100 Fun Facts About The Princess and the Frog

In which US city is the film set?

The directors chose it as an American fairy-tale setting, for its 'magical' qualities, and because it was John Lasseter's favourite city; they spent ten days in Louisiana before writing.

What is Tiana's job at the start of the film?

The heroine was originally a chambermaid named Maddy; both the name and the job were changed in 2007 after criticism from African American media outlets.

Which two directors, who also made The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, directed the film?

They had left Disney in 2005; John Lasseter brought them back and let them choose between hand-drawn and CGI.

The film was Disney's first traditionally animated feature since which 2004 film?

Disney had declared that film its last hand-drawn feature; after the Pixar acquisition, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter reversed the decision.

Who composed the film's songs and score?

Menken was first reported for the job but was busy with Enchanted; Newman, a jazz composer who grew up in New Orleans, was hired instead and cameos as Ray's 'Cousin Randy'.

Which 2002 novel by E. D. Baker partly inspired the film?

In Baker's book Princess Emma kisses the frog Prince Eadric and turns into a frog herself; the film even used The Frog Princess as its working title.

Which actress voices Tiana?

All four were reported as contenders; Beyoncé was asked to audition but declined because she expected an offer.

Which media mogul voices Tiana's mother, Eudora?

She was hired first as a technical consultant on the film, which led to the voice role.

Prince Naveen is the prince of which fictional country?

He is a 20-year-old playboy cut off from the family fortune, which is why he plans to marry the wealthy Charlotte La Bouff.

What is Dr. Facilier's nickname?

Keith David voices him; his supervising animator jokingly called him the 'lovechild' of Cruella de Vil and Captain Hook.

What instrument does Louis the alligator play?

His name honours Louis Armstrong, and the actual playing was recorded by trumpeter Terence Blanchard.

Ray the Cajun firefly is in love with 'Evangeline'. What is Evangeline really?

The name nods to Longfellow's 19th-century poem; Ray is named after pianist Ray Charles and voiced by Jim Cummings.

How old is Mama Odie, the blind voodoo priestess who acts as the film's fairy godmother?

She was supervised by veteran animator Andreas Deja, who also animated her pet snake, Juju.

What is the name of Charlotte's wealthy father, voiced by John Goodman?

Eli 'Big Daddy' La Bouff owns a sugar mill and is crowned king of Mardi Gras, which briefly makes Charlotte a princess.

Who is Lawrence, whom Facilier transforms into a double of the prince?

His design drew on Jasper and Horace Badun and Mr. Smee; the transformation is powered by a talisman filled with Naveen's blood.

What is the name of Tiana's father, voiced by Terrence Howard?

He instilled her work ethic and her dream of the restaurant, and his philosophy that food brings people together drives the story.

Which real Louisiana restaurateur partly inspired the character of Tiana?

Clements and Musker met the former waitress turned restaurant owner on their research trip; celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse voices an alligator in the film.

Who wrote and performed the end-title song 'Never Knew I Needed'?

It was the soundtrack's commercial single, released to radio with a video by Melina.

Which song is Tiana's solo about her dream of the restaurant?

Its dream sequence used an Art Deco style based on Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas and was animated on paper without the clean-up department.

Which Louisiana singer performed The Princess and the Frog's opening number at Disney's 2007 shareholder meeting?

Randy Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band backed him while pre-production art played on screen.

Which song is Dr. Facilier's villain solo?

Christianity Today's review objected to the horror elements of the sequence, part of a wider controversy over the film's use of Louisiana Voodoo.

How many Academy Award nominations did the film receive?

Best Animated Feature went to Up, and both song nominations lost to Crazy Heart's 'The Weary Kind'.

Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide, a figure Disney considered an underachievement?

Disney considered it an underachievement, and it led the studio to rename Rapunzel as Tangled to avoid the word 'princess'.

The 11 December 2009 wide release came one week before which blockbuster, blamed for overshadowing it?

The original Christmas Day date was abandoned to dodge the Chipmunks sequel, only to land in the path of James Cameron.

Which record did the film's first wide weekend take, previously held by Beavis and Butt-Head Do America?

It opened at number one across 3,434 theatres after a two-cinema limited run in New York and Los Angeles.

In what year does the film's story take place?

The casting call described an American fairy-tale musical set in the 1926 Jazz Age.

What does Charlotte pay Tiana to make for the masquerade ball, funding her sugar-mill bid?

Tiana is later outbid for the mill by a buyer paying cash, which sets up her desperate kiss with the frog prince.

Why is Charlotte briefly a princess, making her kiss able to break the spell before midnight?

Tiana realises it just in time; the group hitches a ride back to the city on a steamboat.

What finally turns Tiana and Naveen human again?

Because Tiana is now married to a prince she is truly a princess, so the kiss works and they open Tiana's Palace.

What is the name of the restaurant the newlyweds open at the end of the film?

Disneyland converted its French Market Restaurant in New Orleans Square into a real Tiana's Palace, which opened in September 2023.

Which Disney film's style did the directors take as their main model for the city scenes?

Bambi served as the template for the bayou backgrounds, capturing what it feels like to be in the forest rather than the forest itself.

Which software replaced Disney's outdated CAPS system as the main package for the film's animation?

Backgrounds were painted in Photoshop and much architecture modelled in Maya; the ink-and-paint work was outsourced to Florida, Toronto and São Paulo.

What was the heroine's original name before protests led to the change to Tiana?

Critics objected to its similarity to 'mammy'; the title The Frog Princess was also dropped in May 2007.

Tiana was which number character added to the Disney Princess franchise?

She is also the most modern princess in the line-up, and the first African American member.

Which veteran animator, who had drawn nearly every Disney Princess since Ariel, supervised Tiana?

He based her partly on Jaimie Milner, a film intern working in post-production at the studio.

Eric Goldberg won an Annie Award for character animation for which character?

Lasseter cited the believability of the big alligator's movement as a reason hand-drawn animation was worth reviving.

Jennifer Cody won the Annie Award for voice acting for playing which character?

Her spoiled but big-hearted debutante gives up her own chance to be a princess when she sees Naveen and Tiana are in love.

Which insurance company's ad had frog Naveen chatting with its gecko mascot?

Tiana costumes sold out before Halloween 2009 and a Carol's Daughter hair-care set sold out in seven hours.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure replaced which long-running Disney park ride?

The old ride was themed to 1946's Song of the South; the retheme was announced in June 2020.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure opened at Magic Kingdom on 28 June 2024. When did the Disneyland version follow?

For the opening, Disneyland's Critter Country was renamed Bayou Country.

How tall is the climactic drop on Tiana's Bayou Adventure?

Riders hit about 40 mph at a 45-degree angle before arriving at Tiana and Naveen's party.

What was the live show that debuted at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland in late 2009 to promote the film?

At Disneyland the cast boarded the park's steamboat on the Rivers of America; the Florida version lip-synced.

A live-action Tiana played by Mekia Cox appeared in the seventh season of which TV series?

Her cursed Seattle counterpart, Sabine, runs a food truck selling beignets.

Who did Disney announce in July 2026 was in talks to write a live-action spin-off film featuring Tiana?

The planned Disney+ series 'Tiana' had been shelved in March 2025 over production costs, in favour of a short-form special.

Which Disney film was originally planned as a hand-drawn follow-up before being switched to CGI?

Disney had hoped to release a hand-drawn film every two years, starting with Winnie the Pooh in 2011; the Snow Queen project became Frozen instead.

Ed Catmull later said keeping which word in the title was Disney's 'own version of a stupid pill'?

Marketing had warned it would make audiences think the film was for girls only, and research afterwards found viewers saw it as old-fashioned.

What are the names of the three bumbling frog hunters, often compared to the Three Stooges?

Two of them are voiced by story head Don Hall and Paul Briggs, who went on to direct Big Hero 6 and Raya and the Last Dragon.

Which celebrity chef voices one of the hungry alligators, Ian and Marlon?

The New Orleans chef shares the pair with Kevin Michael Richardson.

Facilier's design is modelled on which figure from Haitian and Louisiana Vodou tradition?

Hence the tailcoat and top hat; the film's portrayal of Voodoo drew criticism from Christian and non-Christian groups alike.

Which Pixar pitch about The Frog Prince, set in gangster-era Chicago, was merged into the film?

Jorgen Klubien separately claimed his Pixar idea The Spirit of New Orleans was an inspiration.

Which superstar refused to audition for Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, expecting an outright offer instead?

Beyoncé Knowles was contacted to read for the part and declined, since she had expected it to be handed to her. Alicia Keys, by contrast, went straight to the studio chairman to ask for the role.

Dr. Facilier's animator on The Princess and the Frog called him the lovechild of which two Disney villains?

Cruella de Vil and Captain Hook were the pairing supervising animator Bruce W. Smith joked about. His work on the villain earned an Annie Award nomination.

Tiana's and Dr. Facilier's voices from The Princess and the Frog reunited in 2024 as which lion's mother and father?

Mufasa's mother Afia and father Masego are voiced by the same pair in the 2024 prequel about the future king. Fifteen years earlier they had played heroine and villain.

Which Disney film lost its heroine's name from the title after The Princess and the Frog underperformed?

Tangled had been titled Rapunzel until Disney wanted distance from its fairy-tale predecessor. It went on to take more than double the earlier film's box office.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure replaced a ride themed to which controversial 1946 Disney film, long kept out of circulation?

Song of the South is rarely shown in the US because of its contented picture of plantation life. Disney announced the switch to Tiana's story in June 2020.

Which film, also a Best Picture nominee that year, beat The Princess and the Frog to the Best Animated Feature Oscar?

Up won, and it was only the second animated film ever nominated for Best Picture, after Beauty and the Beast. Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Secret of Kells also lost out.

What does Dr. Facilier use to read the futures of Naveen and Lawrence in The Princess and the Frog?

Tarot cards set up the con: each reading promises the two men exactly what they long for, and a handshake seals the bargain.

Which Louisiana dish does Tiana cook with her father as a child in The Princess and the Frog's opening scenes?

Gumbo is his speciality, and the two make a pot together while talking over the restaurant they hope to open. He warns her that wishing only gets a dream part of the way.

Which composer was first reported to be scoring The Princess and the Frog before Disney hired someone else?

Alan Menken was already writing Enchanted, and the studio's animation chief feared two fairy-tale scores from him would sound too alike.

Why is Prince Naveen hunting for a wealthy bride when he arrives in The Princess and the Frog?

His parents cut him off until he learns some responsibility, leaving the playboy prince with a title and no money of his own.

Which actor voiced Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog the same year he voiced the Cat in Coraline?

Keith David sang the villain's big number himself, and later named the role one of his three favourite voice parts, alongside Spawn and Goliath.

The Princess and the Frog drew early criticism for being set in a city devastated in 2005 by which hurricane?

Katrina had driven out many of the city's mostly Black residents four years before the release. The directors said they chose the setting as a tribute to its history.

The Princess and the Frog reworks a folk tale about an enchanted frog prince collected by which storytellers?

The Brothers Grimm set the tale down in Germany, and in their version no kiss is involved: the spell breaks when the furious princess hurls the frog against a wall.

Which small stringed instrument does the music-loving Prince Naveen play in The Princess and the Frog?

Ukulele in hand, he dances through the streets with the buskers on the day he arrives. Music is the one skill the pampered prince brings with him.

How does Tiana snatch the talisman back from Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog's climax?

With her tongue she whips the charm out of his grasp and smashes it before he can stop her. The spirits he owes arrive at once to collect.

What makes frog Naveen take Tiana for royalty when they meet at the masquerade ball in The Princess and the Frog?

A borrowed costume does it: Charlotte lends her a princess outfit after food is spilled down Tiana's own. He promises a reward for a kiss, and the kiss backfires.

Tiana's father in The Princess and the Frog never opens the restaurant because he is killed in which conflict?

The First World War took him before he could open it, so Tiana works two jobs to keep the promise she made him.

Which Disney hit was the first fully computer-animated feature from the directors of The Princess and the Frog?

Moana took the pair from pencils to pixels in 2016, partly because its ocean setting was far better served by computer animation.

The voice of Tiana in The Princess and the Frog had co-starred with two rivals for the part in which 2006 musical?

Dreamgirls had put all three contenders on screen together three years earlier. The one who won the part of Tiana had played Lorrell, a member of the girl group.

Which 2011 film followed The Princess and the Frog as Disney's next hand-drawn animated feature?

Winnie the Pooh was planned as the first of a hand-drawn feature every two years, and many of the bayou film's animators were brought across to work on it.

Which Disney Channel franchise gives The Princess and the Frog's Dr. Facilier daughters named Freddie and Celia?

Descendants makes him principal of Dragon Hall, the school for villains' children, in its tie-in novel. Jamal Sims played him in the third film.

What becomes of Lawrence once his disguise finally fails in The Princess and the Frog?

He is arrested and led away insisting he is innocent, while his partner in the scheme meets a far grimmer end.

In which song does Mama Odie urge the frogs of The Princess and the Frog to work out what they truly need?

Dig a Little Deeper is her advice set to music. Naveen takes the point at once and realises he needs Tiana, while she stays fixed on the restaurant.

What are riders helping Tiana to find in the swamp on the Tiana's Bayou Adventure log flume?

Musicians for her party are the goal: a mix-up has left her Carnival celebration without a band, so she recruits animal players from the bayou.

Which classic Disney film, famed for its painted forests, was the template for The Princess and the Frog's bayou scenes?

Bambi was the model because, in the art director's words, its backgrounds painted how a forest feels rather than the forest itself.

What is the name of Mama Odie's pet snake and helper in The Princess and the Frog?

Juju fetches and carries for the blind priestess around her home. One veteran animator, Andreas Deja, drew both the snake and his mistress.

What is left behind bearing Dr. Facilier's horrified face after the spirits drag him away in The Princess and the Frog?

A tombstone carved with his name and screaming face is all that remains once his unpaid creditors pull him into their world.

What must Dr. Facilier's talisman be refilled with to keep Lawrence disguised in The Princess and the Frog?

Naveen's blood powers the disguise, first taken with a prick of the finger. When it runs low, the impostor begins to look like himself again.

Which voice actor, long the voice of Tigger, plays Ray the firefly in The Princess and the Frog?

Jim Cummings voiced the Cajun firefly, adding him to a roster that already included Darkwing Duck and the Tasmanian Devil.

Which Disney animation chief lured The Princess and the Frog's directors back and let them pick its style?

John Lasseter asked the pair to return after they had left the studio in 2005, and they chose to draw the film by hand rather than by computer.

What is the trade of Tiana's mother Eudora, seen at work in Charlotte's bedroom as The Princess and the Frog opens?

A seamstress, she is finishing a dress for little Charlotte while reading both girls the old story of the frog prince.

How does Dr. Facilier intend to kill Charlotte's father once Lawrence has married her in The Princess and the Frog?

With a voodoo doll he means to remove the wealthy mill owner, so that the family fortune passes to his puppet bridegroom and the city to him.

What does Dr. Facilier promise the spirits in return for an army of demons in The Princess and the Frog?

Every soul in the city is the price he offers, payable once he has taken over. That debt is what dooms him when the scheme collapses.

Which actress, later the grandmother Ruby on Black-ish, voices Mama Odie in The Princess and the Frog?

Jenifer Lewis, nicknamed the Mother of Black Hollywood for her many matriarch roles, also voices Flo in Pixar's Cars films.

Which Brazilian actor, the Carver on Nip/Tuck, gave Prince Naveen his voice in The Princess and the Frog?

Bruno Campos left acting soon afterwards: he enrolled in law school the year after the film came out and became a lawyer.

In early plans for The Princess and the Frog, what was the heroine's job before protests prompted a rewrite?

A chambermaid was her first occupation, which critics protested along with her original name. Disney changed both, and the working title, in 2007.

The Princess and the Frog's animators prettified the frog leads much as Disney once softened which insect sidekick?

Jiminy Cricket was the precedent: realistic early designs gave way to stylised ones that, the team said, removed everything unappealing about frogs.

Disney's revived hand-drawn unit warmed up for The Princess and the Frog with a 2007 short starring which character?

Goofy starred in a home-cinema spoof, his first solo theatrical short in 42 years, which was partly animated without paper.

Which costly box-office flop was the directors' last Disney feature before they returned for The Princess and the Frog?

Treasure Planet, a pet project the pair had pitched since the 1980s, lost heavily in 2002, and they left Disney three years later.

Disney moved The Princess and the Frog off Christmas Day 2009 to dodge a sequel from which rival family franchise?

Alvin and the Chipmunks had its Squeakquel booked for the same day, so Disney brought its own film forward by two weeks.

Songs from The Princess and the Frog lost the Best Original Song Oscar to a ballad from which Jeff Bridges film?

Crazy Heart won with The Weary Kind, and it left the ceremony with two awards, the other being Best Actor for Bridges himself.

Which character from an earlier film by the same directors appears as a parade float in The Princess and the Frog?

King Triton rolls past as a giant float, a nod to The Little Mermaid. The flying carpet from Aladdin also turns up early on, as an ordinary rug.

Bruce W. Smith, who animated Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog, created which Disney Channel cartoon sitcom?

The Proud Family first ran from 2001 to 2005 and was revived on Disney+ in 2022 as Louder and Prouder. Smith had earlier supervised Kerchak in Tarzan.

Ray's beloved Evangeline in The Princess and the Frog shares her name with a poem about exiled Acadians by which writer?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Evangeline in 1847. Its heroine is an Acadian girl who spends the poem searching for her lost love, Gabriel.

What does Mama Odie's magic do to riders partway through the Tiana's Bayou Adventure log flume?

She shrinks them down to a tiny size, and the boat drops into a club where a band of frogs is playing Afro-Cuban jazz before the final plunge.

Which Broadway voice of Little Shop of Horrors' man-eating plant plays the alligator in The Princess and the Frog?

Michael-Leon Wooley brought the deep voice of Audrey II from the 2003 revival to Disney's jazz-mad alligator, a part he reprised for the theme-park ride.

Which jazzman, the first Black composer staged at the Met, played the alligator's solos in The Princess and the Frog?

Terence Blanchard recorded every horn part for the alligator and also voiced Earl, a bandleader. Fifteen years on, he produced music for the theme-park ride.

Tiana's restaurant daydream in The Princess and the Frog copies the Art Deco style of which Harlem Renaissance painter?

Aaron Douglas's paintings inspired the sequence, which was drawn on paper and scanned straight in, skipping the usual clean-up department.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure explains its hill in flat bayou country as which geological feature, modelled on Avery Island?

A salt dome accounts for the height, because the story's home city is famously flat. The designers made several research trips to Louisiana for the ride.

Don Hall, story chief and a frog hunter's voice on The Princess and the Frog, later directed which Oscar winner?

Big Hero 6 won him the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the very prize his frog film had been nominated for and lost.