McDonald’s has this morning stunned Sydney office workers with the fast food franchise opening its biggest Playland ever. More than three stories high, the structure takes up the entire forecourt of Customs House in Circular Quay.

The Playland, which will be open today and tomorrow for the pleasure of more than 300 everyday Australians, was constructed as part of the filming of a McDonald’s television commercial. The largest single set ever built in Australia for a TV commercial, the area is double the size of the Playlands normally found in McDonald’s franchises around Australia, at 10m high by 20m wide.

Comprising slides, tunnels, an adult-sized aeroplane, helicopter and a giant bus, the structure is designed to create intrigue among Sydney’s office workers.

This adult-sized Playland allows us to forget about deadlines, budgets and the stresses of life and just revel in this incredible childhood arcade, said Helen Farquhar, director of marketing, McDonald’s (ANZ). And the best part is the McDonald’s characters we loved as kids are back old-school style giving us the opportunity to reclaim our childhood, to look at the world through younger eyes again and just lose ourselves – if only for a minute.

Passers-by will also see a three metre tall Officer Big Mac checking the height of participants under his arm, the Fillet-O-Fish bouncers, a retro Grimace cage and Hamburglar swing, as well as a Ronald McDonald bench reaching 2.5m in height, about double the size of an average bench found in McDonald’s restaurants.