Most of us have seen Disney classics like The Lion King, Beauty And The Beast, and The Little Mermaid more times in our lives than we could count. With many of those movies we grew up with, they’d then return to screens as a Christmas special, or we’d put them on for our own kids in a bid to share that sweet sense of nostalgia. We turned into adults, but our love for Disney stayed.
So, for Disney aficionados like us, we have a special treat. Get your popcorn ready for this collection full of hidden germs and tiny details that require either an exceptionally sharp eye or the whole fun club to fish them out.
Have something that’s not on this list? Share the little details you've spotted in the comment section below, so we can all have the pleasure of turning into Disney-fueled detectives.
#1
In Aladdin, Genie wears a Hawaiian shirt and Goofy hat near the end of the film as a tribute to Robin Willams’ outfit in the 1989 short “Back To Neverland” that was filmed for Disney’s MGM Studios.
Image credits: 1upgamer
#2
In Aladdin, the Genie writes Aladdin’s order from right to left, which is how Arabic would be actually written.
Image credits: vcorgi
#3
In Zootopia, Nick first answers "yes" when asked if he's ever been arrested, and then crosses over it.
Image credits: spicy_memays
#4
In Disney’s Hercules (1997) the Fates tell Hades "In 18 years precisely the planets will align ever so nicely", but only show 6 planets. The Greeks were only aware of 5 planets (plus Earth) which they could see with the naked eye.
Image credits: beerbellybegone
#5
In The Lion King, the lions retract/extend their claws as needed (even in subtle moments) ... but Scar's claws are always out.
Image credits: djublonskopf
#6
In Disney's 'Aladdin', the Genie sings "Well, Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherazade had a thousand tales." Scheherazade actually had One thousand and one Arabian tales, but one of them was the tale of Aladdin.
Image credits: Djammer
#7
In Hercules (1997) when Hercules first walks into Phil's cabin he hits his head on the mast of the Argo. In the original myth, Jason, the captain of the Argo, was killed when the mast hit his head.
Image credits: overhead_albatross
#8
In The Lion King, (1994) Nala used her anti-pounce maneuver on Simba as a cub and a grown lioness. When he fights Scar at Pride Rock, Simba finally puts the maneuver to good use.
Image credits: reddit.com
#9
Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" (2002) used watercolor backgrounds, exclusively. The studio had some financial failures and was doing ambitious things elsewhere, so they left the filmmakers to their own devices, off at the Florida studio. The only other watercolor films are Dumbo and Snow White.
Image credits: 1ightsaber
#10
Whenever Maui changes into an animal on Moana, the hook shows up somewhere on his body.
Image credits: zub74
#11
In Disney's Tron, the main characters fly over a digital landscape, including this familiar rodent-shaped lake.
Image credits: tenillusions
#12
In Moana, a villager foreshadows the chicken's unsuccessful attempt to consume Maui.
Image credits: missjardinera
#13
In Disney’s Tangled, after Mother Gothel says “I love you most” to Rapunzel instead of kissing her forehead Mother Gothel kisses Rapunzel’s hair, which is her source of youth.
Image credits: TheCutestOfBeans
#14
In Disney’s The Rescuers (1977), Orville the Albatross is seen using a runway and requires a running start before taking flight. This is because albatrosses in real life also require a running start due to their significant size and weight.
Image credits: The_Civil_Soldier
#15
In The Princess and the Frog, when Tiana is going to her second job, the Magic Carpet from Aladin is the floor rug an old lady is shaking out.
Image credits: Scaulbylausis
#16
In Lilo & Stitch (2002) Stitch’s adoption paper Nani signs is actually a thank you letter from the directors and producer to the people who helped create the film.
Image credits: HellotoHorse
#17
In Disney's CINDERELLA and ALICE IN WONDERLAND, the same actress played the Fairy Godmother and the Red Queen in both the original animation and the live-action remake: Verna Felton voiced both women in the originals (1950, 1951), while Helena B. Carter played both women in the remakes (2010, 2015).
Image credits: TheWonderObservatory
#18
In Mulan (1998), Mulan mentions 'Punctual' as one of the desirable qualities in a bride. This is a callback to Aladdin when the Genie accidentally tells him to say 'Punctual'.
Image credits: Gunnrhildr
#19
In Zootopia, Nick's handkerchief was part of his Scout uniform from when he was a cub.
Image credits: WillNowHalt
#20
In 'The Little Mermaid' (1989) Ursula uses a butterfly (a symbol of transformation and mimicry) in the potion to transform herself into 'Vanessa' - which is a genus of butterfly.
Image credits: amanyggvv
#21
In 'The Little Mermaid', when Ariel rescues Eric from drowning and sings to him, she is backlit making her hair appear dark brown/black. It makes it even more conceivable that Eric believes the dark-haired human version Ursula was the one woman that rescued him.
Image credits: owlingthrough2
#22
Chicha from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) is the first pregnant female character to appear in a Disney animated feature film, according to the DVD commentary. She’s also one of the first mother characters in a Disney film not to be killed off or villainized.
Image credits: _Raines_
#23
In Saving Mr Banks (2013), you can see the special Oscar that Walt Disney won for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Image credits: Tokyono
#24
At the end of Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille (2007) Anton Ego is a little bit fatter. This is especially poignant since he states, "I don't like food, I love it... if I don't love it I don't swallow."
Image credits: mandydchew
#25
In Disney's Pinocchio (1940), Figaro has a little "sand box" next to his bed that is only visible in one shot.
Image credits: isestrex
#26
The Incredibles (2004) features a cameo by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two legendary Disney animators who worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
Image credits: Tokyono
#27
Frozen (2013) features accurate Norse runes. Disney consulted with Jack Crawford, a leading international expert in Old Norse. Crawford made several minor plot changes and coached voice actor Robert Pine, who played the bishop in the coronation scene and delivered a speech in the Norse language.
Image credits: Tokyono
#28
At the end of “Frozen”, Disney included a statement about Kristoff’s belief that all men eat their own boogers.
Image credits: pogbahimovic
#29
The blu-ray version of Disney’s Cinderella(1950) has been so scrubbed of grain that it removed some of the line work within some scenes.
Image credits: Jaxerfp
#30
In Disney's Mulan (1998) - Mulan is told "A girl can bring her family great honor in one way...by striking a good match." Both of Mulan's victories over the Huns involved lighting explosives.
Image credits: Thrillegitimate
#31
In Disney’s Princess and The Frog (2009),Tiana’s dad received the DSC (Distinguished Service Cross)—the US Army’s second highest award for valor. During WWI African-American soldiers often did not receive America’s highest recognition for bravery—the Medal of Honor.
Image credits: Joe_Smith_Actionwear
#32
In Beauty and the Beast (1991), you can see little skulls in his eyes as he falls to his death.
Image credits: TurboTitan92
#33
In Disney’s “Tangled”, Rapunzel’s crib mobile shown in the beginning of the movie foreshadows scenes and characters we see throughout the rest of the film.
Image credits: sylveonstarr
#34
In Tangled, the lantern that Rapunzel lofts back into the sky is the one lit by the queen and king (her true parents). It was the only one with the royal symbol of the sun on it.
Image credits: Dimwit0
#35
In "Ralph Breaks The Internet" (2018) the woman on the "Sassy Housewife" online ad is Aunt Cass from Big Hero 6.
Image credits: scottydo423
#36
Among the many references in the princesses' loungewear scene in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Ariel's cutlery candlestick (and a small part of her box of thingamabobs) can be spotted on the table behind Aurora.
Image credits: unknown
#37
In the movie Wreck It Ralph The high score on Fix-It Felix Jr. is 120501, a hidden reference to December, 05, 1901, Walt Disney's birthday.
Image credits: ToolBot08
#38
In Disney's Princess and the frog, the wallpaper where Dr. Facilier's shadow is, turned to cross bones.
Image credits: TheSpartanKing1
#39
Zootopia - a buck on a buck.
Image credits: ktr327
#40
In Lilo & Stitch (2002) Lilo believes Pudge the fish controls the weather. Her parents were killed in a car accident caused by treacherous rain and she feeds him sandwiches to appease him, in hopes another accident will not happen like the one that took her parents.
Image credits: HellotoHorse
#41
In "Zootopia" (2016), during the chase scene in Little Rodentia, they pass by a billboard for "Thigmo Taxis". In Biology, thigmotaxis is the movement towards or away from physical stimulus, and has been extensively studied in rodents.
Image credits: unknown
#42
In “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Frollo offers captured Gypsies silver coins for the location of Esmeralda. He asks 3 times, raising the price by 10 each time. On the 3rd time, he offers nothing. He would have otherwise offered them 30 silver pieces, the same price that bought Judas.
Image credits: ChessedGamon
#43
The Jungle Book (1967) The Vultures were originally going to be voiced by The Beatles. The band manager met with Disney and they created the images but the idea was vetoed by John Lennon. Their look and Liverpool dialects stayed, but the song was switch to a barbershop quartet.
Image credits: bcdubbs382
#44
In Disney/Pixar's Up(2009) Carl and Ellie are shown hammering nails and sawing wood on their wedding day. This is a once popular euphemism cleverly disguised as innocent enthusiasm to fix their dream home.
Image credits: floodums
#45
[The Jungle Book 2017] Mowgli picks up a cowbell and inspects it before meeting 'King Louie' played by Christopher Walken.
Image credits: Staite04
#46
In Disney's Cars; at the final race two vehicles can be seen spitting over the edge of the arena.
Image credits: sunshinecid
#47
Sultan is the name of the dog that was transformed into a footstool in “Beauty and the Beast”. Another word for “footstool” is “ottoman”. The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was called a Sultan.
Image credits: Shalamarr
#48
Bravo and Echo, the two military planes from the Disney movie Planes (2013), wear Goose and Iceman's helmets from Top Gun (1986).
Image credits: TheFfrog
#49
Honey Lemon's 'purse' have a small periodic table of elements on it which makes her own 'Elephant's toothpaste' using different elements [Big Hero 6].
Image credits: unknown
#50
In COCO (2017), the “Rivera Family of Shoemakers” started in 1921. The same year Walt Disney made his first animation.
Image credits: MrBetoJoker
#51
In Disney’s Coco, Miguel’s skeleton hands show little sign of use or age since he is a kid. However, Hector’s hands show wear and look potentially arthritic, since he was an adult when he died.
Image credits: Tappyy
#52
In The Santa Clause (1994), Tim Allen quickly grabs and tries on a tool belt, in reference to his TV show Home Improvement (1991-1999). Both produced by Walt Disney Studios.
Image credits: croctaylors
#53
In Space Jam, Daffy suggests the The Ducks as the team name. Bugs replies "What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name their team The Ducks?" Referencing the Disney film The Mighty Ducks.
Image credits: EGO224
#54
Fire Casts a Transparent Shadow. In Disney's Hercules, Hades Head of Fire Does The Same!
Image credits: jzagri
#55
In Disney’s “The Lion King” The line “What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?” was improvised by Timon’s voice actor Nathan Lane. The director liked the line so much, he decided to make a scene for it.
Image credits: karlamsloki
#56
In Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), when Mr. Fox achieves his “happiness”, the song “Love” plays. This was the same song used in Disney’s Robin Hood (1973), when two other fox characters achieved their happiness.
Image credits: SirZack17
#57
In Zootopia, Duke Weaselton is selling knock-off DVD's. One of which is Meowana. A hidden Easter egg for Disneys next big movie release, Moana.
Image credits: iamnoking
#58
In Disney’s “The Lion King” Simba eats the bugs with his pinky up. This is a reference to his royal background and manors due to his father being the “king” of the jungle.
Image credits: TheHipIngton
#59
In Disney's Mulan (1998) Mushu flips the newspaper from left to right because traditional chinese text was written in columns going from right to left.
Image credits: ThatOneDude450
#60
In Pinocchio (1940) When Jiminy Cricket opens a book to tell the story of Pinocchio at the beginning of the film, two other books which Disney would later go on to animate are on the shelf. Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan. (1953)
Image credits: ill_jill
#61
In Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) during the song “Out There” you can see Belle walking with her book just like in the “Belle” scene in Beauty and the Beast. Both movies take place in France.
Image credits: einobe13
#62
In Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” (2009), when Dr. Facilier is showing Prince Naveen his future the money pile on the tarot card is in the shape of a lily pad.
Image credits: Smithsonian30
#63
Disney's 1940 animated film Fantasia shows the dinosaurs dying off as the result of an intense drought. The theory of mass extinction as the result of an astroid strike wasn't proposed until 1980.
Image credits: hezzyb
#64
Saving Mr Banks (2013) references Disney’s censorship of the smoking habits of Walt Disney. In real life, they airbrushed cigarettes out of his hands in many old photos, leaving him with an odd two-finger salute.
Image credits: Tokyono
#65
In “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Frollo offers captured Gypsies silver coins for the location of Esmeralda. He asks 3 times, raising the price by 10 each time. On the 3rd time, he offers nothing. He would have otherwise offered them 30 silver pieces, the same price that bought Judas.
Image credits: HeDoesNotBehave
#66
In Disney's "Ratatouille" (2007), Linguini has to hide Remy before his second day of work. He offers to hide him in his pants, revealing his briefs covered in The Incredibles logo.
Image credits: its_xSKYxFOXx
#67
Charles Muntz, the villain in Pixar’s “Up,” is named after real life Disney villain Charles Mintz, who stole Walt Disney’s first creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Image credits: wdwsim23
#68
In my favorite Disney film, "Treasure Planet", you can see Stitch plushie in Jim Hawkins' room.
Image credits: Gattsu2000
#69
The Muses in Hercules (1997) during "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" are depicted as busts that are arranged like the singing busts in Disney's Haunted Mansion Ride.
Image credits: MCofPort
#70
In Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out" (2015), the playing cards that are shown in Riley's Imagination Land include her family, not the typical card faces. Her father is the king, her mother the queen, and herself the jack (with the "J" being changed to an "R" for "Riley").
Image credits: sylveonstarr
#71
In Disney•Pixar’s Ratatouille (2007) Anton Ego’s typewriter resembles a skull and his office a coffin.
Image credits: DrDreidel82
#72
In Finding Dory (2016), Dory passes by a sunken Volkswagen Beetle at the bottom of the ocean. This is a nod to the old Disney movie Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), in which one of the VW bugs that played Herbie was thrown into the ocean during filming and never got retrieved.
Image credits: MissBarker93
#73
In Saving Mr Banks starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, tribute is made to Walt's two-fingered salute as seen in many old photographs of him.
Image credits: twiggez-vous
#74
Jack Sparrow telling the bone bribing prisoners in 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' that the dog holding the cell keys is "never going to move" is an obvious but cheeky reference to the stationary audio-animatronic in the original Disneyland dark ride that hasn't moved since the attraction opened in 1967.
Image credits: JordanInTheTV
#75
In Disney’s Hercules (1997), Zeus tells Hercules that Pegasus has the brain of a bird. Pegasus then uses his feathers to emulate a peacock, which in Greek mythology was a sacred animal to Hera.
Image credits: R_J_Mcready
#76
In Disney’s new Mulan(2020) remake, the actress who announced Mulan to the emperor at the end is Ming-Na Wen (uncredited in this mvoie), the actress who voices Mulan in the 1998 animated version.
Image credits: SadPotato8
#77
In Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) Belle was willing to be locked up for the rest of her life with the beast to save her father, but unwilling to be stuck with Gaston for the rest of her life to save her father.
Image credits: susie_grace
#78
Bolt (2008). The address on Bolt’s tag is for the Disney Animation Building.
Image credits: PostyMcPostface
#79
In "Ralph Breaks the Internet" when the Tron game glitches, a small floating item can be seen for a couple of seconds. This is the character "Bit" from the original 1982 Disney film "Tron".
Image credits: CobraCabana
#80
In Crimson Peak (2015), the wallpaper in this scene is the same wallpaper used in the foyer of Disney’s 'Haunted Mansion' ride. Guillermo Del Toro included it as an “inside joke”.
Image credits: Numerous-Lemon
#81
In Enchanted (2007) the troll that chases Giselle at the beginning of the movie is wearing a loin cloth made up of the peasant dresses from previous Disney Princesses.
Image credits: BelleWhite1
#82
In Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) the fish tank behind Prof. Whitmore contains Coelacanths which some describe as a living fossil.
Image credits: Serotine
#83
In Disney's "A Goofy Movie", The GoofFather, The Goofinator, and Pup Fiction too can be seen on the movie theater marquee.
Image credits: TwoFlicksOfTheTongue
#84
Simba was the only disney character raised by two dads.
Image credits: yaffa_wan
#85
In “Ralph Breaks the Internet” (2018), Oh My Disney is surrounded by cheap motels. This is exactly what happened to the real Disneyland shortly after its opening, leading Walt to purchase a large excess of land for his next project, Disney World.
Image credits: popsfootloose949
#86
In Lilo and Stitch (2002), Disney+ has an alternative edited version where Lilo is hiding behind a pizza box instead of a dryer to satisfy safety concerns about children hiding in dryers.
Image credits: redroit
#87
In Saving Mr. Banks (2013), as Walt addresses PL Travers in his office prior to the premiere of Marry Poppins in 1964, a map of Florida is seen showing the initial interest of land that would eventually become Disney World.
Image credits: holdpriority
#88
Working on SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937), animator Ward Kimball nearly quit after his two main sequences (the dwarfs eating soup and building a bed for Snow White) were cut. Walt Disney convinced him to stay by giving him the character of Jiminy Cricket to animate in PINOCCHIO (1940).
Image credits: whenuleavethestoveon
#89
In Zootopia (2016), you can see a sign that says “Tujunga”. This is a nod to a leaky warehouse that Disney employees had to work in while the main studio was being renovated.
Image credits: Numerous-Lemon
#90
Chicha from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) is the first pregnant female character to appear in a Disney animated feature film, according to the DVD commentary. She’s also one of the first mother characters in a Disney film not to be killed off or villainized.
Image credits: StonyTark3000
from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/2QctTAN
via Boredpanda
