Princess and the Frog Fun Facts & Easter Eggs

Disney World’s Splash Mountain is getting a makeover and turning into a Princess and the Frog-themed ride. While I am going to miss Brer Rabbit and his adventures I am excited about what is to come. The Princess and the Frog is a fun movie filled with some great music. Here are some fun facts you might not know about this swinging movie!

Princess and the Frog Trivia

The Princess and the Frog is Disney’s 49th animated feature. Despite a culture that started turning toward CGI animation, this movie is not computer-animated. Personally, I like the “old-fashioned” animation style.

Tiana is a Disney Princess that broke a lot of the stereotypical princess rules and portrayed the first African-American Disney Princess.

Disney Does Research. Whenever Disney makes a movie they like to research the locations so they can portray them as accurately as possible. For Princess and the Frog, filmmakers took more than 50,000 photos of local iconic images to use as reference and inspiration including places like the buildings, restaurants, and the garden district.

Directors John Musker and Ron Clements visited the New Orleans Audubon Zoo for inspiration for the animal behaviors. Filmmakers also took the Nanchez Riverboat tour to ensure the authenticity of the riverboat scenes. They also took a private tour of the streetcar system in New Orleans.

Even the sounds are real! Sound designers went to Jackson Square in New Orleans to record the sounds of the church bell and streetcar.

Who Played Tiana? Disney Legend Anika Noni Rose played Tiana but several other leading ladies wanted her role, including Beyoncé, Tyra Banks, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys.

Madeline? Tiana was originally supposed to be named Madeline, but the shortened version Maddy sounded too much like a slave name so it was changed. Some believe Tiana means Princess in Greek but that is not true.

Recycled Voices. Disney has a tradition of reusing voices in their animated films. The Princess and the Frog has one voice, in particular, that is used in many, many movies, Jim Cummings. Jim Cummings is the voice of Ray in this movie.

Was Evangeline Just a Star? Actually, Ray’s Love was the planet, Venus. Venus is the goddess of love after all so it makes sense.

What a Wardrobe! We know Elsa has a lot of on-screen looks but they are spread out between several movies and shorts. Tiana is the only princess with eleven outfits in one movie! Which look is your favorite? I think her princess dress is mesmerizing!

Disney Easter Eggs in Princess and the Frog

Aladdin’s Magic Carpet. In the opening scene, Aladdin’s carpet makes an appearance. Look for the carpet being shaken clean. The reason that there some Aladdin Eater Eggs is because the directors of Aladdin also directed this movie.

Genie’s Lamp. In the song Dig a Little Deeper Mama Odie throws around quite a few items including Genie’s lamp.

Jack Skellington. We all know Jack is on the other side. Well, Jack Skellington appears as one of Dr. Facilier’s shadowy friends from the other side.

King Triton. Take a look at the Mardi Gras Parade and you will see Ariel’s father.

Hidden Mickeys. While Tiana and Naveen escape from the three hunters, a subtly shaped Hidden Mickey appears on the hunter’s heart-patterned boxers.

A113 Appearance. A113 is not only for Pixar films. Tiana hops onto trolley A113.

Thank You for Spreading the Pixie Dust!