Best Easter eggs in Disney’s Wish
DisneyDisney fans, look alive! You’ve got plenty of clues to find. Here’s a roundup of the best Disney Easter eggs featured in new animated celebration movie Wish.
With 2023 marking 100 years since the beginning of the world-famous Walt Disney Studios, the cherry on their cake is the release of their latest film, Wish.
The official synopsis reads: “Young Asha makes a wish so powerful that it’s answered by a cosmic force, a little ball of boundless energy called Star. With Star’s help, Asha must save her kingdom from King Magnifico and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.”
Not only is Wish its own story but there are plenty of details relating back to movies of the past. Here’s a roundup of the best Disney Easter eggs featured in Wish. Warning – major spoilers ahead!
Best Easter eggs in Disney’s Wish
Below you’ll find a list of the best – and our favorite – Easter eggs found in Disney’s centennial celebration movie, Wish.
That being said, this list isn’t a be-all-or-end-all roundup of every detail featured in the film. As any Disney fan knows, Easter eggs are a gift that keep on giving with every rewatch.
Check out the full trailer for Wish here:
Storybook intro
DisneyOnce upon a time, every animated Disney movie started with a storybook introduction, making this a classic Disney Easter egg in Wish.
Flipping through the pages of a storybook, Wish sets in scene in the traditional manner, ending the movie with the pages closing in iconic “The End” fashion.
Asha’s friends
DisneyViewers might feel like Asha’s friends – Dahlia, Dario, Safi, Bazeema, Simon, Hal, and Gabo – all look familiar, and that’s because they are.
Each friend is based on a different character from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with best friend Dahlia a mix between Doc and Snow White herself.
Past Disney characters are back
DisneyNot only are the Disney Easter eggs in Wish hidden in the small details, but they also lay waiting in plain sight.
Past Disney characters come back to say hello in the kingdom of Rosas, with Little John from Robin Hood, Bambi, and Peter Pan among them.
Wish’s talking animals
DisneyOnce Star grants Valentino the goat’s wish to be able to talk, plenty of the other animals in Rosas begin to follow suit.
This is the ultimate nod to the whimsical talking animals in Disney’s past, present, and future, resulting in a banging musical number to match the studios’ best.
The forest and wishing well
DisneyAs wishing is a central theme in Asha’s journey, it makes sense that a Disney Wish Easter egg would be a wishing well.
This is a clear nod to Snow White, with Asha’s trip through the forest of Rosas possibly similar to Once Upon A Dream in Sleeping Beauty.
Valentino’s wish
DisneyTowards the end of Wish, Valentino states that his new wish is for there to be a safe haven where all talking mammals are alike – while wearing clothes.
This is a clear reference to Zootopia, which came out back in 2016.
Mickey Mouse motifs
DisneyThroughout Wish, Star can often be seen making or drawing different Mickey Mouse motifs.
Much like you might try and find hidden Mickeys in one of Disney’s many parks, the mouse motifs feature in unfinished drawings and bubbles – to name a few.
The wishing tree
DisneyWhile Asha recounts a speech given to her by her late father – which resembles Mufasa talking to Simba with “the stars are there to guide us,” in The Lion King – the “wishing tree” might also resemble an iconic Disney landmark.
The tree looks somewhat like the Tree of Life, which is featured in the Animal Kingdom park in Walt Disney World, Florida.
King Magnifico’s ‘lab’
DisneyWhile he harbors Rosas’ wishes, King Magnifico’s lab in Wish is stacked full of potential Disney Easter eggs.
Moving books reference The Sword and the Stone, animated objects hark back to Beauty and the Beast, the dungeon stairs have similarities to Snow White’s house, while Asha’s time there resembles the iconic scenes from Fantasia.
When Asha’s friends try to open to lab’s roof to release the kingdom’s wishes, the notion of jumping off a balcony with a rope could hint at The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While they do so, one of the friends lets rip with the iconic Tarzan yell.
Star’s yarn
DisneyWhen Star introduces itself to Asha and Valentino, it is seen playing with a ball of yarn. Later on, Star turns the yarn into many different things, including a mustache and a jumper.
This could be a Wish Disney Easter egg that pays homage to the Aristocats, with Marie frequently seen playing with a similar pink ball of yarn.
King Magnifico turns bad
DisneyAs King Magnifico’s powers turn from bad to worse, he references plenty of classic Disney villains gone by.
Key traits include crushing motions he uses to destroy wishes, the traditional villain’s lair, green eyes and powers that reference movies such as Aladdin, and his fate of being obsessed with and later locked up in a mirror. Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Definitely not him.
Queen Amaya
DisneyQueen Amaya isn’t only instrumental in saving Rosas from her husband, but she also holds Disney Easter eggs all her own throughout Wish.
In the film’s final scene, a talking mouse delivers an essential message to her, referencing Cinderella’s famous sidekicks. Stylistically, she also resembles Queen Elinor in the 2012 movie Brave.
The kingdom of Rosas
DisneyThe kingdom of Rosas is Disney through and through, taking the best of Frozen’s Arendelle, Tangled’s Corona, and the lively spirit of Encanto’s Casa Madrigal and fusing them into one.
The kingdom flag also bears resemblance to Tangled, alongside the Wish bubbles being released into the night’s sky – just like Corona’s lanterns. The structure of Rosas itself – particularly its castle – has the feel of the Disney logo too.
Asha’s hair
DisneyHave you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue full moon? Asha probably hasn’t, but her hair certainly is a nod to Pocahontas.
Not only is Asha at one with nature, but her hair in one scene pays tribute to Colours of the Wind during an epic ballad.
Aurora’s dress
DisneyWhen Asha and the kingdom of Rosas begin to discover their wishes, one lucky townsperson gets theirs granted.
Revealing to the crowd that she wanted to make the best dresses ever seen during the wishing ceremony, the dress used to visualize her dreams is Aurora’s from Sleeping Beauty.
Wish heads to theaters on November 22 and worldwide on November 24. Check out other hubs below: