Major Disney Easter Eggs To Look For In Moana

The following contains minor spoilers for Moana.

Disney's animation studio has been churning out hits for decades. Few studios have a history to pull from like they do. In recent years it has become common for the studio to throw nods to their previous work into their newest feature film. Moana is no different. There are several cool easter eggs, some obvious, and some less so, throughout the latest Disney movie. There are likely even more that we saw, but here are the ones that we spotted on our viewing.

Frozen

Sven From Frozen

While Frozen was one of the biggest hits that Disney has ever seen, poor Sven the reindeer got very little of that love. In an apparent attempt to make up for this oversight, he's got the briefest of cameos in Moana. When Maui retrieves his magic fish hook in the middle of the film, he attempts to use it to transform. Unfortunately, being out of practice, it doesn't go too well. He begins to morph into one creature after another without control. One of them is clearly Sven, who looks awfully confused for showing up in such an odd spot.

Olaf

Olaf

As unlikely as it would be for a snowman to make an appearance in a movie that takes place in a tropical climate, we know that Olaf was very curious about warm weather. Unfortunately for him, it went about as well as can be expected. When Moana is loading up her boat with food prior to leaving the island, she dumps a load of fruit and coconuts into the hold, and on top of them all is one, single, carrot. It's the same carrot that makes up Olaf's nose, about the only part of him that would survive on the island.

Flounder

Flounder

The directors of Moana, Ron Clements and John Musker, were also the minds behind The Little Mermaid. For that reason, it's hardly surprising that there would be a couple references to that classic film. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker have said that Ariel's buddy Flounder shows up at one point. We're pretty sure we saw him near the end of Maui's song "You're Welcome." There are a lot of 2D fish flying around the screen, and we think he's in there, but we could be wrong. Let us know in the comments if we're crazy.

Big Hero 6

Baymax

You'd think Baymax from Big Hero 6 would be easy to spot, as he's a fairly large guy. However, in Moana he's actually much smaller. When Moana and Maui are attacked by the kakamora, among the faces of coconut pirates you can see one that has a simple white face with two black eyes connected by a line between them. It's Baymax's eyes stuck to the front of a coconut. We're pretty sure this one isn't interested in giving you medical attention, though.

Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph

Following two animated features this year, Disney will be taking 2017 off to prep for another big year in 2018. This means that the next movie from the studio will be the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph. It's likely this fact that explains his appearance during the credits of Moana. While most of the images we see are artistic renditions of sea life, the last image we see shows a similarly drawn version of Ralph, with his biceps flexed. This would appear to be the Disney version of "James Bond Will Return."

Sebastian

Sebastian

The second Little Mermaid reference comes once the credits are over. An end credits sequence reveals that Tamatoa has spent the second half of the film waiting for somebody to come help him off his back. He admonishes the audience for their lack of assistance and laments that if his name were Sebastian and if he had a Jamaican accent, everybody would be much more willing to help him out. We can't deny that's probably true.

There's also a second Sebastian reference, sort of. The film's credits include a list of all the babies born during the film's production. One of those is a baby named Sebastian. It is a Little Mermaid reference because Sebastian is the son of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who named his child after the crab from the movie. Now he's involved in the live action remake of the same movie.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.