Burger Invasion: The History of McDonald's and Disney

in 1918 the world was at war and the United States of America had recently joined the fight wanting to help a courageous fifteen-year-old from Illinois lied about his age and was sent to Connecticut to train as a Red Cross ambulance driver during training he would run into another boy with the American Red Cross ambulance corps who had coincidentally also forged his birth certificate to serve his country the young men's brief time together would not gain significance until long into their respective careers the 15-year old boy was named Raymond crock and he would go on to build the nation's most successful fast-food franchise the boy he met was named Walter Elias Disney this would be the first point of contact between McDonald's and Disney but it certainly wouldn't be the last after the war ended Ray's entrepreneurial spirit helped him survive the Great Depression he would work a number of odd jobs including real estate agent musical director and paper cup salesman though he didn't stick with the lily tulip cup company for long it seemed that the role of salesman suited him best it was during his employment at prince castles a multi mixer salesman that to buyers in particular caught his attention Richard and Maurice McDonald operated a small yet efficient fast-food restaurant in San Bernardino California in 1948 the small food joint named McDonald's was serving their hamburgers at almost half the cost of normal restaurants precooked wrapped and kept warm under heat lamps the food at McDonald's could be prepared and served in record time when Ray came to investigate why the McDonald's brothers needed eight milkshake mixers he was stunned to see the innovation taking place at the family-run business Ray saw potential in the burger joint he wanted to take the concept of this fast-food hamburger stand from its humble roots in San Bernardino and expanded across the country with its hot and ready model and no need for the traditional waitstaff McDonald's could revolutionize the way Americans eat the first step towards franchising the eatery meant that Ray was on to a serious business venture around the same time that Ray and the McDonald's brothers were preparing to open their first franchised location in Des Plaines Illinois Walt Disney was preparing for a grand opening of his own Disneyland theme park Anaheim California was nearing completion ray remembering the ambulance driver that he had met in Connecticut nearly 40 years prior decided to go out on a limb and contact Walt according to the Disney archives ray sent Walt a letter in 1954 inquiring about a possible partnership quote dear Walt I feel somewhat presumptuous addressing you in this way yet I feel sure you would not want me to address you any other way my name is Ray a crock I very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald's system I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disneyland development Turay the idea made sense they were two entrepreneurs on the cusp of introducing their new concepts to the nation unfortunately Ray's request did not get passed the vice president of Disneyland concessions as Walt was laser focused on completing all of the creative aspects of his Park before opening ray would go on to open a McDonald's location in Des Plaines in April 1955 and Walt would preside over Disneyland's grand opening just a few months later both companies would see massive success and Ray showed no hesitancy in doing what he needed to do to achieve it on his quest to open more franchises nationwide you soon realized that the profit made on food alone would not be enough to float the company ray de Deus that he could be making more money on his franchise to McDonald's locations by owning or leasing the land they were built on soon he was making a profit on the land as well as on the burgers with skyrocketing financial success it would take less than a decade for ray to strong-arm the McDonald's brothers into giving up the rights to the company a ruthless move that was the last step in making McDonald's a household name delicious mom told me never to talk to strangers well your mother's right as always but I'm Ronald McDonald give me a man that'll shake here I'll prove it I'll give you three more hamburgers but I know you're not supposed to accept gifts from strangers either like your nose thank you you really are Ronald McDonald the prosperity of the franchise nationwide would lead to public trading on the stock market in 1965 by the late 1980s McDonald's was an international sensation with over 10,000 locations although ray would not live to see the continued growth and success as he would pass in 1984 the concept of a simple hamburger had been revolutionized McDonald's was now a corporate giant and it was once again poised to make negotiations with the Walt Disney Company in the late 80s Disneyland in Anaheim was gearing up for its latest and greatest thrill ride Splash Mountain was built to be a long Foom attraction that told the story of the wily Brer Rabbit and his adventures through the briar patch as seen in the animated segments of Disney's 1946 film Song of the South Disney was looking for a way to advertise the opening of the new attraction and McDonald's would step up to the plate a joint promotion deal between Disney and McDonald's was reached with McDonald's putting down millions in advertising for the ride one of MacDonald's biggest promotions was its splash for cash game customers could purchase a beverage at McDonald's and peel away a game sticker to reveal a number of prizes including a $25,000 grand cash prize and other small prizes such as discounts on food and passes to Disneyland at one point McDonald's was even poised to sponsor the ride and one piece of concept art shows what looks to be the rides entrance prominently displaying McDonald's the commercials in advertising played such an enormous part in hyping up Splash Mountain that it even attracted international visitors however there was one slight problem massive delays and development and construction kept the ride from opening on schedule Imagineers and construction workers weren't satisfied with the ride while the designers were fixing the issues frustrated park goers were forced to watch helplessly from the sidelines the advance promotions run by McDonald's had undoubtedly sent more than a handful of visitors to the park too soon with empty promises when Splash Mountain finally opened in July of 1989 he was six months behind schedule McDonald's was disappointed in the delayed opening and after a Little Mermaid promotional tie-in in late 1989 and in rescuers down under tie-in in late 1990 the partnerships seemed to dissipate with no long-term deal being reached this is reportedly due to conflicts that arose during the elaborate marketing campaign for 1990s Dick Tracy which be perceived as a huge disappointment as they were expecting a success as big as 1989's Batman the exact issue with McDonald's promotional game tie-in the 40 million dollar Dick Tracy Crimestoppers game was unclear but whatever the issue doesn't he turn to McDonald's competitors for other tie-ins this was unfortunate for McDonald's as this was a turning point in both industries in two different major ways in the entertainment industry Disney was about to release a slate of animated films that would become critical and financial hits and in the fast food industry all of the major players were setting their sights on the younger demographic through play places and toys the practice had been going on for years but in the late 80s and early 90s the advertising and tie-ins became much more persistent Disney would partner with Pizza Hut in 1991 for Beauty and the Beast before moving its promotions to Burger King for the next five years allowing the chain to promote some of the most financially successful films ever created by the studio in 1996 McDonald's will partner with Disney for another promotional game this time introducing the wildly popular Disney video masterpiece collection trivia challenge guess would purchase food and beverages peel off a game sticker and then have to scratch off the correct answer to questions about Disney movies in the masterpiece collection the game boasted over 300 million prizes including vacations to Disney the game that could have only existed in the pre-google world infuriated librarians of all people as frustrated players would call their local information center with Disney trivia questions it was around this time that McDonald's and Disney would finally reach a long-term exclusive agreement for at least a decade Disney toys could be found in McDonald's and McDonald's could be found in Disney the deal was made with the help of newly appointed and soon to be fired Disney President Michael Ovitz who had confidence in Merrion brands from different industries this elaborate cross promotion occurred at the same time the Lucasfilm was partnering with PepsiCo in media analysts and fans worried that such promotions could potentially impact the pots to the Studios films such as Star Wars films replacing Jabba the Hutt's with Pizza the Hutt the new partnership between McDonald's and Disney would begin on January 1st 1997 and the fast-food chain would become Disney's go-to promotional sponsor McDonald's will now pay Disney 100 million dollars in royalties for the promotional use of the company's characters television shows movies and theme parks Disney CEO Michael Eisner said of the partnership quote this is the most ambitious promotional effort ever developed between two of the world's best-known family-friendly brands the agreement we announced today is a true Mick Disney production at the time of the agreement it ensured that all 18700 McDonald's locations would have exclusive rights to promote any and all things Disney movies released by Disney from 1996 through 2007 such as Hercules Mulan a bug's life Doug's first movie.tarzan Toy Story two dinosaur The Emperor's New Groove Atlantis the lost Empire Monsters Inc lilo and Stitch Treasure Planet Finding Nemo Brother Bear The Incredibles and cars just to name a few were included in McDonald's Happy Meal promotions these Happy Meal toys soon turned into hot ticket collectible items for children and adults McDonald's even went as far as selling a special edition Szechuan sauce for the release of Mulan it's estimated that McDonald's pulled in close to 1 billion dollars from all of their promotions during the 10 year span not only was Disney thriving inside of McDonald's locations the same was true in Reverse even though the sponsorship for Splash Mountain fell through in the late 1980s McDonald's was once again ready to take its place inside the Disney theme parks this time however it would be a full-on burger invasion in April 1998 the fourth theme park on Walt Disney World property opened to the public Animal Kingdom boast over 500 acres of land filled with different animal species making it a zoological theme park experience McDonald's would promote the new park with a series of Happy Meal toys that even featured a dragon for the then soon-to-be but actually never built land beastly Kingdom at the time of opening the differently themed areas of the park included the Oasis Safari Village Camp Minnie Mickey Africa Asia and Dino land USA the entire section of Dino land USA would be sponsored by none other than McDonald's just walking into Dino land today are met with Dino Rama what appears to be a quickly built land of temporary attractions but believe it or not it was even worse on opening day a spinning carnival ride Triceratops pin and the spinning coaster from evil world along with the rest of Dino Rama were not present instead the land that bared the McDonald's name and logo featured the boneyard playground the Cretaceous trail the journey into the jungle book show and theater of the wild the fossil prep lab in the 1998 dinosaur Jubilee a walkthrough attractions so temporary that it was named the 1998 dinosaur Jubilee that was until 1999 when the attraction was still there and it was renamed to yes the 1999 dinosaur Jubilee in 2000 who was renamed to simply the dinosaur Jubilee but were being removed for the Dino Rama Carnival that is there today at the back of Dinoland USA sponsored by McDonald's sat the lands a ticket attraction a thrilling race through time named countdown to extinction sponsored by McDonald's which is objectively the best name of any attraction ever created so much so that I'm going to repeat it countdown to extinction sponsored by McDonald's throughout all of Dino land it was impossible to escape the burger chains branding as guests queuing for countdown to extinction waited it would be consistently reminded via audio that their time travel trip was sponsored by McDonald's the children's boneyard play area proudly displayed a sign informing visitors that the dig site was indeed sponsored thanks in part to the golden arches even Dino lands restaurant restaurant asaurus feature McDonald's food items such as their french fries burgers and McNuggets McDonald's french fries stands were a common commodity not only throughout the Dino land section of animal kingdom but also an other theme parks on property Magic Kingdom's frontier land would see the addition of Frontierland fries and the village fry shop was added to fantasy land at MGM Studios yes could visit Fairfax fries and near the Canada Pavilion in Epcot guests could order fries McNuggets and McFlurry zat the refreshment port over in Disneyland and eventually California Adventure and Anaheim Westford ho the harbour galley and burger invasion all sold McDonald's menu items throughout the ten year partnership McDonald's restaurants even had two full service locations one at Downtown Disney in Orlando and one near Disney's Blizzard Beach Disney village in Paris was given a McDonald's restaurant right next to their rainforest cafe McDonald's clearly had a stamp over Disney property for a good portion of a decade while the 10-year partnership had no doubt been prosperous for both companies The Times and culture had dramatically changed leading up to the end of the contract in 2006 specifically America's attitudes toward the fast-food industry books and documentaries like Fast Food Nation and supersize me painted a portrait of the obesity crisis in America the federal government was working on programs to eliminate sugary soft drinks from schools around the nation there was a health conscious crisis on the rise and McDonald's was not sitting favorably in the eye of the public when the time rolled around to renew the partnership in 2006 both Disney and McDonald's mutually declined there were rumors that Disney was fearful of the stigma that came with being associated with unhealthy food and therefore decided to distance themselves from the fast-food brand even Steve Jobs the largest shareholder in the Disney Company after Disney's Pixar acquisition voiced his concerns over the implications of doing significant promotions with fast-food chains of course this specific reason was denied by Disney in both companies released their own official statements ending the contract on good terms Disney and McDonald's still engaged in occasional promotional partnerships following the split and have recently agreed to a new shorter and non-exclusive contract that began in the summer of 2018 so what happened to McDonald's presence in the Disney parks he didn't take long for the golden arches to begin fading from guests memories Fairfax fries became Toluca legs and the golden oak outpost took over the space that used to belong to Frontierland fries no longer was countdown to extinction now named dinosaur made possible by McDonald's Nora was restaurant asaurus offering McNuggets it seemed that the fast-food giants presence in the parks had left without much fanfare while Ray Kroc and Walt Disney's short time together in the Red Cross dinner results in any Center G between their business empires perhaps it was destiny that McDonald's and Disney would eventually be linked its decade-long partnership married the two brands in the minds of an entire generation and the toy promotions and presence in the parks is an error that is almost long enough ago to be nostalgic the extent of the New Deal's Disney has or will reach with the McDonald's is not yet clear but it is hard to imagine a partnership as elaborate as the one signed in 96 as Eisner said it truly was a mcdhh isni production [Music] it still smells like McDonald's you can smell the prize I'm hungry you know you're really can you really can't this isn't a joke this isn't a bit it smells just like McDonald's it's great what did you order chicken nuggets and fries okay you got to do a taste test for us okay that doesn't look exactly like it it kind of looks these same people same paper cups okay those are kind of universal see mom the cup is still red Lake McDonald yeah those are everywhere though these are french fries today tastes like McDonald's they do how much like McDonald's exactly are you serious contrary one okay that's a blown theory [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 1,158,549

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, mcdonalds, disney mcdonalds, disney mcdonalds toys, disney mcdonalds toy history, mcdonalds happy meal, mcdonalds history, disney history, happy meal history, mcdonalds disney partnership, animal kingdom dinoland usa history

Id: GRNaapiBU7Q

Length: 16min 27sec (987 seconds)

Published: Wed May 29 2019