Harrisburg (East) Mall

The Harrisburg Mall, which used to be the Harrisburg East Mall, which may change again since they were sold at auction is actually pretty cool for the kids.

Ok, this is just about the free play area and free WiFi. What an awesome combination, though when I whipped out the laptop, most people looked at me like I was nuts, but they do have free WiFi, though slow. I had an Excellent connection, but only 11MPs (not 54) speed. Not sure why they are doing that, but at least I can post this while here.

The playground is more an imagination playground, no real moving parts, but the kids can run and everything is padded. Most kids get bored after awhile and can get a bit rough, especially those kids that are dropped unsupervised, while the parents shop. I am not that callous yet toward the well being of my kids, even after 4, so not sure what that is about.

The Super McDonalds

It seems this is the week for McDonalds' posts. I just stopped at the McDonalds on Paxtang, near the Harrisburg (East) mall. It has the superhero theme. It looks like they remodeled it since I was there last. It seems less crowded. They have a station with 3 places to play video games and NO FREE WiFi. They have Waypoint, which seems to confuse the employees.

They also have no playplace, though they do have the cool graphics and the video consoles. While I am ranting, the McDonalds in the food court of the Harrisburg (East) Mall charges $0.52 for refills. Who has heard of a McDonalds charging for refills since the 70's? So I will now make a complete search of the area looking for free WiFi.

Garfields

Sunday we went to Garfields, at the Capitol City mall. I was pleasantly surprised. The food was reasonably priced and good. The chicken strips tasted like they were made in house, not bought frozen. They were juicy and tasty. The kids menu was pretty typical, but they liked it - Kraft Mac & Cheese for the pickiest. They also have the entire table covered in paper so the kids can use the entire table for coloring.

Sunday, all day, is also kids eat free. 2 kids per adult, which is nice, since some places we can't get the 3rd kid a meal with the free deal. The also have happy hour all the time, $1.50 drafts and you don't pay for kids drinks. Nothing worse than being surprised that the chocolate milk refill cost you an extra $2 (for 3 kids does add up fast). While this is out of our way, when we are down that way, it does give an alternative to Italian Oven.