The Disney Movie Universe: Connections Through Easter Eggs

Pixar is known for having some of the most connected movies out there. Common cameos and shared backgrounds allow viewers to believe that every movie made under the Pixar name is connected; at this point it’s almost common knowledge. However, long before it was bought in 2006, Disney was making similar connections.

Disney is known for making some of the most iconic and memorable animated movies in the world. Films like The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty have become a fixture in childhoods and a topic of nostalgia for adults. Now, instant classics like Tangled and Frozen are still being added to the list of movies Disney can take credit for.

Like anything else that gets popular, Disney movies have become a source for fan speculation. Recently, a rumor began to make its way around the internet saying that The Little Mermaid, Frozen, and Tangled were all connected in an unusual way.

In Frozen, during the scene when Anna is first leaving the castle, Rapunzel and Flynn can be seen among the crowd. Fans believe that is because Anna and Elsa’s parents were killed on their way to Rapunzel and Flynn’s wedding. More rumors about the two movies have begun to circulate around Tumblr and Pinterest indicating that Anna and Elsa might actually be related to Rapunzel, explaining why their parents were invited to the wedding in the first place.

You might be wondering where The Little Mermaid comes in. Fans of Disney have started to also suspect that the sunken ship, from the accident that killed Anna and Elsa’s parents, is the very ship that Ariel investigates in her movie. Viewers insist that necessary aspects, such as geography, line up enough for the rumor to be possible.

Although those are the most recent connections between Disney movies, they are not the only ones. Other movies in the line-up are connected by various cameos, as well.

Also in The Little Mermaid, the duke and the king from Cinderella are seen as guests at the wedding. King Tritan, from The Little Mermaid, is found as the subject of a float in The Princess and the Frog. From that movie’s opening scene, one can see the magic carpet from Aladdin, which is also found in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, along with Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Pumba from The Lion King. Just about every dog in Lady and the Tramp can be seen throughout a couple of the scenes in 101 Dalmatians and Oliver And Company.

Even when characters from other Disney movies can’t make a logical cameo, they can sometimes appear as background items. In Aladdin, one of the toys the sultan stacks is actually the beast from Beauty and the Beast. A toy from Dumbo and a Mulan poster are both seen in the first Lilo & Stitch movie and a Lilo & Stitch doll is seen on the main character’s shelf in Treasure Island.

With that much evidence in play, it’s easy to see why fans of Disney would begin to start finding even more connections than Easter eggs imply. What other connections in Disney movies can you find?