Some lesser learned folks will tell you that Pixar basically invented the practice of hiding Easter Eggs in animations (or at least, putting ones in that were actually intended to be there, and not the mischievous work of rogue animators or editors) and that Disney caught up at a later stage, inspired by their success. Those people are wrong and should be driven out of normal society with tridents, because the famous Mouse House was adding knowing nods, winks and nudges to their films long before Woody and Buzz teamed up to make us all fall in love with the animation house that John Lasseter built. Following hot on the heels of The Jungle Book, next week sees the blu-ray release of Disney's classic The Little Mermaid (to celebrate we're giving away 3 copies of the extras-packed Diamond Edition) and to commemorate the release, we've put together a list of the best secrets and in-jokes hidden throughout the film (and beyond.)
Honourable Mention
The Hidden Special Features Not all Easter Eggs come within the film itself, and though the majority of packages now ignore the huntsman's thrill of finding extra content and details hidden on DVDs, in favour of overly fluffy promotional material that adds very little to the experience of watching the film, Disney knew how to reward fans who bought the original Platinum Edition of the DVD. Attached the to Treasure's Untold featurette in the Platinum Edition's Extra Features were three short additional featurettes, that could be accessed by navigating to hidden areas of the sub-menu: To find The Little Mermaid handshake performed by co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker, click to the right on Act V: A Mermaid Sings to reveal an anchor; to see the pair drawing each other, click to the left of Act I: Renaissance Men to find a Dinglehopper; and to watch a short piece on the live action references used in making the film, click to the right of Act IV: Setting Sail to reveal a clickable Snarfblatt. Now on with the proper Easter Eggs...