Can you name the Disney couple from a one-sentence description of their meet-cute?
by Carolyn Fleming
Walt Disney Pictures
Disney movies are full of charming first encounters that eventually blossom into long-lasting love. Do you have a favorite meet-cute scene? Better yet, do you know the origin stories of all iconic Disney couples? Let’s find out!
1: The two eight-year-olds meet when he wanders into her clubhouse.
The intro to the movie Up portrays one of the most touching romances in Disney history. Carl and Ellie meet as children, when he is shy and she is outgoing, and a montage shows their progression through many phases of life, from their wedding to her funeral. Ellie never fulfilled her dream of traveling to Paradise Falls in South America, but Carl keeps her alive in spirit.
2: They meet, dance, and fall in love at a royal ball.
Cinderella and Prince Charming meet at a royal ball, while she is wearing her enchanted gown and glass slippers. When she leaves just before midnight, before he can learn her name, she leaves a slipper behind. The prince asks every maiden in the kingdom to try on the slipper so he can find his lost love—but what if the slipper had happened to fit another woman’s foot?
3: They meet in the woods and become childhood sweethearts.
Bambi and Faline become childhood sweethearts, even though he thinks she is a little too animated at first. (Animated, get it?) Owl calls Bambi “twitterpated”—a Disney term for love if we’ve ever heard one.
4: Boy imprisons girl’s father; girl negotiates to free her father; girl is imprisoned by boy.
Beauty and the Beast have an unfortunate first meeting which cannot possibly be called a meet-cute. Beast has imprisoned Belle’s father in his castle’s dungeon—oof! Beast agrees to release Belle’s father in exchange for her staying forever, and then he reveals himself to be a beastly creature. Luckily, it all works out in the end.
5: In a creative move, she uses her tail feathers to flirt with him.
Daisy first appeared in 1940, in Mr. Duck Steps Out. When he arrives at her house for a date, she acts shy and turns her back to him. However, her tail feathers form a hand that signals for him to approach. Kinda weird. Donald’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, interrupt their date, but we all know that Donald and Daisy are together now.
6: They meet in a back yard, talking about babies.
When Lady and Tramp meet, Lady the Cocker spaniel lives with humans who adore her but are distracted because they’re expecting a baby. Tramp the mutt, on the other hand, is a stray who survives on scraps from local restaurants. Their iconic romantic scene takes place at Tony’s Restaurant, where they share a plate of spaghetti.
7: When he meets her, he thinks she is a man.
Mulan and Shang have a unique meet-cute, in which she is not even traditionally princess-cute. She is disguised as a male soldier named Ping. Shang kicks her out of his military unit at one point, still thinking she is a man.
8: They meet while performing daring physical feats to rescue others.
We don’t actually see them meet, but Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible work together as superheroes, get engaged, then marry and have three kids. This comes after Elastigirl once told an interviewer, “Settle down? Are you kidding? I'm at the top of my game! I'm right there with the big dogs!”
9: She sings a duet with her echo while he eavesdrops.
Snow White and the Prince have their meet-cute at a wishing well. She is singing “I’m Wishing” as a duet with her own echo, totally charming the Prince who happens to be nearby. He joins her in song, startling her, and she runs indoors. In true Disney fashion, it’s love at first sight.
10: She’s not attracted to him, but she hires him to take her on a journey.
Anna first encounters Kristoff in Frozen when she is searching for her sister Anna. Kristoff agrees to escort the sisters to the North Mountain, but only for his personal gain. There’s no love at first sight between these two because Anna is infatuated with the villainous Prince Hans at the time.
11: He sees her studying a baboon.
Tarzan, who has grown up in the jungle, sees Jane, a young British woman, sketching a baboon. She has traveled to Africa with her father who is a scientist. Tarzan and Jane learn to communicate … in the language of love.
12: She gets in trouble because she does not understand how commoners live, and he comes to her rescue.
Princess Jasmine dresses like a commoner to escape the confines of her palace, and she gets in trouble for giving a peddler’s apple to a child without paying. That’s when she meets Aladdin, a charming fellow who only steals to survive. It’s a charming meet-cute. Events conspire against them, but eventually they find their way back together with a little help from a blue Genie.
13: They were betrothed before they ever met.
When Simba and Nala meet as lion cubs, they are already betrothed—their parents had arranged for them to marry in the future. As young ones, they are not interested in romance, but later they mature, fall in love, and marry. The new king and queen eventually have two cubs of their own, Kiara and Kion. That’s the circle of life.
14: She rescues him when he is drowning.
If a near-death experience qualifies as a meet-cute, then Ariel and Prince Eric have an intense one. Ariel rescues him when he is drowning at sea, and he falls in love with the lovely redheaded stranger (with a tail).
15: He rescues her from a dust storm and gives her a plant.
In the movie WALL-E, a Waste Allocation Load Lifter—Earth-Class falls in love with an Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator. When WALL-E first sees EVE on planet Earth, she is dedicated to her job and not looking for romance. However, WALL-E rescues EVE from a dust storm, he shows her a terrestrial plant, she takes the plant and deactivates … a robot tale as old as time.
16: He convinces her to kiss him in order to break a curse.
When Tiana and Naveen first meet, she’s a human waitress and he’s a frog. He thinks she’s a princess, though, and he hopes that her kiss will turn him back into his human form. Whoops—the kiss backfires, and now both of them are frogs! Well, they’ve met, and they are cute as frogs, so there’s a meet-cute for you.
17: She gives him a horseshoe for good luck, and he invites her to fly in his plane.
Minnie first appeared in Plane Crazy in 1928. She flirts with Mickey and wishes him good luck in flying his plane, so he offers her a ride. After he kisses her, she jumps out of the plane, using her undergarments as a parachute.
18: They work together, but they’ve been a thing since college.
In Monsters, Inc., Celia is the snake-haired receptionist where Mike works. She calls him “Googley Woogley,” and he calls her “Schmoopsie-poo.” We never see their meet-cute, but in the film Monsters University Mike has a picture of Celia in his locker, so they’ve been a couple for a while.
19: He's a thief on the run, and she’s a captive audience.
Flynn rescues Rapunzel from a tower where she had been imprisoned for 18 years. The rescue is a plus, but the fact that he is a thief on the run, not so much. Since this is a Disney story, though, Flynn turns out to have some redeeming qualities, so Rapunzel lets her hair down.
20: She doesn’t like his donkey, but she loves his car.
This is a tricky one—before the days of Daisy. Donald meets Donna in Mexico, in 1937’s Don Donald. Donald lets Donna ride his donkey, but she doesn’t like it. Donald gets a fine red car instead, which Donna loves until it breaks down. Donna rides away on a unicycle, and that’s that for 14 years. Donna returns briefly in 1951, moving in next door to Donald and making Daisy jealous.
