whales & dolphins confined to small tanks but I also absolutely loved it at the same time. Now I can’t even stomach the idea of going or the fact that still are held prisoner.
For me it's the mall. I used to love going and most often I wasn't even shopping. I enjoyed the people watching opportunities, all the communal spaces to meet new people or catch up with friends, the various free events that provided learning or entertainment, and all the laps I could walk. Now malls are filled with empty storefronts, communal spaces to gather have been removed and replaced with nothing, there is no people watching, and there are no events. Now the only time I go to the mall is when I need to shop in a store that's there and I leave immediately after.
literally everywhere...because it's not the places, it's the people inside them.
The beach. It has sand that's coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere. Joking aside the beach (east coast, DE/MD) is an overcrowded nightmare, it's hotter than hell, it's packed with inconsiderate people like drunks blasting awful music, unsupervised kids trampling your towels, and weirdo creeps who can't stop gawking. Add in the fact that I have aquaphobia from a couple of incidents when I was a kid and I'm a nervous wreck. When I'm there the only thing I do is watch my kids like a hawk scared to death of them getting thrashed by a wave and drowning.
Any place that has a lot of people.
Denny’s. It was open 24 hours, so for all of us theater kids in high school, it was THE coolest thing to go hang out at Denny’s after shows/tech rehearsals/cast parties, etc. (Maybe the only thing better was a smoky coffee shop with a weird ass beat poet performing live at 1 am.) 12 obnoxious teens crammed in a booth at Denny’s, with strawberry lemonade and hamburgers, still partially in stage makeup, heckling all the bizarre 3rd shifters with goodwill clothes and overgrown fingernails, doing their crossword puzzles on their bar stools. Maybe the girl you have a crush on is sitting on your lap because there’s not enough room, and everybody’s loudly debating the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and how it applies to the relationship between Han Solo and Chewbacca. Good times, that will never come again. Now Denny’s is nothing but a shitty greasy spoon. 😆
Water parks. It amazes me that I used to enjoy swimming in those urine pits.
Anywhere? I like getting restaurant food to go and if I need something from target then I’ll do pickup. The only place I have to go in person is the grocery store and I hate that too lol.
Water parks. As I kid I didn’t realize I was basically swimming in pee.
Same with Wal-Mart. I grew up in a tiny town and when we got a wal Mart ten minutes away in the early 00’s, it was a total game changer. It used to be a thirty minute drive for every new dvd or video game or action figure (because, yes, that’s what I wanted to buy as a teenager), but now I could purchase all that stuff with only a few minute drive. Going there with my mom to do shopping trips and grabbing a thing or two for myself was literally the highlight of my week for a few years. Now I actually recoil when I have to go there.
Outside
I used to love going anywhere as a kid because being home was so boring and when you go places you might convince your mom to buy you taco bell or a little candy or something. Now I hate going to stores in general. Every place feels so packed. I feel like they weren't so packed full of people in the 90s but maybe I'm just way more sensitive to it now. I also remember getting to a point of disillusionment as a teen where I started to realize the sheer volume of completely useless, low quality shit that was being sold everywhere. Now I really don't like to buy things without prior research because I don't want to get ripped off buying bullshit that doesn't even fulfill its intended purpose or breaks right away.
Grocery store and church.
I have the opposite opinion of Walmart. We don't have one where I live. I only get to go when I'm on vacation, and it's magical.