Donald Duck, Dragons, and Dinosaurs: Disney's Animal Kingdom 1998 McDonald's Happy Meal From Asia

Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida is about to celebrate its 20th Birthday.  The park opened in April 1998, and in addition to being an Animal Kingdom sponsor, McDonald's released Happy Meal toys promoting the new attraction in the United States and International markets.  In Asia, the McDonald's promotion featured Disney character toys with an accessory and a backdrop.  It is interesting to go back and see how much has changed in twenty years.

Donald Duck is set for adventure on the Discovery River Boats.  It looks like he's spotted a Dragon!  This toy set is interesting, because it represents the earliest casualties of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  The Discovery River Boats only operated for a few years.  The boats floated past a cave containing an unseen dragon, who was supposed to be the star of an upcoming land, Beastly Kingdom.  The Mythical animals section was planned from the start, but legend has it that Universal's Islands Of Adventure park's opening in 1999 killed the Animal Kingdom concept of a dragon coaster.  Ironically, Universal's Dueling Dragons coaster was recently shut down and will be replaced by a new Harry Potter attraction.  Disney's Animal Kingdom finally got its own mythical creature land, full of dragon-like banshees, when Pandora: The World of Avatar opened in 2017.  Pandora sits where the dragon themed land was supposed to go.

Dinoland USA was formerly sponsored by McDonald's.  Here we can see Goofy making friends with a dinosaur.  At the time, Dinoland's main attraction was called "Countdown to Extinction."  But it was renamed "Dinosaur" to promote the 2000 Disney movie of the same name.  The park opened the county fair type Dino-Rama expansion in 2001.

For 2018, Dinoland will get some new entertainment hosted by Donald Duck.  "Donald's Dino-Bash" celebrates the relationship of birds and dinosaurs.

Minnie Mouse makes a new friend in Gorilla Falls Exploration Trails.  Gorilla Falls is another Animal Kingdom attraction that had a big change early on.

Gorilla Falls had a name change to "Pangani Forest Exploration Trails" not long after opening.  The Gorillas were not always guaranteed to be seen, so a new name was given to the trails.  The name returned in 2016.

Kilimanjaro Safaris is Animal Kingdom's headliner attraction.  Here, Mickey takes a trip on a Jeep to see some elephants.  The Safari has changed a great deal over the years.  Initially, the ride had a plot about poachers killing an Elephant, and riders had to help save her animatronic baby.  The entire poacher story was (thankfully) eventually dropped.  New animal species have been rotated over the years, with some of the newest being Hyenas and African Painted Dogs (both added with the addition of Night Safaris in 2016).

I first visited Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2004.  At the time, I wasn't a big fan of the Safaris (I thought the poacher story was lame).  In the Summer of 2017, I visited and couldn't believe the dramatic changes (for the better) that Kilimanjaro Safaris now has.  It is definitely my favorite attraction at Animal Kingdom.  What made it so great, I think, was that a massive storm hit while we were on Safari.  The animals were very active, with giraffes galloping at full sprint for cover under a section of tall trees.  There was something very "animal" about it.

Happy 20th Birthday, Animal Kingdom!

Safari McDonald's Happy Meal From 1996: Not Disney's Animal Kingdom

In 1996, McDonald's restaurants outside of the United States released a Safari Happy Meal featuring Ronald McDonald and Friends.  This set is interesting because it (coincidentally?) captures the essence of Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World in Florida (which opened in 1998).

McDonald's has a history with Disney's Animal Kingdom, releasing a Happy Meal in 1998 to promote the park (check it out at Disney's Animal Kingdom McDonald's Happy Meal).

The Safari Happy Meal features a Tree, something that the actual Disney's Animal Kingdom Happy Meal did not even have.  It seems like McDonald's could have easily swapped the Ronald McDonald characters with Mickey Mouse and Friends.

The Hamburglar searches the Tree of Life, I mean the Tree Top, for a burger and fries.  This would have been a good toy for Goofy bird watching Zazu from The Lion King.

Ronald McDonald leads a tour on a Jeep.  It is easy to imagine this as a Mickey Mouse toy on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.

Ronald is driving with a lion popping in and out of the vehicle.  Simba from the Lion King could have been cast in this role.

Birdie the Early Bird pilots an Alligator Raft.  This toy could have corresponded with the Discovery River Boats from the early days of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

This toy would have been a good vehicle for Minnie Mouse and the Crocodiles from The Rescuers.

Grimace hitches a ride on a Safari Elephant.  All the vehicle toys in this set have motion features.  Grimace moves his body and the Elephant moves its head.

This could have been a good toy for Donald Duck and Delores the Elephant (a character from old Disney shorts like 1953's Working For Peanuts).

When Disney's Animal Kingdom opened in 1998, the American McDonald's Happy Meal promoting the park featured realistic looking animal action figures, and no Disney characters.  Outside of the United States, McDonald's did a promotion featuring Disney characters with an animal related prop and a cardboard background.

Disneyland Tomorrowland McDonald's Happy Meal

In 1998, Disneyland park in Anaheim, California got a "New" Tomorrowland.  The area got a bronze "steampunk" look, with inspiration from the Jules Verne feel of Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris that opened in 1992.  Disneyland's new Tomorrowland even got a new "fast" ride called Rocket Rods that took over the old PeopleMover attraction track.  McDonald's promoted the new Tomorrowland, but not in the United States.  This Disneyland Tomorrowland McDonald's Happy Meal was released in Asia.  This particular set is from Thailand.  The four toys interlock to become a little version of Tomorrowland.

The anchor piece of this set is a balancing toy called Minnie's Space Station.

This is marketing at work, as there is no "Space Station" ride in Tomorrowland.  This appears to blend the land's Observatron sculpture with the Astro Orbiter rocket ride.

Here, the Astro Orbiter gets a new name, "Mickey's Astro Rocket."

At Disneyland in California, the Astro Orbiter is at ground level.  In Florida, it is high in the sky on top of the roof of the PeopleMover load station.

Donald's Spinning Saucer is based on...I'm not sure what, actually.  The Flying Saucers ride that existed at Disneyland from 1961 to 1966?

There is a Jet Packs ride at Shanghai Disneyland's Tomorrowland (opened in 2016) and an Alien Spinning Saucers ride coming to Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida (in 2018).

One of the most heavily promoted aspects of the new Tomorrowland was a new "thrill ride" called Rocket Rods.  Here it is called Goofy's Rocket Racer.  This ride took over the old PeopleMover track and was supposed to pop a wheelie and race around Tomorrowland.

Rocket Rods closed for good in 2001, after facing all sorts of technical problems and disappointments.

The "New" Tomorrowland quickly became something in the past.  The concept of Tomorrowland has changed quite a bit at the Disney Parks over the years, and continues to do so.

Euro Disney Resort McDonald's Happy Meal

Once Upon a Time, there was a place in France called the Euro Disney Resort.  It opened outside of Paris in April of 1992.  McDonald's in Europe released Happy Meal Toys to promote the new Euro Disneyland theme park.  This set of vehicles is charming and highly animated.  It is also kind of unusual and fascinating.

The first thing to notice is that Mickey Mouse is nowhere to be seen.  My guess is that, aside from Chip and Dale (who are riding Frontierland's Big Thunder Mountain), they wanted European based characters.  Also, this set represents the lands of Euro Disneyland (Main Street, Frontierland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland) but does not include anything for Discoveryland (the park's version of Tomorrowland).  At the time these toys were made, McDonald's followed a formula of 4 toys for 4 weeks pretty strictly (especially for European sets).

Pongo from 101 Dalmatians rides in Main Street USA's fire truck.  Pongo's head moves from side to side when the car rolls forward.  The front of the vehicle and the bell in the back moves as well.

101 Dalmatians was one of the biggest Disney brands represented at McDonald's.  There were literally hundreds of different, individual 101 Dalmatians toys created for the restaurant chain during the 1990s.

Chip and Dale (as well as pieces on the train) bob around on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Frontierland at Euro Disneyland is also home to Phantom Manor, the park's Western version of The Haunted Mansion.

Captain Hook from Peter Pan represents Adventureland, home to Pirates of the Caribbean and Adventure Isle.

As with the rest of Euro Disneyland, the park's attractions were modified for the European market.  Adventureland was designed to sit next to Fantasyland, so there was a smooth transition from Adventure Isle (a pirate replacement for Tom Sawyer Island) to Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland.

Tigger takes a spin on the Mad Tea Party in Fantasyland.  This spinning teacup vehicle is, in my opinion, the most impressive of this set.  It is curious that a character from Alice in Wonderland was not used here.  Seriously, the Cheshire Cat would have been perfect (and would also represent Euro Disneyland's exclusive Alice's Curious Labyrinth attraction, which has a major Cheshire Cat landmark feature).

Tigger riding the Teacups strangely predicted the future of Disney Theme Parks.  When Shanghai Disneyland in China opened in 2016, the Winnie the Pooh Hunny Pot Spin replaced the Mad Tea Party concept.

Euro Disney Resort had a major image problem from the time it was announced.  Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons took merciless aim at the park's famous early struggles.  By 1994, Euro Disney Resort changed its name to (the much more romantic) Disneyland Resort Paris.

Disney's Tarzan At McDonald's

In 1999, Disney and Edgar Rice Burroughs joined forces for the animated feature Tarzan.  The film was directed by Kevin Lima (A Goofy Movie) and Chris Buck (Frozen).  The radio-ready songs were created by Phil Collins.  McDonald's provided some promotional partner muscle.  There were 8 Happy Meal Action Toys and 3 different Sound Straws.  I'm pretty sure there was a Banana Milkshake somewhere to promote the movie, too.

Glenn Close provided the voice of Tarzan's adoptive gorilla mom, Kala.

Early in the film, Kala does battle with the ferocious leopard, Sabor.

Sabor kills Tarzan's parents and Kala's baby gorilla in the first few minutes of Tarzan.

The character of Sabor is a relentless predator.  When watching James Cameron's 2009 film AVATAR, the destructive, panther-like Thanator creature reminded me of Sabor.

Instead of simply swinging on vines, Disney's extreme sports Tarzan "surfs" through the trees.

You would think that Tarzan would have a beard, but I guess the gorillas taught him how to shave.

In Tarzan, Jane is a refreshing comical character.

One of the highlights of the film is the extensive "Baboon Chase" sequence, which starts with Jane sketching a Baby Baboon.

Jane's loving father is Professor Porter.

The Porter toy rides a bike, which is pretty impressive.

Clayton guides Jane and Porter, and he has facial hair, so you know he's the villain.

Clayton has a rather gruesome death by vines.

Terk the Gorilla (voiced by Rosie O'Donnell) sings a song called "Trashin' the Camp."

"Trashin the Camp" was also covered by 'N Sync for the film's soundtrack.

Tantor the Elephant was voiced by Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld).

The Tantor McDonald's toy is appropriately LARGE.

Tarzan inspired different McDonald's Happy Meal toys around the world.

There are 10 toys in the Tarzan McDonald's Happy Meal set from Australia.

The Australian set of toys seems a bit "low cost" compared to the American set, but I think the Australian set is charming and unique.

Jane enjoys sketching detailed drawings of Jungle animals and a wild man wearing a loincloth.

Though the Australian set of toys isn't lavish, it is nice that it mixes materials.  Jane has a real paper sketchbook.

Baby Tarzan will always be in Kala's heart.

I think there was a missed opportunity with Kala's voice.  Carol Burnett could have voiced Kala, and performed her famous "Tarzan Yell", giving a new twist to the origin of the Tarzan Yell.

The Sabor action figure is easy to spot.

Sabor may very well be the most feral Disney character ever created.

Clayton seems tame compared to Sabor.

Clayton uses antlers in all of his decorating, in addition to Gorilla Fur accent pillows (we can assume).

The Australian Tarzan McDonald's Happy Meal has a tree full of Baby Baboons.

Though there was only one Baby Baboon in the film, some of the International McDonald's Happy Meals featured multiple baby baboons.  Perhaps they did this to represent the mob of baboons in the movie in a kinder, cuter way.

Professor Porter sets up an elaborate camp that is just waiting to be trashed.

The gorillas will have to teach Porter and Clayton how to shave, just like they taught Tarzan.

Terk enjoys playing songs using pots and pans.

Terk, of course, is a New Yorker, so she's seen STOMP on Broadway.

Some very interesting character choices were made for the Australian McDonald's Tarzan Happy Meal.  Tantor the Elephant is not represented, but Flynt the Gorilla has a toy.

Flynt and his friend Mungo are Terk's cronies.

Young Mungo was voiced by Jason Marsden (Max in A Goofy Movie).

The Mungo "record player" is one of the most elaborate toys in the Australian set, yet Mungo is one of the most minor characters in the Tarzan movie.  Things really are upside-down in Australia.

Would you fancy a spot of tea with your Happy Meal?  Jane, Porter and Clayton's local McDonald's in England had a different set of Tarzan toys.  The Tantor toy looks the same as the American set, but all the others are slightly different.  Kerchak is featured here, climbing a tree that is about a foot tall when assembled.

Three magnetic Baby Baboons can be attached to Jane.  Clayton has a cloth jacket.  Tarzan's pose and vine are a bit different from the USA set, as is Clayton's bike.  The Kala/Tarzan toy and the Terk toy are also significantly different from the American set.

The U.K. Tarzan McDonald's Happy Meal had some beautiful boxes.  If I remember correctly, McDonald's in the USA used simple bags.

In addition to the Happy Meal, McDonald's in the U.K. had a Jungle Chicken meal, a Jungle McDouble and a toffee and banana sundae.

Tarzan was one of the last hand-drawn Disney animated films to have a great deal of merchandise, including Jungle Bachelorette Party Tarzan and Jane dolls (includes stacks of tiny $1 bills).

I bet Barbie would ditch Ken in an instant if the Tarzan doll appeared near her toybox.

Years before the TV series Scandal, Tony Goldwyn played Tarzan.  I wonder if that information has or will inspire any sort of Tarzan/Scandal FanFiction.

Minnie Driver provided a very fun (and funny) version of Jane.

For the video release of Tarzan, McDonald's had a chain-reaction "Mouse-Trap" type set of McDonald's Happy Meal toys.  When joined together, the toys created a jungle playset.

I used this Tarzan McDonald's playset to create Disney's Animal Kingdom Pandora AVATAR McDonald's Happy Meal.  (Click the link to see that).

Quite a bit of Tarzan McDonald's Happy Meal toys were created.  I will be adding more here gradually.  Stay tuned!

Finding Nemo At McDonald's

Fish are friends, not food, even when they are found in McDonald's Happy Meals.

Nemo the clownfish is in good company with Ronald McDonald.

The eight Disney Pixar Finding Nemo McDonald's toys sold in the Summer of 2003 are something of an engineering marvel: they are plastic water squirt toys that have a sound or light feature.

Have you found a Finding Nemo Coloring Page?  No, it's the highly detailed, somewhat peculiar instructions for the Nemo Happy Meal toy.

The Nemo toy has a sound feature.  What line from the movie does talking Nemo say?  I'm guessing it is not "I hate you."

The Wonder Twins give each other an electric shock by touching fingers so they can show how to properly operate Nemo.

These directions are hilarious to me, and I can think of so many things to say that would get me in trouble.

When I got these toys, I was obsessed with keeping them "Mint In Package."

I finally opened the toys to write this story, and most of them don't work.

Pearl the octopus is Nemo's friend from school.  She is part of the gang that slips away from Mr. Ray's class, resulting in Nemo getting taken from the Great Barrier Reef by divers.

Pearl is a Flapjack Octopus.  The flapping "ears" on the top of the head (actually fins) inspired the name "Dumbo Octopus" for this type of octopus.

The directions for the Pearl the Octopus toy seem to have a Japanese Anime feel.

If you want to make your Pearl toy "ink" like she did in the movie, simply fill your bathtub with India Ink.

Pearl lights up.  I have a feeling many people have thought this toy is "Bad Squishy" the jellyfish and not an octopus.

This is one of the few toys in the set that I have that actually works.

A great deal of Pearl merchandise has been sold over the years, even though the character has very little screen time in Finding Nemo.

I'm guessing Pearl was popular with toy manufacturers because she is a cute pink octopus.

Nemo is taken to a dentist's office in Sydney, Australia.  There, he meets the Tank Gang, led by Gill (voiced by Willem Dafoe).

Willem Dafoe played the villain Green Goblin in the 2002 film version of Marvel's Spider-Man.

Gill's scar lights up.  The special feature may be odd, but this toy does function (Gill and Pearl are the only toys that can perform their special trick).

Gill tells Nemo that all drains lead to the ocean.  When Finding Nemo was in movie theaters, many kids decided to send their mom and dad's expensive aquarium fish back to the sea by flushing them down the toilet.

I would like to go on record and say that, in my experience, it is easier to take care of a dog or a cat than a small pet in a cage or an aquarium.  As a kid, I had fish that jumped out of the tank or got Ich.

I also had trouble taking care of a Guinea Pig.  You have to clean their cage ALL THE TIME.

Maintaining an aquarium was a nightmare for me.  Gill, I would gladly send you back to the ocean.

I really thought that Gill would have asked Nigel the Pelican to scoop up the Tank Gang in his mouth and take the fish back to the ocean.  But then the movie would have been way too short.

The Tank Gang is made up of some kooky characters that have been cooped up together too long.

Bloat the Pufferfish inflates when he gets agitated.

The Bloat toy lights up.  Well, it is supposed to.  The one I have does not.

Bloat was voiced by Brad Garrett (from Everybody Loves Raymond).

Brad Garrett is a big (tall) on-camera actor and an equally big voice-over actor.  For Pixar, he played Dim in A Bug's Life and Gusteau in Ratatouille.

It's worth noting that the inflated version of Bloat is typically used for Finding Nemo merchandise.

Like all the members of the Tank Gang, Bloat is an expert in the field of dentistry.

Dried Pufferfish with glued-on googly eyes and straw hats are frequently sold in gift shops near the beach.

You'd think that Nemo's dad could tell a good joke, but unfortunately Marlin the sad clownfish is not that funny.

Neurotic Marlin loses his wife and most of his children at the beginning of Finding Nemo.

Marlin must overcome his fears when his son Nemo is taken away.

The Marlin toy talks.  It would be funny if he said a line from the movie that was taken completely out of context, like "How do I taste, Moby?"

Albert Brooks, the voice of Marlin, is no stranger to the world of animation.  Brooks has voiced characters for The Simpsons and The Simpsons Movie.

I am a big fan of the movie Fargo (I have a Fargo snow globe!), so I flipped out when I learned that the original voice of Marlin was William H. Macy.

Because he looks so similar to Nemo, Marlin is often not used for Finding Nemo merchandise.

Luckily, the McDonald's promotion for Finding Nemo did not include a new menu item called Fish McSticks.  Unless it really did and I forgot.

Bruce the shark and his pals believe that "Fish are Friends, Not Food."

The mechanical shark used in the 1975 Steven Spielberg film Jaws was named Bruce.

Nothing makes bath time more fun than a ferocious shark with glowing red eyes.

Australian actor Barry Humphries (creator of the character Dame Edna) provided the voice of Bruce.

Bruce's Hammerhead friend, Anchor, was played by Eric Bana.

As a kid, I spent many summer vacations collecting prehistoric shark teeth on the beach in Venice, Florida ("The Shark Tooth Capital of the World").  We filled jars full of the teeth, which are very easy to find.

Bruce was featured prominently in the marketing campaign for Finding Nemo, though the character only appears in one major sequence, and then at the end of the film.

Bruce has been a popular merchandising character.  It's no secret that kids (and adults) love sharks.

Squirt the turtle helps Marlin reach Sydney via the East Australian Current.  Squirt lights the way with his glowing shell.  Wait, that does not happen in the movie.  Squirt's shell does glow for the McDonald's toy, though.

Squirt's surfer-dude father, Crush, stars in Turtle Talk With Crush, an interactive show at Disney theme parks.

Turtle Talk With Crush is at Epcot (Walt Disney World in Florida), Disney's California Adventure (Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California), and at Tokyo DisneySea (Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan).  A temporary version of the show also played at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Walt Disney World's The Living Seas at Epcot became The Seas With Nemo and Friends in 2007.

In France, Crush's Coaster (a spinning roller coaster) opened in 2007 at the Walt Disney Studios theme park at the Disneyland Paris Resort.

At Disneyland in California, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened in 2007, upgrading the Submarine Voyage attraction that opened in 1959.

Finding Nemo: The Musical opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida in 2007.  New songs were created for the show by Avenue Q and Frozen musicians Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.  Puppets for the production were developed by Michael Curry, who worked on the stage version of The Lion King.

At Walt Disney World in Florida, humans can "sleep with the fishes" in the Finding Nemo section of Disney's Art of Animation Resort hotel, which opened in 2012.

Forgetful, optimistic Dory helps Marlin find Nemo.

Voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, Dory has some of the best lines in Finding Nemo.

The Dory toy has a sound feature.  I think she should say "Careful of that hammer."  Or "Seamonkey has my money."  Or "Bad Squishy!"

Throughout the movie, Dory gets Nemo's name wrong.  She calls him Bingo, Harpo, Chico, Elmo and Fabio.

Dory is a Royal Blue Tang.  If you see this fish at an Aquarium and there are kids there, chances are you will hear "Dory! Dory! Dory!"  Of course if you see a Clownfish, you'll hear "Nemo!!"

Dory speaks Whale.  It would have been funny if this toy made all her whale sounds.

The Finding Nemo universe will expand with a new film called Finding Dory.

Among the new characters in Finding Dory are Dory's parents (played by Diane Keaton and American Pie patriarch Eugene Levy), Dory's adopted Killer Whale sister (voiced by Kaitlin Olson from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and a Beluga Whale (Modern Family star Ty Burrell).

I've always been interested in Australian animals, including Weedy and Leafy Sea Dragons (relatives of Seahorses).  I was surprised that these amazing creatures did not appear in Finding Nemo.  I'll never forget seeing them at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

I came up with my own characters, Sea Dragons and the Yeti Crab.  Yes, a Yeti Crab is a real (fairly recently discovered) hairy crustacean that is also called a Bigfoot Lobster.  Crazy but true!

Sea Dragons and the Yeti Crab by Dan Alexander

Keep your eyes open for Weedy and Leafy Sea Dragons in a movie called Finding Sea Dragons.  The Yeti Crab will get a spin-off called Alaskan King Crab Kong.  Then the adventures continue with How To Train Your Sea Dragons and Sea Dragons: The Desolation of Smaug.