A thought raced through my mind. We will be taking my daughter for her first movie, could I do exactly as my mom did for my sisters and me? Accomplishing this by collecting the new McDonalds Inside Out 2 Happy Meal toy line for my daughter. If I need to go to multiple McDonalds to complete this goal, so be it. When the beanie babies were released in the late 90’s at McDonalds my mom went to so many just trying to receive every single release. When I look back on this, what was accomplished? Not a whole lot but just plain old smiles on her children’s face. But after the collection started, I realized that I was picking up and using the same emotions used in Inside Out 2. Here is my journey in collecting the collection.
JOY
Right when I started this journey, Joy was felt in that I had some kinship to the old days of McDonalds toy collecting. Also that I was going to be able to provide this for my daughter in the Summer of 2024. A new creation in that the Happy Meal box that it came in was interactive with a scan code that would let you play an Inside Out 2 pinball game on your phone with each toy lighting up in different effect. Very cool to see how far McDonald’s has come in the interactive department since I first got a Happy Meal.
FEAR
As the emotions in the film are important, I start to realize on this journey that I’m going to start to display the same in this toy collection. Returning to a McDonald’s and they tell you they still have the same toy that you got last time, gave me the Fear that I just might not even come close in collecting all 10. Talking myself into the positive by being alerted that you did not need to buy the $6 plus Happy Meal each time but could just purchase the toy outright slighted my Fear a tiny bit.
ENVY
Inside each McDonalds that I went into, I was envious at the Happy Meal toy display case. Envious that right there I could not have to search anymore and have them all for my daughters collection.  Envious at the idea that other parents would be able to accomplish this goal but I would not. I’m also envious that my daughter can sit back and just watch me get ridiculous on this Happy Meal toy journey.
ANXIETY
The daunting task of completing this collection when I know it’s in only short time that they will be removed for a different Happy Meal Toy Line. But when will this happen? What happens if I don’t receive them all? What if I care more than my daughter in completing this goal? So many thoughts that add up to a whole lot of Anxiety being present in this journey. But if I don’t let it show, it’s all good right?
ANGER
Happy Meals are going up in price. I guess before jumping in I should have done a little more research in cost in this project. Within a few different towns the price varies on the price for both Happy Meal and individual Happy Meal Toy. When asking an employee 80 Percent of the time if they could let me know which Inside Out 2 toy was available I was met with unpleasure. This was a highly disapointing part of the journey not remembered in my youth. Luckily my daughter didn’t understand this side of the coin.
THE COINS
These are the part of the journey that I feel are going to get lost the quickest. Each toy comes with three token shooters that will be able to shoot each emotionally styled coin by pulling lever on the back of the toy. Being able to line up each toy and have a coin battle with each emotion is pretty cool. Now will we be able to not lose any of these coins? Also are stickers in which you can decorate each emotion with their individual style!
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DISGUST
By week two of this journey I’m realizing I’ve eaten way too many chicken nuggets on this journey. The Good news in all this is my daughter hasn’t. Several trips have resulted in undercooked or overcooked nuggets in which the Sweet and Sour drowns it all out. But as we continue with the collection I can’t let the way this food makes me feel deter me from my goal. I guess I can voice a concern instead of sitting disgusted with a smile for my daughters sake.
EMBARRASSMENT
Something about going into any fast food establishment multiple times in a week always has me feeling embarrassed. When they know my order like i’m a regular but almost in a joking way, makes me never want to return to said place. This happened multiple times on this trip. “Look who’s back again” comments made it hard to return to certain locations while trying to collect every Happy Meal Toy!
ENUI
I almost gave up at one point. I became bored in asking every few days which toy was available. Probably because many emotions were going into this. My daughter never once got bored. Learning that Enui meant boredom by dissatisfaction while being disinterested was another fun part of this journey. Probably the emotion felt least on this journey.
SADNESS
Lots of sadness as the journey on collecting the Inside Out 2 McDonalds toys has drawn to a close. You only have one first in this world. Having been able to share in this journey with my daughter brings me tears of joy because there will never be another first or possibly other collection lol It was fun being able to laugh with her as we didn’t get the one we were looking for or when I had to return a Happy Meal because they told me the wrong toy they had. The ending to any tale brings tears of sadness.
Frank and Dave
Luckily I made it out of this whole journey in one French Fry! No authority was needed to be called based on not being able to find a certain toy! Imagining Frank and Dave coming to talk to me based on my emotions had me laughing multiple times. No Meltdowns had by either my daughter or me! Lessons on the 2024 McDonalds Happy Meal toy game were learned to a strong degree. Now my daughter can have this collection forever probably minus a few coins. Â
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This Was My First And Last McDonald's Toy Completion!
