All the ENCANTO Easter Eggs, Nods & References

Disney’s ENCANTO is a beautiful, vibrant animated movie about a magical Colombian family in an enchanted casita. As with all of our favorite Disney films, ENCANTO—Disney’s 60th animated film—leans heavily into Easter Eggs, with nods and references to past works and those who have helped to create them. In this case, we also get references to Colombian culture and history as this is the first Disney film to be set in Colombia. Here is the complete list of ENCANTO Easter Eggs we found.

*Spoiler Alert* This is your spoiler warning. Turn back now if you haven’t watched Disney’s ENCANTO.

Every ENCANTO Easter Egg and Nod

From “Doctor Who” to Tangled, Beauty and the Beast to Tick, Tick…Boom!, we’ve got dozens of Encanto Easter Eggs, nods, and references for you.

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“The Family Madrigal” opening is inspired by Beauty and the Beast

In a recent article, Lin-Manuel Miranda explained how the opening song, “The Family Madrigal” is inspired by “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast. Both songs introduce the audience to the characters in the town and gives an overview as to what the main problem in the story is.

Encanto Children

Mirabel sings “The Family Madrigal” to children in the Encanto. The children are all named after people integral to making the movie: Alejandra, Juancho, and Cecilia.

Director Jared Bush shared on Twitter that Alejandra is named after Alejandra Espinosaone of the creators who helped with Colombian history. “Pumped Juancho” is a nod to Jose “Weecho” Velasquez, one of the graphic artists who stitched Mirabel’s dress. Cecilia is named after co-director Charise Castro Smith’s daughter.

Answers! Left to right:
1) Alejandra – nod to our ⭐️ guide Alejandra Espinosa
2) ‘Pumped Juancho’ – originally “Weecho” but Juancho is more 🇨🇴 – nod to Jose “Weecho” Velasquez – look dev artist who STITCHED Mirabel’s dress
3) Cecilia – after @ChariseCastroS1’s baby girl! #encanto https://t.co/7lvCHrxQ2I pic.twitter.com/gCrhJbs2Vv

— Jared Bush (@thejaredbush) December 27, 2021

Abuela Alma’s Melody in “The Family Madrigal”

Abuela Alma’s verse in “The Family Madrigal” has the exact same melody as “Dos Oruguitas,” which is used to tell the story of Alma and Pedro.

Rapunzel Hair Swing

Isabela’s Vine Swing entrance is a nod to Rapunzel’s Hair Swing in Tangled. Isabela, Mirabel’s older sister, is considered the most perfect and beautiful of the Madrigal family—the golden child. Her power is to spontaneously grow flowers and beautiful plants. During the preparations for Antonio’s gift ceremony, Isabela gracefully swings down from a vine that she sits on like a swing. This is a nod to Tangled when Rapunzel uses her own long, magical hair to gracefully swing in a similar manner, like when she swings down to meet Eugene. Mirabel refers to Isabela as a princess because she feels trapped in her life, which also applies to Rapunzel.

Beer for Headaches

In the kitchen of the casita, there is a book in the kitchen is titled, “Cerveza para el dolor de cabeza,” which translates in English to “Beer for Headaches.” This could be a nod to Julieta’s healing magic or a sly reference to a little hair of the dog. The Michelada, a Mexican beer-based cocktail made with beer, lime juice, assorted sauces, spices, and peppers that is served in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass is thought to be a cure for the common hangover. The Michelada has numerous variations throughout Mexico and Latin America.

Mama Coco

As the family is greeting guests for Antonio’s magic gift ceremony, Camilo greets a guest that looks a lot like a slightly younger Mama Coco from the film Coco, the other Latin American-based Disney animated film. While one is set in Mexico and the other in Colombia, both are about healing and rising above generational trauma caused by a flawed matriarch.

Madrigal Nursery Art

In the Madrigal nursery, there is a drawing Mirabel did of a capybara as a unicorn. It’s interesting to note that both Mirabel and Luisa envision animals as unicorns in this movie—Luisa envisions a donkey as a unicorn during “Surface Pressure.” 

Mirabel’s Gift to Antonio

Before the Gift Ceremony, Antonio is anxious, nervous, and hiding under the bed. Mirabel gives him his gift to help coax Antonio out from underneath the bed. The gift is a stuffed animal she made for him, a nod to his gift of being able to talk to animals. The box her gift is in is decorated with many of the animals he meets after he gets his magic gift, including Pico the Toucan.

Mirabel’s Magic Gift Ceremony Dress

When Mirabel helps Antonio face his anxiety and she walks with him toward his door during the ceremony, we get a flashback to Mirabel walking down the aisle to receive her gift and see that the detail at the top of her dress matches the detail at top of the blouse she wears in the present day.

Antonio’s Magic Gift is Talking to Animals

During the Magic Gift Ceremony, it is revealed that Antonio can talk to animals. 

We don’t see it in the film, but in the theatrical poster for Encanto, Antonio’s vest includes animals, a nod to his magical gift.

It’s Bigger in the Inside?

When the children all enter Antonio’s new room after he gets his magic, they remark how “it’s bigger in the inside?!” This is a nod to “Doctor Who” and the TARDIS. The TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimensions In Space, is Doctor Who’s time machine/spacecraft. The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental, meaning it’s bigger in the inside than on the outside. 

As Antonio runs through his new room, it feels very Jungle Book-esque. There is a picture of Mickey Mouse on the wall, too.

Hidden Mickeys

Any combination of three rounded shapes that are grouped together to form a Mickey head with ears is one of the most common Easter eggs any Disney fan can spot. Sometimes they are very obvious sometimes a bit trickier. Encanto has lots more hidden Mickeys than just the one mentioned above.

There’s a hidden Mickey in the swirling magic next to Mirabel’s parents during her “Waiting On A Miracle” song. There’s also a hidden Mickey in the fireworks at the end of the movie when she gets her magic.

There’s another hidden Mickey in the cactus that Isabela creates while trying to get Mirabel to leave her room during “What Else Can I Do?”

In the scene with Wall-E’s boot planter in Bruno’s room, there is a framed picture of a rat that looks like Fantasia’s Sorcerer Mickey.

Frozen Nods

At the end of “Waiting On A Miracle,” Mirabel stomps her foot in a way that is reminiscent of Elsa when she’s singing “Let It Go.” She also glides her hand down the magic trail along the rail on the staircase that is reminiscent of Elsa trailing her magical snow with her fingertips.

Tick, Tick, Tick…

The line “tick, tick, tick” in the “Surface Pressure” song is a nod to Tick, Tick…BOOM!
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who write the songs for Encanto, directed the movie version of the musical Tick, Tick… Boom! (starring Andrew Garfield) and also starred in the 2014 Broadway revival.

Luisa Fights Like Hercules

Luisa’s magical power is super strength and during “Surface Pressure,” there’s a sequence where Luisa fights Hercules‘ Cerberus. The manner in which she fights Hades’ 3-headed guard dog is very similar to the way Hercules fights him in the 1997 animated film when he enters the Underworld to save Meg, including the way she wields the shield and sword, and Luisa even compares herself to Hercules asking if he ever didn’t want to fight Cerberus.

Monster’s Inc. Doors Line Up

In “Surface Pressure” when all the colorful doors line up in front of Luisa like dominos, this nod is two-fold. It not only represents the significance of the doors each family member has with the markings of their individual magical gifts, but it’s also a nod to Monsters Inc. In Monster’s Inc., the doors—each of which leads a child’s bedroom—hang from a conveyer track in a line as they do for Luisa, and move to each Monster’s scare station to allow the Monsters to go through a door and collect screams.

Human Donkeys 

During “Surface Pressure,” Luisa is dancing with the donkeys in one sequence.  This is a nod to the sequence in Frozen II when Kristoff sings with the reindeer in “Lost In The Woods” and the reindeer have human features in the dream and become his backup band.

There’s also a moment where we see 3 donkeys playing music during the nod to the Titanic and the iceberg reference. The 3 donkeys are a reference to the musicians on the Titanic who played until the ship sank.

Silencio, Bruno!

Every mention of Bruno has a small feeling of a nod to Pixar’s Luca. No one wants to talk about Bruno…

Rats in the Walls are Worried about Magic

Dolores mentions that the rats in the walls are worried about the magic. This is foreshadowing that Bruno is in the casita and that Dolores was in fact hearing him the whole time.

 

We Don’t Talk About (Hidden) Bruno

During the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” Mirabel’s family warns her not to talk about Bruno. Her family—Tia Pepa, Tio Felix, two cousins Camilo and Dolores, and older sister Isabela all sing about the prophecies that Bruno made that later came true. Dolores hints that she can hear Bruno:

Hey, grew to live in fear of Bruno stuttering or stumbling
I can always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling
I associate him with the sound of falling sand, ch-ch-ch…
It’s like I can hear him now, I can hear him now

…revealing that he is still in the house.

While Dolores sings to Mirabel, you can see Bruno dancing on the balcony behind them, a small, shadowy figure. This is egg also foreshadows that Bruno never left the Casita and that Bruno isn’t a villain and will soon return to the family.

Bruno is also hiding in the Encanto movie poster just behind Mirabel

 

“He told me my fish would die, the next day, dead!”

In the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” as the people sing about the prophecies Bruno has told that have come true, one is the woman with the dead fish. Her name is never mentioned in the film, though director Jared Bush revealed on Twitter that the name of the woman whose goldfish dies is Señora Pezmuerto, which translates to Mrs. Dead Fish.

I knew it would be tough. Great guesses, but there can be only one right answer: Sra. Pezmuerto🐟🪦

¡Feliz Nochebuena!

— Jared Bush (@thejaredbush) December 25, 2021

 

Wall-E’s Boot Planter

When Mirabel discovers Bruno living between the walls of their Casita, he has a little room where he’s been living for the past 10 years the entire time. His room has a collection of odds and ends (sort of like Ariels’s Grotto), things that he’s collected to either entertain himself or make himself more comfortable while keeping out of the family’s way. One of those items is a boot on the shelf behind him with a small green plant, just like the one in Wall-E.

In Wall-E, the green plant in the boot planter signifies when the humans on the Axiom can return home. Here, it signifies that Bruno can return home to the family.

Soccer Match of Rats

The soccer match Bruno recreates on his slide with the rats that we see when Mirabel visits him is from the 1990 Colombia FIFA World Cup match against West Germany, where Freddy Rincón scored a goal, and the game ended in a draw.

The Book “One Hundred Years of Solitude” 

One of the other clips on the TV includes the book “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. Márquez was a famous writer (novelist, short-story writer, essayist, screenwriter, journalist) known for featuring magical realism in his works.

Encanto is full of nods to the Colombian town of Macondo, magical powers, the magical realism of author Márquez, and his story “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Márquez features yellow butterflies in his novel (as can also be seen on the cover of many of the editions of the book).

Nods to Colombian Novelist Gabriel García Márquez 

Encanto’s creative team used his work as a reference at times. In an interview with the creative team earlier this year, Director Bryan Howard said, “We love the magic that he talks about and we found it great to be able to link that magic to the roles that each one of us plays in a family. We looked at our families and we thought about what role each one had.” 

Going to War, like Mulan

When Mirabel hears Abuela Alma ask her late husband (Abuelo Pedro) for help saving their miracle, Mirabel immediately decides she will be the one to save the miracle. This moment plays almost exactly to the moment when Mulan decides that she will go to war in place of her father: makes the decision at nightfall and rushes into action, yet neither has any idea how to accomplish their goal (fight or save a miracle) yet both end up as heroes.

Let it Go!

We’ve all been trying to “Let It Go” since 2013 gave us Frozen’s “Let It Go.” It went far beyond little girls singing Elsa’s signature line. Encanto’s Pepa has powers similar to Elsa’s in that she can control the weather—rain, snow, and everything in between—depending on her mood.

In Bruno’s song “All Of You,” one of the lyrics he sings is “Let it in, let it out, let it rain, let it snow, let it go.” When he sings the lyric “Let it go,” you can hear the music to Frozen’s “Let It Go” in the background as a nod to Pepa and Elsa both being able to control the snow. 

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the team who composed “Let It Go” and the rest of the music from Frozen and Frozen II are given credit in Encanto.

Alan Tudyk

Alan Tudyk returns to voice Antonio’s Toucan friend Pico who appears. Encanto marks Alan Tudyk’s 10th Disney film, not including LucasFilm and Marvel properties or TV series. Tudyk has voiced some fan favorites over the years including:

• King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph)
• Duke of Weselton (Frozen)
• Alistair of Krei (Big Hero 6)
• KnowsMore (Ralph Breaks the Internet)
• Iago (Aladdin)
• Duke of Weselton (Frozen II)
• Duke Weasleton (Zootopia) a parody of the previous character
• Hei Hei (Moana)
• Tuk Tuk (Raya and the Last Dragon)
• slated to be Mr. Darling in Peter Pan & Wendy,  set to release in 2022 

Madrigal Family Outfits, Colors, and Icons

Each of the outfits the Madrigal Family members wear contains hidden details related to their characters and their powers. Mirabel’s skirt features icons that are small nods to each of her family members.

There is a butterfly pattern on Mirabel’s blouse as a nod to the Madrigal family. Butterfly patterns appear throughout The Casita, but there is also one on the candle. This goes with the theme of the movie being about transformations.

You can see a candle for Abuela; flowers for Isabela; animals for Antonio; a sun, rainbow, and raincloud for Pepa; a chameleon for Camilo; weights for Luisa; herbs for her mother, among others. Each of those then is the correlating relatives’ clothing.

Bruno has an hourglass on his ruana to represent his ability to see through time into the future and his visions.

Agustín, Mirabel’s father, wears clothing that reflects the 3 most important people in his life: his daughters. He wears a flower for Isabela, one sock with weights for Luisa, and another sock embroidered with Mirabel’s outfit.

Abuela Alma’s dress hem has a mountain pattern on the bottom to represent the mountains where The Casita is located.

Julieta’s outfit features a mortar and pestle icon to represent her gift of healing. She also keeps a bunch of herbs in her apron pocket.

Isabela’s dress includes a beautiful layered flower pattern and the Cattleya Trianae Orchid  (the national flower of Colombia) to represent her gift of making flowers bloom everywhere.

Luisa’s skirt hem features a design that resembles weights to represent her gift of super strength.

Dolores’ blouse features a pattern that resembles sound waves to represent her gift of super-enhanced hearing.

Camilo’s ruana design includes an outline of a chameleon to represent his gift of shapeshifting.

Pepa’s dress has raindrops and she wears sun-shaped earrings throughout the movie as a nod to her ability to change the weather.

You can read more on our post Meet The Madrigal Family in Encanto.

Mirabel’s Green Glasses

Mirabel’s glasses are green, though that isn’t her main color. These are a nod to Bruno, whose color is green and whose eyes turn green when he sees his visions of the future. Both Mirabel and Bruno are seen as outcasts in the family.

Butterflies

As mentioned above in the section about Márquez’s novel, butterflies are prevalent throughout the movie as a representation of transformation. They are seen on Mirabel’s blouse.

There is a butterfly pattern on the candle.

The butterfly pattern is even shown on the walls of the nursery, which is an important room for Mirabel in The Casita.

You can also see a butterfly on the chatelaine that Abuela Alma carries around, which includes a watch and a key.

Yellow butterflies, like the one seen in Bruno’s vision and at the very end of the movie, are believed to symbolize happiness and imagination, and it means good fortune is coming.

Mirabel’s Power Realized

Mirabel’s power is realized at the end of the film and it is seeing her family for who they are on the inside, beyond their gifts. Mirabel is helping them each to heal from the generational trauma that began, in some cases, long before she was born.

Abuelo Pedro Crosses the River at a Young Age

The Madrigal Family loses their patriarch, Abuelo Pedro, at a much too young age. Abuelo Pedro crosses the river at the same age as Sebastián Yatra was when he recorded the river scene “Dos Oruguitas” for Encanto.

One last #Encanto age detail for tonight… and the one that hits me the hardest… When Abuelo Pedro crosses the river, he is the exact age that @SebastianYatra was… when he recorded #DosOruguitas… for the scene at… the… river. 🕯❤️ pic.twitter.com/OqVhQKMp29

— Jared Bush (@thejaredbush) December 9, 2021

Sarah-Nicole Robles voiced a character

Best known for voicing Luz on “The Owl House,” Sarah-Nicole Robles voiced the woman, Senora Ozma, who asks Luisa “Can you re-route the river?” Turns out, Robles also provided a lot of the scratch dialogue for Mirabel during the early production of the film.

1/7 Okay #Encanto friends… this deserves a much deeper conversation. First thing you need to know, Sarah-Nicole Robles, AKA @snarklator, is one of my favorite humans on the planet. She and I have been working together for 7 years! Here’s how – https://t.co/gkmw1Rm1Lv

— Jared Bush (@thejaredbush) December 28, 2021

Did we miss any Easter Eggs you caught? What’s your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!

Read about The Madrigal Family

Read about The Madrigal Casita

Best Quotes from Encanto

Learn About the Making of Encanto