Our 15 Favorite Easter Eggs from Enchanted

By Megan Deppe

Let’s face it—some of our favorite moments when watching a Disney movie come from discovering the little Easter eggs that have been dropped in to appeal to the “Disnerd” in all of us. Those details not only make us squeal with delight, but they point to how much work went into creating the magical world of the film. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, we went back and watched Enchanted, which is stuffed full of Easter eggs, and picked out our absolute favorites!

Enchanted

1. The Storybook Opening
Enchanted literally opens with an Easter egg, zooming in on a storybook that opens and begins our journey into Andalasia. This is a callback to many of Disney’s earliest films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, and The Sword in the Stone, reminding us just how much we love Disney, then and now!

Enchanted

2. Prince Edward Statue
While Giselle sings “True Love’s Kiss,” she sits on the lap of a homemade statue of Prince Edward, dreaming of the day her prince will come for her. Ring a bell for you? It should—the statue resembles the one of Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid, which Ariel sings to in her cave of trinkets from the human world.

Enchanted

3. Dopey in the Sky with Diamonds
While Giselle creates her dream prince statue, she grabs two blue jewels to use for his eyes. She holds them up to look through them, and BANG—throwback to Dopey doing the same with the jewels he got in the mine!

Enchanted

4. Riding off into the Sunset
Before their wedding day, Prince Edward saves Giselle from the troll and they fall in love, ending the scene by riding off into the sunset—a throwback to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which ends with Snow White and her prince doing the same.

Enchanted

5. A Most Evil Queen
One of the more obvious Easter eggs is the disguise that Narissa wears when she chooses to banish Giselle from Andalasia: She takes on the form of an old hag with a poison apple as her weapon of choice. While her design is not quite the same as the Evil Queen from Snow White, we all know who she’s emulating in her quest for the throne!

6. Jodi Benson Appears in the Film
Easter eggs continue to hatch when Giselle falls into the real world, where fans can spot cameo appearances by some of the actresses behind our favorite Disney princesses! The first is Sam, Robert’s secretary, who is played by Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid! Looks like she finally got her legs after all! And keep an ear out for the moment when Giselle looks through a fish tank in the office and an instrumental version of “Part of Your World” plays in the background.

Enchanted

7. “Happy Working Song” and Cinderella’s Apron
While Giselle stays at Robert’s apartment, she decides to call on her animal friends to help her clean up, singing “Happy Working Song” while she does so. This harks back to Snow White’s “Whistle While You Work” number as she cleans up the Dwarfs’ cabin. There is also a moment where a group of birds lift Giselle’s dress and tie it into an apron—much like Cinderella’s birds do as she gets ready for her day! The Cinderella references continue when Giselle scrubs the floor and bubbles float up around her, as they float around Cinderella in the “Sing Sweet Nightingale” sequence.

Enchanted

8. Hidden Mickey Dress?
Did you notice any Hidden Mickeys in the movie? If you take a close look at Giselle’s blue dress made from curtains, you’ll notice some tiny pink flowers stitched on. Now, look even closer—those pink flowers bear a striking resemblance to our main mouse! Coincidence?

9. Poison Caramel Apple
While dancing around in Central Park, Giselle is offered a caramel apple by Nathaniel. When she hesitates to take it, you can see that the caramel has dripped down the apple to form the same poisoned apple symbol that dripped down the apple meant for Snow White. Caramel may be a bit sweeter than the green stuff that the Evil Queen used, but we would still suggest that Giselle walk away!

Enchanted

10. Belle’s Hill Run
During “That’s How You Know,” there’s a moment when Giselle runs up a grassy hill with her arms spread and she makes a cute little twirl to flare out her dress. Fans of Beauty and the Beast will remember that Belle did the exact same thing while singing “Belle (Reprise)” and running away from her provincial life.

11. Paige O’Hara
And speaking of Belle, guess who makes an appearance on TV while Edward is flipping channels? There are several references to other Disney movies while Edward listens to the “magic mirror,” including characters named after several cast members from Beauty and the Beast (1991). But the only one who makes an on-screen appearance is Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle. There is also a moment where the distinct score of Beauty and the Beast plays over her—just in case you don’t recognize her without her signature yellow dress.

Enchanted

12. Bella Notte Restaurant
In a fun little reference that isn’t from a princess movie, Edward searches for Giselle downtown while she is eating at the Bella Notte restaurant, a reference to the adorable scene from Lady and the Tramp. Did she order spaghetti to share with Robert?

13. Judy Kuhn
We run into an additional Disney princess while meeting Robert’s neighbors: Edward is greeted by a mother and several children, and who might that mother be? Surely it isn’t Judy Kuhn, the singing voice of someone who can paint with all the colors of the wind? That’s right—Pocahontas is hanging out in New York City now! (Incidentally, Pocahontas had an outdoor premiere in NYC’s Central Park in 1995!)

Enchanted

14. Beauty and the Beast Sweeping Shot
As Giselle and Robert dance at the ball, there’s a shot that sweeps down over a chandelier to focus on the couple falling in love. This is a callback to the most iconic scene from the tale as old as time, as Belle and Beast share their first dance. It looks just as beautiful in 2007 and it did in 1991!

Enchanted

15. Maleficent / Dragon
The Evil Queen isn’t the only villain that Narissa chose to study in her quest to rule the world—the final battle shows that she also took a page from Maleficent’s book. Not only has Narissa studied her ability to create green fire, but she’s learned the secrets of turning into a dragon to crawl up the skyscraper and fight the heroes.

Frosty Fun with Olaf’s Frozen Adventure’s Josh Gad and Filmmakers

By Courtney Potter

That’s right: It’s almost “That Time of Year” when our friends from Arendelle—Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, mountain-man Kristoff, his trusty reindeer Sven, and everyone’s favorite sunny snowman Olaf—return to the big screen in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ brand-new featurette, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.

Premiering ahead of Disney•Pixar’s Coco for a limited time beginning November 22, the featurette follows Olaf (voice of Josh Gad) as he embarks on a very merry important mission… It’s the first holiday season since Arendelle’s gates reopened—and Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) and Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), with Kristoff’s (voice of Jonathan Groff) keen assistance, are excited to host a big celebration for the kingdom. But when the townspeople unexpectedly leave early to enjoy their own holiday customs, the sisters realize they have no family traditions to delight in together. And so, ever-helpful Olaf sets out to comb the countryside with Sven for all the very best traditions and save this inaugural Christmas for his best friends.

D23 recently sat down with Olaf’s Frozen Adventure’s Emmy®-winning directors Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton (Prep & Landing); Oscar®-winning producer Roy Conli (Big Hero 6); songwriters Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson; and Olaf himself—Josh Gad—find out some frosty-fun stories from the making of the featurette.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure

On what it was like to revisit Olaf, a character with universal appeal…
“Going into the booth and tapping into the sheer innocence and naiveté of this snowman is one of my favorite things to do,” admits Josh. “He’s so pure and he’s so untainted, and he has such a wide-eyed approach and take on life that it really is unbelievably fun to tap into that.” Roy agrees, adding about Josh, “Talk about a guy who’s all in! He embraces his character [and] knows him inside and out. So, it’s really great when we get into recording with him, because you can let him go. Jac Schaeffer, who wrote the script, was always at the recording sessions. And when we would get into some of the comedic parts, Josh would start riffing, and Jac would start riffing, and [directors] Kevin and Stevie would start riffing—and there would be just this wonderful dialogue going back and forth, from the booth to the recording room. And it just made everything better.”

On the unique visual details created by the filmmakers…
Says Kevin, “I think one thing that was interesting that our production designer Mike Giaimo—who also worked on Frozen—felt strongly about was how the story for Olaf’s Frozen Adventure takes place after the original feature, obviously. And in the feature, Elsa and Anna are reunited, everybody’s happy—and Mike felt like that sort of new dynamic of the relationship should be reflected in the basic approach to their new attire. So you’ll notice that Anna and Elsa’s outfits, their dresses and skirts and so forth—they’re harmonious in terms of color. They complement each other, [including the] fabric, as opposed to the feature where they’re quite different. So just in a subtle visual way, that’s suggesting that they’re ‘together.’ And it helps within our story, for Olaf’s character—[he sees] that they may be ‘together’ for the holidays, but they’re still not quite sure what that means. I thought that was a nice touch.”

Olaf's Frozen Adventure

On getting to work within the “palette” of a global phenomenon like Frozen…
“We knew we had huge shoes to fill, because the music of Frozen was already a worldwide sensation,” explains Elyssa—who, along with songwriting partner Kate Anderson, comes to Disney for the first time from the world of musical theater. “It is so beautifully epic, brilliant, and filled with heart. So when we were auditioning for the job, we got to hear the directors’ incredible pitch—and we immediately we felt so inspired and had a thousand and one ideas for songs. They asked us to write one demo, but we wrote five, because we knew we really wanted to give our all.”

Kate continues, “This opportunity was very meaningful to me on so many levels—one being that my sister, Kristin Anderson-Lopez, and brother-in-law Robert Lopez wrote the songs for Frozen and [helped] create that universe… and now Elyssa and I were being entrusted to continue it for the featurette. It was daunting, and yet everything I’ve ever dreamed of!”

On tackling a project with music for the first time…
“I had so much fun working on this,” admits Stevie, who co-directed the animated holiday special Prep & Landing with Kevin in 2009. “It’s so ‘quintessential Disney’ to be a musical, and it just really felt like, ‘Wow, here we are working at Disney; we’re making this thing that’s a musical. This is what it’s all about here, right?’… It was so great working with Elyssa and Kate, the songwriters—and songs are just a great way of storytelling, anyway… it was just a joy!

“And I’ve got to say, going to the scoring session a couple months ago, it really had that sort of Disney magic,” she continues. “I got all goose-bumpy in the studio room when they were recording with the full orchestra. It was really cool and really special, and you realize, ‘Oh, I’m a part of something bigger right now,’ when you hear that music.”

Olaf's Frozen Adventure

On seeing the featurette for the first time…
“When I came in and they showed me a rough cut of the film, and I heard that final song [“When We’re Together”] between the sisters, I was in tears,” said Josh Gad, who realized that Olaf’s Frozen Adventure has an impact that is especially significant for a 21-minute featurette. “But by the time I left, I realized it was so much more than that. It really surprised me. Without giving away too much, this is truly a continuation of the Frozen story—and the back-story of these characters. The emotional through-line that connects us to the first film is a very powerful one. I think that’s what surprised me the most. All of it was memorable, but that to me was the moment where I realized just how special this was.”

Catch up with Olaf and his pals when Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, featuring four brand-new songs, premieres in theaters around the U.S. on November 22!

Celebrate Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure from January 26–February 18

By Beth Deitchman

If you’ve got a brand-new 2018 calendar and can’t wait to start circling important dates, we’ve got one you won’t want to miss. Our friends at the Disney Parks Blog have just announced that the hugely popular Lunar New Year festival is returning to Disney California Adventure park again in 2018, from January 26–February 18.

The Year of the Dog gets off to a spectacular start at DCA, with live entertainment, festive foods, and more. The nighttime water show Hurry Home—Lunar New Year Celebration will once again delight guests on Paradise Bay, and your favorite Disney characters will be dressed in their holiday best, including Goofy’s turn as the God of Good Fortune. It will be a celebration for all the senses, with the returning Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession; traditional crafts; specialty Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese foods at Paradise Garden Grill; and even the opportunity to add your own wish to the Lucky Wishing Wall.

Lunar New Year Celebration at Disney California Adventure

For more details, visit Disneyland.com/LunarNewYear and stay tuned to D23.com as the spectacular celebration approaches.

Watch A New Trailer for Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time

By D23 Team

Disney fans were given a look inside the world of A Wrinkle in Time, Disney’s new epic adventure based on the beloved novel by Madeleine L’Engle, in a new trailer that debuted during ABC’s live broadcast of the 2017 American Music Awards.

Visionary director Ava DuVernay is at the helm for upcoming film, in which young Meg Murry (newcomer Storm Reid) embarks upon a transformative journey under the guidance of three remarkable celestial beings: Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling). The three “Mrs. Ws” have journeyed to earth to help Meg search for her father (Chris Pine) and embrace the “warrior” that lies within her. The film also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peňa, and Zach Galifianakis.

Oscar® winner Jennifer Lee (Frozen) wrote the screenplay based on L’Engle’s classic novel. Jim Whitaker and Catherine Hand produce, with Doug Merrifield serving as executive producer. To take audiences across dimensions of time and space, the filmmakers have assembled an impressive creative team comprised of some of the most talented artisans working today, including: Tobias Schliessler, ASC as director of photography, Naomi Shohan as production designer, Oscar nominee Spencer Averick as film editor, two-time Academy Award® nominee Paco Delgado as costume designer and four time Emmy® nominee Ramin Djawadi as composer.

Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time opens in U.S. theaters on March 9, 2018.

This Brand-New Trailer is an Incredible Start to the Weekend!

By D23 Team

They’re back—Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (voiced once again by Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (newcomer Huck Milner), and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). Incredibles 2 opens in theaters on June 15, 2018, and we’ve just gotten our first look at the upcoming film in a just-released trailer.

At D23 Expo 2017, director Brad Bird shared that the sequel to Pixar Animation Studios’ 2004 Oscar®-winning feature places the family in an expanded universe that introduces new allies and a brand-new villain. “Incredibles 2 is really a family film, it’s just that the family happens to have super powers,” Bird said. “They may have super speed or super strength, but they experience the same problems as any family.”

Super problems for the Incredibles mean super fun for Disney fans! Stay tuned to D23.com for more about Incredibles 2 as the release date nears.

5 Especial Things We Learned from Coco’s Cast & Filmmakers

By Courtney Potter

Disney•Pixar’s Coco is a colorful celebration of love, life, and familia—and recently, D23 “seized our moment” for a chance to hear some behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the stars and filmmakers themselves! On a recent sunny Southern California afternoon, director Lee Unkrich, co-director/writer Adrian Molina, and producer Darla K. Anderson gathered members of the film’s voice cast—including Benjamin Bratt and Edward James Olmos—to share stories from the making of the film… and what the heartwarming finished product means to them.

Read on for a rundown of some of their magnifico tales!

Lee Unkrich

1. Director Lee Unkrich recalls the origins of the Coco story.
“Darla and Adrian and I all worked on Toy Story 3 together,” explained Unkrich. “And when we finished that film, I started to think about what was next… one of [my ideas was] telling a story set against Dia de los Muertos [Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebration]. I had always been interested in the tradition, and I spent some time doing some research and really trying to understand more than I already knew. And the more that I dug in, the more that I learned about how central family is to this celebration… I just started to see the potential to tell a unique story—to tell a story that could only be told in animation, that could be visually dazzling, but also had the potential to have a real emotional core to it. And that was really kind of the beginning of this journey. We immediately headed down to Mexico on the first of what proved to be many lengthy research trips, and spent time learning about the traditions, learning about the culture, and spending a lot of time with many beautiful families down in Mexico.”

Benjamin Bratt

2. Benjamin Bratt explains some of the inspiration for his character, music and film legend Ernesto de la Cruz.
“The first inspiration you draw from is the image that they create,” said Bratt. “Clearly, this guy, even in a skeleton form, he’s got swagger, y’know? So it’s easy to adopt that idea, principally. But Lee and Adrian and Darla [also] pointed me in the direction of studying some of the movie clips of Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete. These were film stars, and music stars, in the equivalent strata of someone like Frank Sinatra—guys who were as beloved and as admired for their singing prowess as they were for their acting chops… Beyond that, my own father—who’s now deceased, and who I lost touch with many years before he passed on… although he was quite a bit different than Ernesto de la Cruz, he was larger than life: 6 feet 3 inches, massive frame, broad shoulders, and a booming voice. The kind of person who, no matter which room he walked into, would command attention… [It] was the kind of thing that I could draw on because it was familiar to me.”

“The brilliance of it was the real beauty of the storytelling… ”

3. Alanna Ubach, who plays Mamá Imelda, had a surprise in store for her mother during the film’s premiere.
“I was sitting in between my husband and my mother,” said Ubach, “and I told my mother that I had a surprise for her, because she used to sing [the Mexican folk song] ‘La Llorona’ to me when I was a little girl, in order to make me go to sleep… But I kept telling her, ‘I have a surprise for you.’ And she said, ‘Oh, I can’t wait. I love surprises!’ And so the lights dim, and she’s watching it, and she sees Coco, the abuella [grandmother], for the first time—and she says, ‘Ay! Mi Alanna! You’re Coco!’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no, Mom. Just keep watching.’ She said, ‘Okay.’ I watched her cry three times, and then Miguel is finally introduced. ‘Ay! Alanna, you’re Miguel! You’re the voice of Miguel!’ I’m like, ‘No, Mom, keep watching. Keep watching.’ And finally ‘La Llorona’ came on, and it was just waterworks!”

Anthony Gonzalez

4. Lee Unkrich chats about Anthony Gonzalez’s (voice of Miguel) initial audition for the role.
“At his very first audition,” says Unkrich, “we had him read a bunch of scenes [and] script pages. And then when we were all done, he took out a CD and said, ‘I brought a song I want to sing to you.’ And at that point, we didn’t even know if Miguel was going to be singing in the movie, so that wasn’t part of the audition. And unfortunately, we didn’t have a CD player that day, where we were. So Anthony, true to his great spirit, just said, ‘Oh, well, whatever—I’ll just sing it a cappella!’ And he launched into this beautiful, 10-minute-long, sweet rendition of this song, sung just to the few of us. And you know, we were already wowed by his audition, and then that just really sealed the deal.”

5. Oscar® nominee Edward James Olmos—who voices Chicharrón, a pivotal character in the film’s colorful Land of the Dead—reveals what it was like to see Coco for the first time…
As Olmos explained, “I hadn’t seen the movie [until a few days’ ago]… I walked in and sat down… and then the movie started. And an amazing feeling came across me immediately—the quality was superb; the feeling, the music, the sound, everything. The performances were extraordinary! And as it went along, my part came in, and I said, ‘Oh my!’ I felt emotional for this guy. And Chicharrón, within a matter of a few minutes, became someone that I could identify with—a relative, a friend… So then the story started to evolve. And by the time it got to the end, I was in heaving sobs… not only has pride taken over, because I am Mexican, full-blooded on everybody’s side; not only am I a person who has been inside of [the movie industry] for over 50 years; not only have I really tried to understand myself inside of this art form—but this film became something really profound. And I looked around, because I was in the last chair in the back, and the other people were all crying [too]… The brilliance of it was the real beauty of the storytelling.”

Don’t miss Disney•Pixar’s Coco, in U.S. theaters November 22!

Exclusive: Preview a New Song by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater from Tangled: The Series

By Beth Deitchman

During the Tangled: The Series panel at D23 Expo 2017, the series’ cast and creative team shared a preview of an upcoming special episode that was, both literally and figuratively, music to our ears. The tentpole episode, “Queen for a Day,”—which airs this Sunday, November 19 (7–8 p.m. ET)—finds Rapunzel in charge of Corona while the King and Queen are away. But when a blizzard strikes, Rapunzel must confront the tough decisions that come with leading a kingdom. Disney fans will enjoy all of the comedy, adventure and heart we’ve come to expect from the series, but the special episode also features something else—two songs by the team of Oscar®-winning composer and Disney Legend Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. And D23 has an exclusive clip from one of the songs:

“We knew from early on that music was going to be special in the show, and I wanted to keep it special by not using songs in every single episode,” says Executive Producer and Supervising Director Chris Sonnenburg. A lifelong student of animated and Broadway musicals, Sonnenburg notes that large music pieces often trigger a change in a character. This tentpole episode is a pivotal one for Rapunzel—and for Varian, the young alchemist, who moves further along his own “rocky” road in “Queen for a Day.” It’s emotional for both, and the characters’ feelings come through in Menken and Slater’s new songs.

The songs are a true collaboration, Sonnenburg emphasizes. Menken and Slater have been involved from the start and as lyricist, Slater works very closely with the other writers on the show. The song demos the team first receives from Menken may be starting points for what fans will hear in Sunday night’s episode, but, Sonnenburg notes, “Even though it’s pared down and a little more simplified, Alan communicates the emotion he would like to come through in the song. You can often hear his intent in the demos.”

Many years ago, Sonnenburg remembers watching Disney Legend Howard Ashman work with Jodi Benson (also a Disney Legend) during the recording of “Part of Your World” in a behind-the-scenes video from The Little Mermaid DVD. “He talked her through the moment and the space she was in, and kind of painted a picture for Jodi of what was going to be happening. Watching them interact just communicated to me at that time, ‘These are two amazing artists coming together to tell a single story,’” Sonnenburg recalls. Now, to be able to have that experience with Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Jeremy Jordan, Eden Espinoza, and the rest of the talented voice cast, is a dream come true. “I don’t want to undersell how magical that is,” he says.

Recording new songs by Menken and Slater is a highlight for the actors, as well. Before recording “Make You Proud,” the song that Jeremy Jordan sings in “Queen for a Day,” the actor would record verses and snippets of the song and send them to Sonnenburg by phone. “Jeremy is such a talented performer. Having him trust my notes, and knowing that when he performs the song it’s going to be the right tone, is part of the Disney magic,” Sonnenburg emphasizes.

Tangled The Series

Over the course of Tangled: The Series’ first season, Rapunzel has been learning a lot about herself and her role in Corona, and that will continue, Sonnenburg shares—as will the mystery of how Corona’s strange rocks come into play. “It’s very important to me that we respect the content [of the 2010 feature film Tangled],” he says, “and fans have been very supportive as we’ve built upon that mythology.” He’s also been excited to see fans rally around some of the new characters, such as Cassandra, Varian, and Lance Strongbow. “Eden Espinoza, Jeremy Jordan, and James Monroe Iglehart are all phenomenal performers and have such a great presence on Broadway,” Sonnenburg stresses. “So being able to have them be part of the family fits with the DNA of Tangled. I think the fans in the audience agree with that and they cue in to how naturally this cast fits together.”

So untangle your schedule for Sunday night and set a date to watch “Queen for a Day” on Disney Channel from 7–8 p.m. EST. “This tentpole episode is going to shake a lot of people,” says Sonnenburg, who promises, “And it’s going to be a lot of fun!”

Travel to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on a Brand-New Star Tours Experience

By Nicole Nalty

Lightspeed to Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! This morning, guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland park took the first trip to the previously unexplored planet coming to life at both parks in 2019.

Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Executive Scott Trowbridge just shared (via the Disney Parks Blog) details on this new destination, one of two new locations coming to Star Tours – The Adventures Continue at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland park. The planet, known as Batuu, was once a busy crossroads along the old sub-lightspeed trade routes, but its prominence was bypassed by the rise of hyperspace travel. Now it’s a thriving port for smugglers, rogue traders and adventurers traveling between the frontier and uncharted space—not to mention a convenient safe haven for those hoping to avoid the expanding reach of the First Order. While Batuu is a whole new planet to us (and we can’t wait to explore!), it is clearly already familiar to many characters from the Star Wars saga as a stepping-off point for epic adventures.

Star Tours Batuu location

Experience Batuu on Star Tours – The Adventures Continue now, and stay tuned for more details on all things Star Wars at Disney Parks.

5 Super Things We Learned from the Big Hero 6 The Series Cast and Crew

By Jocelyn Buhlman

Are you ready for the return of your favorite team of San Fransokyo super geniuses—back to save the day once more? The TV movie Baymax Returns, which launches Big Hero 6 The Series, premieres Monday, November 20 on Disney XD and Disney Channel (8–9 p.m. EST). We recently heard from some of the series’ cast and crew about why we should be pumped to blast off with Hiro, Baymax, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred in this new series of super adventures through the fantastic city of San Fransokyo.

Big Hero 6 The Series

1. There’s a super team at the helm.
Executive producers Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle are no strangers to Disney animated TV series and there’s a reason why everyone was thrilled that they’re heading up another action-packed heroic series. As Ryan Potter (voice of Hiro) puts it, “It was in good hands from the get-go, because these guys did Kim Possible.”

Schooley and McCorkle agree that their experience made them eager to take on the challenge of this super team. McCorkle explains, “The movie came out three years ago, and we had done a bunch of other shows for Disney—we were like, ‘Yeah, we’re in!’” Of course, “a bunch of other shows for Disney” weren’t just any shows. This writing duo made animation so not the drama by creating Emmy® Award-winning Kim Possible and working on beloved shows such as Goof Troop, Hercules, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

There was one new challenge they hadn’t anticipated in taking on the world of Big Hero 6. Schooley jokes, “It had to go win the Oscar®, to put even more pressure on us!”

2. It Starts Where the Movie Ended.
If you got to the end of Big Hero 6 and wished the movie never had to roll credits, fear not! Big Hero 6 The Series will take you right back into the world of the film. McCorkle explains, “We thought that a story of getting the team—and Baymax—back together would be fun.”

Although the new series departs from the film’s CG animation for a more traditional 2D style, it’s still the same super team you know and love, back in action! To Schooley and McCorkle, the TV movie is the perfect transition. “It leads you back into the world in our new style,” Schooley says.

Big Hero 6 The Series

3. Its Influences Are a Little Unexpected…
Of course, the Big Hero 6 The Series team wasn’t going to make the show without talking to the original Big Hero 6 film team first. While the animation style is changing, the spirit and heart of the story’s inspiration stays the same. And what is that inspiration? “101 Dalmatians-meets-anime,” McCorkle laughingly explained. The original film’s team frequently cites 101 Dalmatians and other Disney classics of the era as visual influences, and that carries into the new series.

4. There’s a Little Bit of Big Hero 6 in All of Us.
Everyone in the cast and crew can see themselves in this super team. Han-Yee Ling, a writer for the series, recalls her own connection to the show: “I’m sort of the Fred of my family.” Of course, that doesn’t mean that she spends her free time running around in a fire-breathing mascot costume, but as she is the only creative mind in a family of physicists, engineers, and doctors, she can relate to Fred being surrounded by great scientific minds. Being surrounded by a bunch of geniuses certainly helps her write about the super-genius cast of Big Hero 6 The Series. She says, “Because my family has this background, I can mine them for stories, and my dad always loves lecturing about physics.”

Big Hero 6 The Series

For Ryan Potter, the character connection runs even deeper. He auditioned for the role of Hiro when he was 17 years old and recalls seeing the design for Hiro and noticing a striking similarity. Even the director the movie, as Potter remembers, exclaimed, “Wow, that’s creepy,” upon seeing the resemblance!

But it’s not just about looks for Potter—his connection to Hiro comes from the heart. As a kid who went to kindergarten in Tokyo and then grew up in America, Potter was used to only seeing relatable characters in anime shows, until Big Hero 6 came along. “The kid in me will always relate to Hiro,” he says fondly.

5. It all comes back to science and learning.
 When Schooley and McCorkle first walked out of the theater after watching Big Hero 6, they had already fallen in love with the film’s themes. They saw the film’s message as “science and learning are positive things—and that’s how you solve problems.” For them, having the chance to build a whole series around that optimistic message was a dream come true.

The heart of the series all comes back to one thing. McCorkle explains, “Being heroic and being a good person is the ultimate theme of the series, but there’s something nice about saying ‘It’s cool to learn. It’s cool to be smart.”

Or, as Potter puts it, what drives the show and the team is simply, “carrying on Tadashi’s original goal of helping people.”

Are you ready to be satisfied with your care? Big Hero 6 The Series premieres with Baymax Returns on Disney XD and Disney Channel on Monday, November 20, at 8 pm EST.