Disneyland 40th Anniversary Happy Meal Toys

By: Nick

As Disneyland celebrates it's 60th Anniversary today, I thought we'd look back at a truly excellent set of Happy Meals Toys released by Disney and McDonald's back in 1995, celebrating Disneyland's 40th.

This set is a viewer set, like a mono viewmaster, featuring Disneyland park attractions.


These first two were for totally different attractions than what I'd assumed they were. Here we have Peter Pan. This must represent Peter Pan's flight, right? Nope



It is actually for Fantasmic.



The next one, I thought must have been from a parade, but it is actually from a dinner show called Aladdin's Oasis, that ran during two summers and on selected weekend days during other seasons.


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This last one is pretty easy to guess. Mickey is riding Space Mountain.





Happy Anniversary Disneyland!

McDonald's Happy Meal Animal Kingdom Toys Part 2

By Nick 

In yesterday's post, I shared 6 of a set of 12 Animal Kingdom McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys from 1998. If you missed it, please feel free to check it out. I’ll wait.

Back? Good!

So, let’s take a look at the remaining toys.

First, we have a dragon! Why a dragon? There aren’t any dragons at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Well, back when the park first opened, there was a planned area called Beastly Kingdom, which would have featured mythical creatures, such as unicorns, and, of course, dragons. In fact, the original logo for the park prominently features a dragon.

 

 

 This toys wings flap when you press in the button on his chest. I assume this is supposed to be a push and release feature, but, as I mentioned in my last post, these toys were a little the worse for wear when I received them, and the button sticks on mine. 

 

 

Next up, we have a couple of clip on type toys. 

First this Crocodile:

And this Lemur.

Then we have a couple of pull and release toys.

The Rhino does not work unfortunately, so, no charging.

The Cheetah does leap into action however. Well, he actually stays crouched and lunges, but at least he works, so I’m not complaining!

 

Last, but not least, we have a squirt gun Elephant.

Just put water in the hole on the back of his neck.

This works amazingly well, shooting water at least 15 feet!

Doing a little more digging, I discovered there is actually an exclusive Tortoise toy that was available at Wallmart McDonald’s locations. If I come upon it, you will be among the first to know!

McDonald's Happy Meal Animal Kingdom Toys: Part 1

 

By Nick 

While looking for Disney McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys on eBay recently, I came upon a set of Animal Kingdom Toys. I had no idea these existed until that moment!

They were released in 1998, the opening year of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park at Walt Disney World.

There are 12 toys in this set!

I found a set at what I thought was a reasonable price, and bought it. 

Sadly, when they came, I was not at all happy with the condition the bags were in. Worse, upon opening them, I found that water must have gotten into some of the bags somehow, as there were actually rusted screws on a couple!

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Another interesting thing about these toys, while they all feature some sort of interactive element, there is no indication as to what it is, or how to activate it. 

Some activation methods are obvious, like on this zebra. Wind him up, and his front legs propel him forward.

 

 

Others are not as obvious, like this lion.

 

Obviously, his mouth opens, but how to get it open?

 

Lift his front paw!

 

A simple interactive toy. Lift the gorillas arms, and his baby flips around.

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This Toucan makes a tweeting noise when you push in on his chest.

 

 

Dinosaurs weren’t left out. 

 

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what this Triceratops is supposed to do, or how to do it. Whatever it is, I’m assuming it’s noise related, because of these openings in his stomach.

 

 

This Iguanodon has an opening mouth feature, like the lion, but how to get it to work? No clue. It’s constantly in an open position, so perhaps the mechanism to activate it is broken.

 

 

Tomorrow I’ll share the remaining 6 toys from this terrific set.

McDonalds 100 Years of Magic Disney Glass Set

by Nick

In 2001-2002, Disney celebrated what would have been Walt Disney's 100th birthday with the 100 Years of Magic Celebration.

McDonald's released this glassy, er, classy, set of glasses to commemorate this occasion.

Each of the four glasses featured a park icon, with movie and character trivia, and even a quote from Walt!

This first glass features Spaceship Earth.
Park Trivia: EPCOT originally stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
The Walt Disney quote: "Today we are shapers of the world of tomorrow."


Movie Trivia: Buzz Lightyear said "To Infinity and Beyond" only 2 times in "Toy Story"


Character trivia: Belle is the French word for beauty.


The inside bottom of the glass.


This glass displays Cinderella Castle.
Park trivia: Tinker Bell starts the fireworks nightly at the Magic Kingdom.
The Walt Disney quote: "Fantasy...lies beyond the reach of time."


Pinocchio had to be "brave, truthful and unselfish" to become a real boy.


Dumbo's real name was actually "Jumbo Jr.".

Bambi was taught that "twitterpated" meant falling in love.


Park Trivia for this next glass: There are 325 animal carvings on The Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom
The Walt Disney quote: "...nature herself writes the most interesting stories"


Goofy-first known as "Dippy Dawg"-stars in "Mickey's Jammin' Jungle" Parade.


"Simba" is the Swahili word for "lion".


The outside bottom of the glass.


Mickey's Sorcerer Hat at the Disney Studios is 122 ft. tall.


"Kiss Me" were the only words ever spoken by Pluto.
Donald's middle name is "Fauntleroy."


"...it was all started by a mouse." Walt Disney



Happy New Year, and here's to the next 100 years of Disney Magic!