10 Disney Easter Eggs You Won't Believe You Missed
The Walt Disney Company owns not one, but two of the most beloved and widely-recognized
animation studios in the history of film: Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar.
Because Disney has been around for so long, and because Pixar is so prolific, both studios
have a rich backlog of feature films and cinematic shorts, and when there's so much history behind
every frame of animation, it's hard not to want to add nods to the movies and animators
who came before.
Disney's Easter eggs are everywhere in their animated movies.
Here are ten Disney Easter eggs you won't believe you missed.
Tangled Speaking of Tangled: though it may be a very
fresh take on the tale, this Disney film is based on a very old and well-known folk tale,
the tale of Rapunzel, who is locked away in an inaccessible tower and eventually grows
her hair so long that her rescuer is able to use it as a climbing rope.
In the Disney version, her would-be rescuer, Flynn Rider, is a successful thief rather
than a dashing knight in armor, and Rapunzel is headstrong and outspoken.
But with such a traditional framework, some nods to tradition were sure to crop up.
Case in point: A spinning wheel that's a perfect 3D version of the one that Sleeping Beauty
pricked her finger on way back in the 1959 Disney movie of the same name.
Here's hoping this one isn't cursed.
Finding Dory A cast of marine life and a yellow 1978 Gyoza
pickup truck aren't all that Finding Nemo has in common with its sequel, Finding Dory:
the main character, Dory, was Nemo's forgetful companion in the original film.
And whereas Nemo had to escape an aquarium because he was going to be given as a present
to a girl named Darla who killed a fish by shaking its bag too hard, Dory finds herself
in a laboratory room at the Marine Life Institute...
where a small portrait of the very same Darla can be seen tacked to a rear wall, behind
Dory's aquarium.
It's a small world after all.
Treasure Planet Treasure Planet wasn't one of the best-received
Disney animated features, but with a solid and exciting foundation in Robert Louis Stevenson's
classic adventure tale, Treasure Island, it's still pretty enjoyable.
The space-themed tale of treasure and exploration was also clearly a labor of love for Walt
Disney Animation Studios, with frame after frame of top-notch hand-drawn animation and
a memorable score.
It also contains a sly reference to a very different movie, produced by the same studio:
early on, we see the protagonist, Jim Hawkins, as a young boy, sitting in bed and talking
with his mother.
It's heartwarming, but it's also easy to miss the little figure sitting on the end of his
bookshelf: a doll of Stitch, the blue alien from Lilo & Stitch.
Frozen In late 2013, if you were between the ages
of 3 and about 12, it's likely that Frozen was a big part of your life.
The computer animated fairy tale – an updated take on Hans Christian Andersen's famous folk
tale, “The Snow Queen,” followed protagonist Elsa through the ups and downs of being a
princess – and then a lonely queen - who has ice-based magical powers that terrify
other people.
Before things get really complicated for Elsa, though, she makes it to her 21st birthday
and is crowned the new queen before a court of visiting nobles – including Tangled's
Rapunzel and Flynn, who can both be seen in the crowd at Elsa's coronation.
The Princess and the Frog Another hand-animated movie, The Princess
and the Frog is classic Disney from beginning to end: a lovable heroine, a dastardly villain,
a handful of sidekicks and a lot of catchy showtunes.
The Cajun-tinged story features a suitably spooky bad guy, the evil Dr. Facilier, who
has “friends on the other side,” mysterious spirits that help him work his wicked bokor
magic.
In one scene, the Doctor is seen from high above, with a bloom of tall, skinny shadows
all around him, representing the dark forces that walk with him from beyond the mortal
plane.
Viewers who look quickly enough will see that one of them appears to be Jack Skellington,
the bony leader of Halloween Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The Black Cauldron An inventive reinterpretation of Lloyd Alexander's
children's fantasy book of the same name, the original story of The Black Cauldron fits
into a larger, 5-book narrative known as the Prydain Chronicles, which may help to explain
why the film version is a little confusing at times.
Nevertheless, it's a charming movie that still has a cult following even today, and like
most animated Disney films, it features a cool Easter egg of its own.
During one scene, the hero, Taran, and his companions find themselves in a cave, where
fairies appear before them.
Viewers who squint will notice that one of them is Tinkerbell, the famous hot-tempered
fairy from Disney's Peter Pan who went on to become a Disney mascot in her own right.
A Goofy Movie Cut from a more contemporary cloth than most
animated Disney feature films, A Goofy Movie exists in its own particular time and place:
America in the mid-1990s.
It was developed by Disney's TV animation studios, and based on the Disney TV show Goof
Troop.
The plot loosely revolves around Goofy's relationship with his son Max, who's trying to make it
to a concert to impress his high school love interest by appearing onstage with the singer
Powerline.
Near the end of the movie, at the Powerline concert, the camera pans over the audience,
and those who look closely will see none other than Mickey Mouse himself among the faces
in the crowd.
You know you're a major act when not even Mickey can get a VIP pass.
Finding Nemo One of the few Pixar movies popular enough
to spawn a sequel, 2003's Finding Nemo was a lighthearted tale of adventure and the power
of determination and friendship to overcome any obstacle.
At one point, Nemo ends up in a dentist's aquarium with a group of fish called the Tank
Gang, who have a plan to escape by getting placed in baggies for a tank cleaning and
then rolling off of the windowsill and out to the nearby ocean.
As Nemo imagines this trip, sharp-eyed viewers can see a yellow pizza delivery truck drive
by – the same Pizza Planet delivery truck that's appeared in every Pixar movie except
The Incredibles.
The Little Mermaid The first film of Disney's now-classic “animation
renaissance” period, this classic Hans Christian Andersen tale of a mermaid who falls in love
with a human was brushed up for modern audiences with a colorful supporting cast and a happier
ending than the original.
It was the best-received Disney animated film in years, and kicked off a string of hits
such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.
The film's love interest, Prince Eric, is fooled into marrying the evil witch Ursula,
disguised as a woman named Vanessa and using Ariel's voice to woo him.
At the wedding, guests fill the pews, and people who know what to look for can see representatives
from another Disney kingdom among the ranks of the guests: the King and Grand Duke from
the movie Cinderella.
Beauty and the Beast Belle, the heroine of this classic Disney
film, never asked to be a square peg in a round hole – she can't help it if she'd
rather read than flirt.
But her life only gets worse when her father Maurice runs across the fearsome Beast's forlorn
castle and ends up his prisoner.
Belle eventually finds him and offers to take his place, but how did Maurice get so lost
in the first place?
The answer could lie with the worn-down road sign he wasn't able to read.
The scene is dark and stormy, and the words on the signs are eroded down to almost nothing,
but people who look hard might be able to make out a couple of less than threatening
destinations: Valencia, home of the California Institute of the Arts, where many Disney animators
received their education; and Anaheim, home of the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland.
So, what are your favorite Disney Easter eggs?
Did you already know about any of these?
Wish we'd mentioned a movie that we didn't?
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