53 Fascinating Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Disney Films

Alicia Keys auditioned three times for this Disney princess, The Lion King's alternative casting and plenty more fun trivia!

By Jenna Mullins Oct 20, 2014 6:51 PMTags
E! Placeholder Image

Feel free to use this list to impress people at your next gathering. You're welcome.

1. Anna (Frozen) is the first Disney princess to have a duet with a villain.

2. Yen Sid, the sorcerer in Fantasia, is just "Disney" spelled backwards.

3. Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Paige O'Hara (Belle) both have cameos in Enchanted.

4. In The Lion King, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" was originally supposed to be performed by Timon and Pumba.

5. The Beatles almost had roles in a Disney movie. They were meant to be the voices of the vultures in The Jungle Book.

6. Boo from Monsters, Inc.'s real name? Mary Gibbs.

7. The character Eve from Wall-E was designed in part by the same man who designed  the iPod and iPhone.

8. Belle is the only Disney princess with hazel eyes.

9. Even though we know him as Prince Charming, we never actually find out the real name of the Prince character in Cinderella.

10. The queen in Sleeping Beauty is also never actually given a name.

11. Disney was sued by a hyena biologist for their portrayal of hyenas as villains in The Lion King.

12. If Brave's Merida straightened her curly hair, it would be four feet long.

13. Pocahontas is the only Disney princess with a tattoo.

14. Ariel is the daughter of Triton, who is the son of Poseidon. Poseidon is the brother of Zeus, who is father to Hercules. That would mean Ariel and Hercules are related.

15. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is estimated to be the most expensive film ever made, with Tangled(!) coming in at number two.

16. Elsa was supposed to be the villain in Frozen, but the producers loved "Let It Go" so much as an empowering anthem that they changed her storyline.

17. Jackie Chan provided the voice (both speaking and singing) for the Beast in the Chinese version of Beauty and the Beast.

18. Pumba is the first Disney character to ever fart onscreen. But we're sure plenty of other Disney characters fart in private.

19. Beauty and the Beast's Gaston is the first male villain to star in a princess-centric Disney film.

20. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog) is the only Disney princess with dimples

21. Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film in history to be nominated for a Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

22. Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) was originally supposed to be revealed as the hunter who shot Bambi's mother in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

23. The Lion King could have sounded way different. Sean Connery was considered for the part of Mufasa, while Eddie Murphy was almost offered the role of Timon. And Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, the voices of Timon and Pumba, originally came into read for Hyena roles.

24. "Part of Your World" was almost cut from The Little Mermaid

25. Hans from Frozen is the youngest Disney villain at age 23.

26. Dumbo is the only title character that never speaks in a film.

27. During the end fight in Beauty and the Beast, Gaston's original line was "time to die!" Disney decided this line was too dark for an animated film, so it was changed to "Belle is mine!" But you can still see Gaston's lips mouth the original line in the film.

28. Alicia Keys auditioned three times for the role of Tiana in Princess and the Frog. Beyoncé reportedly refused to audition and expected to just be offered the part.

29. Aladdin's appearance was modeled after Tom Cruise, but he was originally supposed to be modeled after Michael J. Fox.

30. Daveigh Chase, who voices Lilo in Lilo and Stitch, is also the actress who played Samara in The Ring. AKA, the scariest little girl of all time.

31. Frozen fans have been debating this since the movie came out: If Olaf had melted for Anna, would that act of true love have saved her?

32. Joss Whedon, one of the writers on Toy Story, created the character of Rex the nervous dinosaur.

33. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) is the princess with the least amount of lines and screen time in a Disney film.

34. Before Meeko, Pocohantos was supposed to have a talking turkey named Redfeather as a sidekick. He was to be voiced by John Candy, but the character was dropped when the writers decided they wanted the animals in the film to be mute.

35. The little piece of hair that constantly falls in Belle's face is an intentional character detail added so it showed that she wasn't perfect.

36. Until Merida in Brave, Ariel was the only Disney princess to have siblings.

37. Walt Disney said his favorite piece of animation is Cinderella's dress transformation.

38. Ariel is the only Disney princess to have a child. Her name is Melody.

39. Whenever Aladdin lies, you'll notice the feather on his turban falls in his face.

40. The muses in Hercules were intended to be voiced by The Spice Girls.

41. Alyssa Milano was the inspiration for Ariel's features.

42. Christian Bale voiced the character of Thomas in Pocahontas.

43. Elsa from Frozen is the only official Disney princess that isn't a teenager. She's 21. Snow White is the youngest at only 14 years old.

44. Patrick Stewart was originally offered the role of Jafar in Aladdin, but had to turn it down because he was filming Star Trek: The Next Generation.

45. When you hear the lion characters roar in The Lion King, you're actually hearing tigers. Filmmakers found that the roar from a lion was not loud enough.

46. Bruce the vegetarian shark from Finding Nemo was named after the animatronic shark used while filming Jaws.

47. These are the only animated Disney movies where the parents are both alive and present during the film: 101 Dalmatians, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Mulan, Hercules and Sleeping Beauty.

48. There are a total of 6,469,952 spots in 101 Dalmatians.

49. Rapunzel has the largest eyes out of all the Disney princesses.

50. Sebastian from The Little Mermaid almost had a British accent.

51. A deleted scene from The Little Mermaid revealed that in earlier concepts of the film, Ursula was meant to be Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt.

52. Aladdin originally had a mother who was going to appear in the film, but her character was deleted to streamline the story. There was even a song called "Proud of Your Boy" sung by Aladdin about his mother.

53. Mickey Mouse's original name? Mortimer.