diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Menu/MenuTreeStorage.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Menu/MenuTreeStorage.php
index 4be9fce..82729ac 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Menu/MenuTreeStorage.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Menu/MenuTreeStorage.php
@@ -282,15 +282,25 @@ public function save(array $link) {
    *   depth.
    */
   protected function doSave(array $link) {
-    $original = $this->loadFull($link['id'], FALSE);
     $affected_menus = [];
 
+    // Get the existing definition if it exist. This does not use
+    // self::loadFull() because we want to compare with $link after calling
+    // self::preSave() and therefore we need to avoid the unserialization.
+    $query = $this->connection->select($this->table, $this->options);
+    $query->fields($this->table);
+    $query->condition('id', $link['id']);
+    $original = $this->safeExecuteSelect($query)->fetchAssoc();
+
     if ($original) {
       $link['mlid'] = $original['mlid'];
       $link['has_children'] = $original['has_children'];
       $affected_menus[$original['menu_name']] = $original['menu_name'];
       $fields = $this->preSave($link, $original);
+      // If $link matches the $original data then exit early as there are no
+      // changes to make.
       if (array_diff_assoc($fields, $original) === []) {
+        // @todo should we return an empty array as nothing has changed?
         return $affected_menus;
       }
     }
@@ -303,7 +313,7 @@ protected function doSave(array $link) {
         $link['mlid'] = $this->connection->insert($this->table, $options)
           ->fields(['id' => $link['id'], 'menu_name' => $link['menu_name']])
           ->execute();
-        $fields = $this->preSave($link, $original);
+        $fields = $this->preSave($link, []);
       }
       // We may be moving the link to a new menu.
       $affected_menus[$fields['menu_name']] = $fields['menu_name'];
@@ -722,14 +732,12 @@ public function load($id) {
    *
    * @param string $id
    *   The menu link ID.
-   * @param bool $unserialize
-   *   Determines if fields be unserialized. Defaults to TRUE.
    *
    * @return array
    *   The loaded menu link definition or an empty array if not be found.
    */
-  protected function loadFull($id, $unserialize = TRUE) {
-    $loaded = $this->loadFullMultiple([$id], $unserialize);
+  protected function loadFull($id) {
+    $loaded = $this->loadFullMultiple([$id]);
     return isset($loaded[$id]) ? $loaded[$id] : [];
   }
 
@@ -738,23 +746,19 @@ protected function loadFull($id, $unserialize = TRUE) {
    *
    * @param array $ids
    *   The IDs to load.
-   * @param bool $unserialize
-   *   Determines if fields be unserialized. Defaults to TRUE.
    *
    * @return array
    *   The loaded menu link definitions.
    */
-  protected function loadFullMultiple(array $ids, $unserialize = TRUE) {
+  protected function loadFullMultiple(array $ids) {
     $query = $this->connection->select($this->table, $this->options);
     $query->fields($this->table);
     $query->condition('id', $ids, 'IN');
     $loaded = $this->safeExecuteSelect($query)->fetchAllAssoc('id', \PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
-    if ($unserialize) {
-      foreach ($loaded as &$link) {
-        foreach ($this->serializedFields() as $name) {
-          if (isset($link[$name])) {
-            $link[$name] = unserialize($link[$name]);
-          }
+    foreach ($loaded as &$link) {
+      foreach ($this->serializedFields() as $name) {
+        if (isset($link[$name])) {
+          $link[$name] = unserialize($link[$name]);
         }
       }
     }