Disney's Beauty And The Beast At Burger King, Pizza Hut And McDonald's

Beauty and the Beast are known for their love of fine French cuisine, but they have also been associated with French Fries found at burger joints all over the world.

When "Beauty and the Beast" debuted in 1991, the film was promoted by Burger King in the United States.

"Beauty and the Beast" was the first Disney Burger King Kids Club toy set.

At the time, fast food promotions typically featured four premiums, with a different toy to collect each week.

Over the years, the number of different toys offered during promotions increased.

Burger King's Belle and Beast are action figures.

Chip is a pull-back mobile figure and Cogsworth is a wind-up toy.

Beauty and the Beast was a big hit for Disney, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Back then, Paula Abdul was really popular (it looks like somehow she is trying to upstage Belle here), and was not known as a former judge on American Idol.

Disney's deal with Burger King was not exclusive.  For the video release of "Beauty and the Beast," Pizza Hut sold vinyl puppets of Belle, Beast, Cogsworth and Chip.

Pizza Hut also sold puppets for "The Land Before Time", "Casper" and "Flipper".

Outside of the United States, McDonald's promoted the theatrical release of "Beauty and the Beast."  The Happy Meal set is similar to Burger King's toys, though Mrs. Potts was represented instead of Chip.

Many international McDonald's restaurants also sold a set of Beauty and the Beast plush toys.

Tonight, on a very special episode of "Blossom," the Beast gives his enchanted rose to a new dance partner.

Before Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) signed her Relationship Agreement with Sheldon Cooper on "The Big Bang Theory", she had a whirlwind romance with the Beast.

Like Sheldon, the Beast is a big fan of Star Trek.

The Beast joined Patrick Stewart, Pinocchio, Magica De Spell, Darkwing Duck and Jessica Rabbit for a very special Star Trek mission.  You know Sheldon Cooper is more jealous of the Beast's Star Trek experience than the Beast's dance with Amy Farrah Fowler.

By 2002, Disney and McDonald's were in the midst of an exclusive, multi-year global promotional partnership.  Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition toys could be found in Happy Meals.

Belle loves to balance stacks of books.  No wonder the whole town sang about her being odd, right in front of her.

Belle used to be a waitress before she met the Beast.

Belle broke a lot of dishes when she was a waitress.  Don't worry, those dishes could not sing or dance.

The Beast guards the enchanted Rose.

An Enchantress cast a spell over the spoiled Prince's Castle, which turned the Prince into a Beast and all the servants (thousands of them, apparently) into forks, spoons, dishes, knives, candles, cups, clocks, sporks and Swiffer Sweepers.

Let's talk about the directions for the McDonald's toys.  They are hilarious.

I have this toy and I still don't know what it is supposed to do.

Lumiere wants you to be his guest.  He has a song prepared for you.

Lumiere blinks, opens his mouth, and does tricks (like the Featherduster).

Playing with Lumiere is the only time it is OK to play with fire.

At Walt Disney World in Florida, an animated Lumiere stars in the 3D "Mickey's Philharmagic" and in "Enchanted Tales With Belle" in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom.

Mrs. Potts offers you a spot of tea.  From inside her head.

Chip, the cracked cup, is the son of Mrs. Potts.  Thankfully, when Chip becomes human again, he is not missing a chunk of his head.

Mix your favorite drinks with Mrs. Potts and Chip.

When you pour cold water into Chip, it looks like he shivers.  Wouldn't you?

Gaston is the most popular and hairy fellow in town, and he is in love with Belle.

No one shoots like Gaston, or knocks boots like Gaston (so he says).

Belle digs hairy guys, but she also likes it when they look like a cross between a gorilla and a buffalo.  Sorry, Gaston!

Visitors to Fantasyland at Walt Disney World in Florida can now dine at Gaston's Tavern (decorated with antlers, of course) and at the Be Our Guest Restaurant.  I hear the Grey Stuff is delicious.

It is always snowing at the Beast's Castle, where the food is prepared by kitchen utensils that can dance and sing.

Belle had the idea to install a pick-up "drive-thru" window for those Walt Disney World guests who want to quickly grab and eat some Be Our Guest food and then ride the Mad Tea Party.  Simply talk into the mouth of one of the gargoyles outside the Castle to place your order.

Be Our Guest and Gaston's Tavern are so popular that Belle and the Beast want to open a national chain of restaurants.  Featured items include Beast's Roast Turducken Feast, Belle's Beauty and the Beet Salad, Lumiere's Flame Broiled Escargot, Cogsworth's Five Minute Eggs, Gaston's Jerk Suckling Pig, Mrs. Potts Long Island Ice Tea, Chip's Chocolate Chip Cookie, and the Hershey's French Kisses Hot Sundae.

The Enchanted Objects will be equal partners in any restaurant venture with Beauty and the Beast, as part of a settlement of their lawsuit against the Beast.  This was for years of trauma they suffered from being transformed from humans to knick-knacks (this includes therapy for Chip, who had to spend most of his childhood as a cup).

When Mechanical Dinosaurs Roamed The Land Before Time

Did you see that episode of Matt Groening's TV show "Futurama" called "A Clockwork Origin" and think the robot dinosaurs in that show would make cool toys?  I did.  Then I remembered that there were toys similar to them in the 1980s.

They were teeny, tiny Tomy toy Dinosaur robots from Japan.  They could be found in the United States in 1985.

Robo Strux were "Robot Monsters" that looked like a Triceratops (Brutox), a Stegosaurus (Gordox), a Pterodactyl (Radox) and a T-Rex (Terox).

Your children will love trying to take over the world with robotic dinosaurs.

Best slogan ever for Robo Strux, spoken by the kid in this ad: "Once I finish building Terox, the world will never be safe from robot fury again!"

Radox and Terox get into a fight and threaten to destroy your living room.

Terox looks like the offspring of Godzilla and one of the Transformers.

Tonka knew that kids loved robots and dinosaurs.  That's why the dinosaur-like ZOD joined the GoBots in 1984.

Look for Shia LaBeouf to star in Michael Bay's GoBots movie in 2020.

Tyco launched its armor-suited Dino-Riders toy line in 1988.  That was a big year for dinosaurs.

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and animation director Don Bluth joined forces for Universal's 1988 animated feature "The Land Before Time."  This USA Today article mentions popular tie-ins at Pizza Hut and J.C. Penney.

The Land Before Time proved to be a massive hit, spawning what seems like dozens of sequels, essentially creating the Direct-To-Video market.

By 1997, The Land Before Time hit Burger King in the form of wind-up toy dinosaurs.

Universal's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" was the big summer movie in 1997.  Rather than use that film for its Kid's Meal, Burger King chose to use the latest Land Before Time project.

In 2013, Burger King did release a Kids Meal tied to "Jurassic Park 3D."

Littlefoot is a wind up toy that walks and moves his tail and head.  Back in 1988, I think he would be called a brontosaurus, but I guess the term "brontosaurus" no longer exists, so now he'd be called an "apatosaurus."

Check out the offer from CompUSA.  Better act fast before the chain goes extinct!

The Land Before Time has been described as "Bambi with scales."

Littlefoot does have the same coloring as Bambi.  And the same eyelashes.  And both characters lost their moms onscreen, traumatizing many young children.

Wind-up Ducky does acrobatic tricks.

Ducky did not appear in the movie "Pretty in Pink."  That was Jon Cryer (from "Two and a Half Men") and the character he played was named "Duckie."

Ducky reminds me of Thumper from "Bambi."

I think this tiny character stole the movie.

Technically, the Petrie toy is not mechanical.  It is a squirt toy.

The instructions say "Use water only."  What else would a kid use?  Don't answer that.

Petrie also flaps his wings.

Petrie is famous for having very different and inconsistent color schemes in various forms of media.  For this toy, they decided to make him orange and tan.

Spike chows down on some leaves.

It would have been darkly funny, but inappropriate, to have a Sharptooth (the T-Rex from the first film) toy chowing down on another dinosaur.

Spike was a dinosaur of few words.  He just ate stuff.

As the Land Before Time franchise moved forward, many new dinosaur characters were added.

Like Sharptooth, Chomper is a T-Rex.  That is where the similarities end.

Chomper rolls forward and has some terrifying chomping action.

The Chomper character became a series regular in the Land Before Time animated TV show.

A plush Land Before Time dinosaur toy appears in Universal's 1999 movie "Mystery Men" starring Ben Stiller.

Tomy had another line of robots called "Starriors" in 1985.

This makes me think of "Truckasaurus" from "The Simpsons," another animated Matt Groening TV series.

For more dinosaur fun with Denver the Last Dinosaur, Dinersaurs cereal, cowboys, Snoopy and more, visit Knott's Berry Farm: Kingdom of the Dinosaurs.

Also, be sure to check out Jurassic Park: Carnotaurus And Chaos Effect.