It’s definitely not the way it used to be. I wonder what’s up with that.
There’s a distinctive flavor difference when McD’s food gets cold. With most food, it just tastes like the same food except it’s cold; but with McDonald’s, it goes from smelling appetizing and tasting decent to smelling horrible and tasting worse. The thing I have noticed is that, in the past decade or so, that window of flavor has gone from a gradient to a really stark dividing line, about 20-30 minutes after the food is cooked.