40 Disney Princess Secrets You Never Knew Growing Up
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If you've ever had fantasies of fitting into Cinderella's gorgeous glass slipper, we've got some bad news about just how small that shoe supposedly was. And don't get us started on Snow White, aka a not-even-close-to-legal princess. We've got the details on some of the biggest Disney princess secrets out there. Some will warm your heart, and some will change the way you watch your favorite Disney movies forever. Read ahead to see all the secrets that only the truest fans know.
— Additional reporting by Lauren Harano
Cinderella was Walt Disney's favorite princess.
Ilene Woods, who voiced the character of Cinderella, remembered Walt Disney saying to her, "You're my favorite heroine, you know." She said, "You mean Cinderella?" "Yes," he said, "there's something about that story I associate with."
Anna is the only Disney princess who has a duet with a villain.
Boo on you, Hans, boo!
Sleeping Beauty only has 18 lines in the whole movie.
It kind of makes sense that Aurora has the fewest amount of lines of all the Disney princesses considering she is asleep for a large portion of the movie.
"Part of Your World" was almost cut from The Little Mermaid.
All because some kid in the test audience spilled his popcorn, which made the chairman of Walt Disney Studios think that children would think the slow song was boring. Can you imagine The Little Mermaid without the hoarder's anthem? Luckily, the rest of the Disney staff fought him on it, and we will forever have the iconic tune.
Belle is the only person in her town who wears blue.
This was done to show that she was an outsider among the townspeople. The Beast is later wearing blue when the two meet, and he also has blue eyes, so they are basically perfect for each other, which we already knew!
Jasmine and Mulan are the only Disney princesses who wear pants.
So . . . they were probably the comfiest Disney princesses.
Hercules and Ariel are technically cousins.
Ariel is the daughter of Triton, who is the son of Poseidon, who is the brother of Zeus who is the father of Hercules. Wonder what the holidays are like for this family . . .
The argument over the color of Aurora's dress is based on a real wardrobe squabble.
There was said to be a disagreement in the studio about what the princess's dress color should be, and the real-life discord was comically added to the film.
Beyoncé almost voiced Princess Tiana.
She allegedly didn't think she should have to audition, so her Dreamgirls castmate Anika Noni Rose got the gig instead.
Merida is the only Disney princess who doesn't have an American accent.
Which is interesting considering the princesses are thought to be from all over the world.
Ariel was created as a redhead to differentiate her from the mermaid in Splash.
Daryl Hannah starred in Splash in 1984, so Disney creators wanted Ariel to stand out from the famous blond mermaid by giving her fiery red hair.
Sleeping Beauty's Aurora is the only princess who has violet eyes.
Disney's Megara, or Meg, from Hercules was also later created with violet eyes, but she is not a princess.
The strand of hair that always falls into Belle's face was meant to show she wasn't perfect.
Linda Woolverton, the first woman to write a screenplay for a Disney movie with Beauty and the Beast, commented on creating Belle's appearance, saying, "The only thing I wrote [to describe Belle physically] was 'she has a little wisp of hair that keeps falling in her face.' Because I wanted her not to be perfect. It was important that not every hair be in place."
Elsa's ice palace changes color to reflect her feelings.
When she is happy, the castle is blue; it turns red when she is scared, yellow when she is angry, and purple when she is sad.
Cinderella's dress transformation is said to be Walt Disney's favorite piece of animation ever.
TBH, it's ours, too.
Pocahontas and Princess Anna are the only princesses with more than one love interest.
Frozen's Princess Anna is pursued by Prince Hans and Kristoff, even though only one really has good intentions. Pocahontas is courted by both Kocoum and John Smith, and actually John Rolfe if we're looking at the second movie and/or historical facts.
The dance between Prince Adam and Belle at the end of the movie is reused animation from Sleeping Beauty.
Disney was running out of time during the production of Beauty and the Beast, so they reused the animated dance between Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty.
Cinderella loses her shoe three different times throughout the film.
First, when she is delivering breakfast to her stepsisters and stepmother, second, when she is fleeing the prince's castle at midnight, and finally, as she runs down the stairs at her wedding. Girl might want to stop wearing slip-ons.
Belle's personality was inspired by a character from Little Women.
Linda Woolverton, screenwriter for Beauty and the Beast, said that she drew inspiration for Belle from Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of Jo March in the 1933 version of Little Women.
Tiana is the only princess who ever had an official job.
Cinderella pretty much did, she just didn't get paid for it.
Pocahontas might have had a different sidekick.
Initially, Pocahontas was going to have a sidekick who could speak in the form of a talking turkey named Redfeather, voiced by John Candy. Filmmakers decided to stick with mute sidekicks, and we are glad, because what would Pocahontas be without Meeko?!
Snow White is only 14 years old.
A little young to be bunking with seven other dudes and kissing strangers, if you ask us.
Jasmine is the only Disney princess to kiss a villain.
At least it was for a good cause?
Elsa is the only princess who isn't a teenager.
Before becoming queen, she is 21 years old at the time of her coronation. Cheers to that, Elsa!
Mulan and Belle were the only princesses to encounter snow.
Until Anna and Elsa came along, of course.
Aurora was the last princess to be created before Walt Disney's death.
He passed away in 1966, 23 years before The Little Mermaid was released.
Pocahontas is the only Disney princess whose character is based on a real person.
Mulan's warrior character was based on legend, not fact.
Elsa was originally the villain of Frozen.
The Snow Queen was originally portrayed as an overdramatic villain similar to Ursula or Cruella de Vil, and she was also not related to Anna. However, when the writers heard the empowering lyrics of "Let It Go," they changed the entire plot of the movie to make her the lovable and relatable antihero.
If Merida straightened her curls, her hair would be 4 feet long.
Her hair would reach the middle of her calf.
Mulan and Pocahontas are the only characters in the official Disney princess lineup who are not technically princesses.
Mulan does not come from a royal line, and she does not marry a prince. Pocahontas is the daughter of a chief and does not marry in to a royal family. Moana, who is identified as a princess in her film, is the only other princess to be a daughter of a chief.
In 1989, Ariel became Disney's first princess in 30 years.
The princess who came before her was Princess Aurora. Sleeping Beauty was released in 1959.
Mulan is based on a legendary Chinese female warrior.
In the original story of Hua Mulan, she fools the troops until the end of the war and doesn't reveal she is a woman until after it is over. Unlike Pocahontas, there isn't solid proof of her actual existence, the first of her tale being told in the Ballad of Mulan.
Rapunzel's hair is 70 feet long, with more than 100,000 individual strands.
That's a lot of hair.
Ariel was modeled after actress Alyssa Milano.
The Who's the Boss? and Charmed actress revealed that "the likeness" of Princess Ariel was based on her when she was a child.
There is an official Disney princess lineup.
The official Disney princess lineup includes Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel, Tiana, Snow White, Mulan, Aurora, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Merida, and Moana. It does not include Anna or Elsa, because Elsa is a queen in Frozen and Anna becomes a queen in Frozen 2.