McDonald's Orange Drink Returns To Soothe The Thirsty Masses

Nostalgia makes people do the darnedest things. Like spend a weekend at Coney Island, or harangue a fast food social media manager until a long-lost non-carbonated beverage returns to menus. It's too cold (and COVID-y) for a trip to Coney Island, but the aforementioned beverage is returning to participating McDonald's locations. And that beverage is Orange Drink.

McDonald's announced yesterday that Hi-C Orange Lavaburst—which you might know as Hi-C Orange, or simply Orange Drink—is officially returning to menus nationwide. The sweet, tangy, not-actually-citrus-flavored drink developed a massive following after hitting McDonald's soda dispensers in 1995, and fans have been clamoring for its return ever since it disappeared back in 2017. Personally, I remember Orange Drink as the only acceptable Happy Meal beverage pairing, so I'm glad today's youths can get in on this one. A McDonald's press release explains the fervor behind the Orange Drink revival:

"Your tweets, DMs and petitions asking for its return gave our social media community manager a LOT of content to choose from for an important menu team meeting this morning...and thanks to you, Hi-C Orange Lavaburst will return to McDonald's menus this year as a regular soft drink option, available nationwide by this summer."

According to the release, Hi-C Orange Lavaburst will return to participating McDonald's restaurants starting this month and will be available everywhere by June. Starting Monday, you can drop your zip code into mcdfinder.com to find the closest McDonald's location offering Hi-C. Okay, McDonald's, okay—now do Chicken Selects.