When it comes to Disney princesses, there are fans, and then there are super fans. And although we consider ourselves to be in the latter category, even we were surprised to discover some of these interesting tidbits about our favorite queens-to-be.
Cinderella loses her shoe not once, but three times in the original film.
First, she loses her shoe when delivering the breakfast trays. After that, she loses her glass slipper while running away from the ball. And finally, her shoe falls off on her wedding day.
Cinderella may have been derived from an ancient Greek tale.
In the tale, a woman named Rhodopis loses her sandal in a public bath. An eagle then scoops it up and drops it on the lap of a pharaoh, who is so intrigued by the event, he starts a country-wide search for its owner.
After the pharaoh finally locates Rhodopis, the two get married.
The decision to give Ariel red hair wasn’t made at random.
Actually, Ariel was deliberately given red hair to differentiate her character from Madison in Splash, a live-action mermaid film that came out of few years prior.
The various scenes where Ariel sits on a rock were all inspired by a real-life sculpture.
The statue is called “The Little Mermaid” and is located at a harborfront in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Snow White is the youngest princess of them all.
Snow White is just 14 years old, while the other Disney princesses’ ages range from 15 to 19.
Cinderella and Tiana, both 19, are the eldest princesses.
The original drawings of Snow White were created by the same artists behind Betty Boop.
Initially, the animators drew Snow White with big red lips, long lashes, and a shorter dress. However, Walt Disney wanted Snow White to look more “wholesome” (to be fair, she was 14) and opted for more subdued features and a peasant-style dress.
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Pocahontas is one of only two Disney princesses to have tattoos.
Pocahontas has a red band around her right arm, and Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire has tattoos under her left eye.
Mulan’s name translates to “wood flower” or “magnolia.”
And as you may have noticed, magnolias are woven throughout the film as a continuous theme.
The magnolias in Mulan are likely Japanese magnolia trees, which can be found throughout the region .
Mulan and Jasmine are the only two Disney princesses who wear pants.
Let’s be real: Pants would be more practical in all the Disney princesses’ lives.
Except maybe for Princess Aurora. Gowns are pretty great for sleeping.
In The Princess and the Frog, Tiana is left-handed.
In fact, the actress who voices Tiana, Anika Noni Rose, requested that the princess be left-handed because she happens to be a lefty herself.
Beyoncé was considered for the voice of Tiana.
However, Queen Bey refused to audition, so she lost out on the opportunity.
Instead, we’ll have to wait until the live-action Lion King remake , where Beyoncé is set to play Nala.
The loose hair in Belle’s ponytail has a story behind it.
When Paige O’Hara was auditioning for the role of Belle, a piece of hair fell out of her ponytail. She then casually brushed it back.
The animators liked the moment so much, they decided to include it in the movie.
Elsa is the first Disney princess to become a queen on-screen.
However, she’s the second Disney princess to become a queen during a movie.
Princess Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire was the first Disney princess to become a queen in a film, but her coronation isn’t shown to the audience.
In Frozen, Elsa’s ice castle changes color based on her emotions.
The color symbolism is fairly standard: Blue means she’s happy, red means she’s fearful, and yellow signifies that she’s angry.
Merida is the only Disney princess who doesn’t get married to a prince.
In fact, she’s the only Disney princess who doesn’t have a love interest at all.
Finally , a fairy tale that doesn’t rely on romantic clichés!
Merida is also the first Disney princess to have brothers.
It appears as though Brave parted with a few Disney clichés, wouldn’t you say?
Merida has three brothers: Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. They are triplets.
Anya’s music box in Anastasia is based on a real object.
The real Anastasia was given a music box by Maria Feodorovna, the Empress of Russia at the time.
However, the real box was silver and featured a ballerina on top.
The drawing made by young Anastasia in the film is also based on a real drawing by the princess.
The image was created in reference to a picture that the real Anastasia drew for her father in 1914.
The early concept art for Elsa was inspired by actress/musician Bette Midler.
Claire Keane, a Disney animation artist who worked on Frozen , revealed that her early drawings of the Snow Queen had facial features based on the Grammy Award-winning singer.
During the “Let It Go” musical number, Elsa releases her cape to symbolize freeing herself from royal responsibility.
The cape is also purple, which is the classic color of royalty.
Belle’s blue dress also has a deeper meaning than we thought.
According to the original film’s art director, Belle is the only person in her town who wears blue. This symbolizes that she is unique from everyone else.
Later, when Belle meets the Beast, he’s also wearing blue (and has blue eyes) to show that he too is an outsider.
Jasmine’s outfit has significance, as well.
The film’s production designer based the characters color palettes on these rules: Blue stands for good, yellow stands for neutral, and red stands for evil.
That’s why Jasmine is dressed in head-to-toe blue!
Animators loosely based Jasmine’s appearance on the actress Jennifer Connelly.
As far as similarities go, we can definitely say that both Jasmine and Jennifer have strong brows!
Jasmine’s appearance was also inspired by one of the animator’s sisters.
And finally, Princess Aurora utters a total of 18 spoken lines in Sleeping Beauty.
For a story that’s both named after and based on her character, she plays the most passive role of all the Disney princesses!
