A love letter to the history of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Wish delivers a story full of magic, wonder, humor, and heart. As a film that honors Disney’s storytelling library, it’s packed with Disney easter eggs for films from Snow White to Zootopia and more! Here are all the Wish Easter eggs and callbacks you may have missed.
Possible spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen Wish. This list will be updated when I watch it again. If you caught any I missed let me know!
All The Wish Easter Eggs You May Have Missed
Wish begins with a storybook opening like Snow White, Cinderella, Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and more.
The sun looks similar to Rapunzel’s. There are also people doing chalk drawings like in Tangled and one character has really long hair.
Where Asha lives, the houses are similar to the Dwarf’s cottage in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Rosa’s castle looks like a mix of other Disney castles and locations like what resembled the coliseum in Hercules.
Asha’s best friends all share the first letter, color combinations, and personalities of the Seven Dwarfs: Dahlia (Doc), Simon (Sleepy), Gabo (Grumpy), Hal (Happy), Dario (Dopey), Bazeema (Bashful), and Safi (Sneezy).
To further drive home this point, Dahlia wears glasses like Doc but rocks a Snow White haircut. Asha also calls her a doctor.
Gabo makes Grumpy’s face when Valentino falls into his arms.
In their kitchen, you can see the mugs with the initials. Also in the kitchen are Hidden Mickeys in the macaron tower and the log pile.
In Magnifico’s library, the book of forbidden magic has a serpent eating its tail on the cover. This is the symbol of ouroboros- the world serpent who represents the cycle of life- death, life, and rebirth.
When Asha talks about her father, she mentions they would sit in a tree and look up at the sky. He told her “the stars are there to guide us.” This is a nod to the speech Mufasa gave Simba in The Lion King.
As Magnifico is showing off wishes, one of them is from a dressmaker. The dress she is sewing in the wish looks like Aurora’s blue dress in Sleeping Beauty.
One of his vials looks like Yzma’s Poison from the Emperor’s New Groove.
Asha pulls a classic Disney princess move and runs into the forest as she cries. As she sings This Wish, her hair blows in the wind like Pocahontas in Colors of the Wind.
She ends up at a Wishing Well which looks similar to the one Snow White wished in.
As the animals and forest come alive there are a lot of fun little nods to classic Disney films. Talking mushrooms- Alice in Wonderland and they say “We love crazy” which is a nod of course to Frozen.
One of the Rabbits thumps his foot like Thumper from Bambi. And speaking of our favorite deer, one of the male deer is named Bambi.
The bear is named John. This is a nod to Little John from Robin Hood.
The mice inside the leaf resemble Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers.
When her friends meet Star for the first time, Dario wiggles his ears like Dopey.
As they are trying to break into Magnifico’s library, Star shoots out magic trying to unlock the door. The magic hits a quill that begins to draw Mickey Mouse.
When Asha tries to open the doors to the wishes she does the same moves Mickey does as Sorcerer Mickey in Fantasia.
During This Is The Thanks I Get, Magnifico mentions mirrors and admires his reflection. This is foreshadowing to the end when he is stuck in glass and hung on the wall. Magnifico IS the Magic Mirror on the Wall in Snow White.
He dances with the Coat of Arms that seems alive, a nod to Beauty and the Beast.
Walking down to the dungeon, it is the same stone stairs that the Evil Queen takes in Snow White.
As he begins to turn evil, his magic and eyes glow green. Green is the universal color for villains in Disney films.
Inside the dungeon is a Poison Apple. Also skulls like when Maleficent casts spells. The green hands that reach out are like the ones Ursula uses to steal Ariel’s voice in The Little Mermaid.
Asha’s wanted poster- they got her nose right, unlike poor Flynn Rider.
To get help from Queen Amaya, Asha has a mouse help her. The mouse is brown like Gus Gus and is also eating a corn kernel. This is a nod to Cinderella.
Bazeema’s hideaway resembles Jasmine’s in Aladdin.
Knowing What We Know Now- once again proves the link between Magnifico and the Magic Mirror. As they are singing a shadow of him is cast in a sheet, the shadow looks like the outline of the face inside the magic mirror.
The three wishes Magnifico crushes are:
- Peter Pan’s wish for a Fantasyland in the sky. He says how about Neverland.
- Mr. Banks’ wish for a nanny for his children- Mary Poppins. He says he’s “poppin” this one.
- A wish for True Love– while this could mean any of the Princesses, he says “so much for true love” which is what Ursula says to Ariel.
When Asha is leading Magnifico away from the castle, she is dressed like the Fairy Godmother. Star even gives her a wand with some magic. Using it she transforms an apple into a giant apple, puts a dress on a tree, and makes the cart have legs. This is the same cart seen in Beauty and the Beast. (Thanks to a reader for pointing that out!)
The flying books that help the friends open up the roof of the castle are a nod to The Sword and the Stone.
One of them does the Tarzan yell when they jump.
Magnifico calls out “Mirrors Mirrors on the walls.”
He also says “wishes really do come true.”
Magnifico sends out green vines to cover the kingdom. This is a nod to the thorns Maleficent uses in Sleeping Beauty.
Don’t blink! When Magnifico is pulled into the staff, like Jafar into the lamp, there is a quick flash of the face inside the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror.
Queen Amaya introduces a woman whose wish is to fly to Peter. The woman is dressed like Wendy Darling and Peter is Peter Pan.
Valentino’s wish is for a utopian metropolis where animals are equal and wear clothes- Zootopia. Alan Tudyk who voices Valentino is also the voice of Duke Weaselton in Zootopia.
Star grants Asha a new wand and sprinkles magic over her. She does the Cinderella dress transformation animation. Asha is now the Fairy Godmother to the people of Rosas.
Gabo says “you wonder why I’m grumpy.”
Star lights up the sky with fireworks that include Mickey Mouse before flying closer to the screen, winking like Tinker Bell, and then flying over the castle like she does for the Disney logo.
Wish Post Credit Scene
A post credit scene follows that beautiful glowing tribute to all the stories that have graced our screens over the years. In the post credit scene for Wish, Sabo is sitting and strumming his guitar. The toon he plays, the one that will inspire generations to come is When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio.
Wish Credit Character List
After the film is over, glowing characters representing almost all of Disney’s animation library show up on the screen. It’s fun to try and name them all but if you want some help here is the list:
- Snow White
- Pinocchio
- Sorcerer Mickey
- Dumbo
- Bambi
- Ichabod Crane (The Adventures Of Ichabod & Mr. Toad)
- Cinderella
- Cheshire Cat
- Peter Pan
- Lady and the Tramp
- Maleficent
- Pongo
- Merlin
- Baloo
- Marie
- Robin Hood
- Winnie The Pooh
- Todd and Copper (The Fox and the Hound)
- Basil (The Great Mouse Detective)
- Oliver (Oliver and Company)
- Ariel
- Belle and Beast
- Aladdin
- Rafiki and Simba
- Pocahontas
- Quasimodo (Hunchback of Notre Dame)
- Hercules
- Mulan
- Tarzan
- Yoyo Flamingo (Fantasia 2000)
- Aladar (Dinosaur)
- Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove)
- Milo (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)
- Stitch
- Jim Hawkins (Treasure Planet)
- Koda (Brother Bear)
- Maggie (Home on the Range)
- Chicken Little
- Bolt
- Rapunzel
- Ralph
- Elsa
- Yokai (Big Hero 6)
- Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps
- Moana
- Raya
- Mirabel (Encanto)
- Splat (Strange Planet)
Wish releases in theaters November 22. It is rated PG for thematic elements and mild action. with a runtime of 92 minutes.
