I Knew It!

When you were a kid, did you ever go to McDonald's?  And did you beg and beg and beg and beg (need I go on?) your parent/legal guardian (make plural if needed) to get you a Happy Meal that came with one of those amazing (but in reality, cheap) toys displayed in the shining plastic...thing?

Raise your hand - I know you did.

So did I.

One time, who knows what age I was, we went to good ol' McDonald's and there showcased in the plastic...thing were several toy animals.

Yeah, animals.

I'm a sucker for animals (not including most insects).

I just had to have one.

So after begging and begging and begging and begging (need I go on?), my mom sighed and agreed.

[Well, I know she agreed.  I really don't remember the scene very well.]

Thus I waited, fidgeting, in line behind her for the food to come on the plastic tray...because with my hamburger would be a toy animal.

I most likely spent my time staring into the plastic...thing and guessing which one I'd get.

Then the food came, my mom took the tray, and we went into the playroom (but I didn't care at the moment about the play place as I did about the toy waiting for me in the Happy Meal bag!).

And what did I find inside my bag once I was able to grab it and hastily open it?

A plastic alligator.

The alligator.
Photo taken by and copyright THE Disney Freak.

Yeah.

I fell in love with her.

[Yes, I gave my toy animals genders and names!  In fact, still do.]

From that day on, I fed...I think her name was Allie?  Momentarily forgetting.

Anyway, I fed her scraps of junk of the floor since she had a top jaw that moved, revealing her pink throat inside.  Sparkles, fuzz balls, scraps of paper, beads, you name it.

Down her throat it goes!
Picture taken by and copyright THE Disney Freak.

In fact, I even shoved a glittery star into her stomach.  Once it had disappeared down her throat, I regretted it.  But I never found the right sized screwdriver so as to open her stomach.

Sometimes, my bestie would babysit her for me!  Granted, this was years ago, when we were like around six years old.  I felt like a true pet owner as I solemnly instructed her on Allie's feeding time, what to feed her, bathing time, and where to keep her.  I believe my bestie babysat (I'd say "petsat," but the spelling check hates that) Allie for a few days...but I don't remember how many times.

Now, hopefully, you laughed at some of the fun descriptions and narrator interjections, but I'm quite sure you're wondering, "Why the heck am I reading all this?  Amusing Monday?  Where's the Disney connection?"

Read on.

Several days ago, I was checking out the blogs I followed and noticed Dan Alexander Dizmentia (great blog, by the way!) had a post on some McDonald's Avatar toys (which apparently do not exist; Dan simply took some McDonald's Tarzan toys and re imagined them as Avatar-themed).

And at the bottom of the post, he linked to an earlier post on some Animal Kingdom toys available at McDonald's.  Good thing I clicked.

Because there, in the picture of the toys featured at McDonald's, was my own Allie!

The Animal Kingdom McDonald's Happy Meal toys.
Image from Dan Alexander Dizmentia and used with permission.
Allie is number 11, in the middle on the bottom row.

For awhile, I'd known Allie was a Disney toy.  Why?  It says so on her stomach!  (I'm still looking for that screwdriver...)

Only, I couldn't remember why she was a Disney toy.  She doesn't look like Tick-Tock from Peter Pan or Brutus or Nero from The Rescuers.  She just looks like a real alligator.

Thanks Dan for letting me know why she's a Disney toy!

So according to Dan's post, these toys were released at McDonald's in 1998...so I would have been around four years old.  Man, that seems young.

And she's a crocodile?  I was wrong all these years?

Guess she needs a new name - one that starts with the letter C.

But the most important thing?

I need to find that screwdriver.