Burger King Play Place at Butterfield And Finley In Downers Grove

When its a rainy day and you're in a pinch for someplace fun and cheap to take your kids to, sometimes McDonalds Playplace is the only  thing that comes to mind. At least, thats how it is for me! I don't always like to take the kids to the same old neighborhood McDonalds, though. I try to make things a little more exciting by finding new Mcdonalds to check out. You can easily find a list of McDonalds restaurants with playplaces by entering your zipcode into the McDonalds Locator.

Okay, so the place I'm about to tell you about is not actually a McDonalds, but I didn't know how else to classify it. If I had a category called "Fast Food With Play Places," this could fit there, but all the rest of the places in that category would be McDonalds's! So, lets just call this rare Burger King play place an alternative to McDonalds!
I have been driving past, and even ordering food from, this Burger King, for ten years or more, and I never realized it had a play place! It seems like most of the Burger Kings around here have eliminated their play places. Anyway, a parent at Little Bear's school mentioned that she and other moms often take their kids to this Burger King because it is cleaner and less crowded than most of the McDonalds Play Places. Of course, Little Bear, Rafael, Pufferfish and I had to go see for ourselves!
The first thing we noticed in the play place was that one corner table had been set with a table cloth and candles... pretty unusual for a Burger King! Little Bear speculated that this was where the Burger King sat with his Queen. Of course they wanted to sit there to eat! And of course, they had to put on their paper crowns! I was glad to see that Burger Kings still have those crowns.

The kids were excited to play on the play structure. It looks a little different than the McDonalds play structures usually do, but is basically the same idea... a series of tunnels, ladders, slides, windows, etc.

As for cleanliness, I wouldn't say that it was a lot cleaner than the typical McDonalds Play Place. It was smaller and more cramped, but less crowded.
So... really, the Burger King play place is not much different from a McDonalds Play Place. But if you're tired of McDonalds, you may be glad to try the Burger King one out, for a change of pace!
Let me know if you know of other restaurant play places!