13 Disney Plot Holes That Actually Have Reasonable Explanations

DISNEY NEVER MAKES MISTAKES and I'm here to prove it.

1. "Why didn't Ariel just WRITE an explanation to Prince Eric when she couldn't speak?"

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Here's the thing: When Ursula sings the explanation of the deal to Ariel, she says, "No more talking, singing, zip." Since Ursula is the one forging this contract and Ariel signs it without even reading the fine print, it's possible that "zip" includes non-verbal communication like sign language or writing. Ursula mentions using "body language," so that's allowed, but anything that counts as communication seems to be off the table.

It's also worth mentioning that this is a magical contract, and Ariel looks away while she's signing. It could be that Ursula enchanted the fishbone "pen" to write the ~intention~ of the signer, so all Ariel had to do was ~want~ to sign her name, and magic took care of the rest.

2. "After midnight, everything the Fairy Godmother gave to Cinderella reverted to normal...except for Cinderella's glass slippers. Shouldn't they have turned back to normal, too?"

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The Fairy Godmother transformed objects like the pumpkin into fancy-pants modes of transportation, however the glass slippers were conjured out of thin air, specifically as a gift for Cinderella. Thus, they remained in their original state.

3. "Why did Li Shang just abandon Mulan in the snow to fend for herself? Why not at least escort her back?"

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Li Shang may have actually done Mulan a favor here. According to law, if Mulan had been caught pretending to be a man in the Chinese army, both she AND her father likely would have faced some major consequences, since this means her father skipped out on his duty. By allowing Mulan to quietly go home, he probably at least spared her father's life, if not hers as well.

4. "Why are there anteaters (which are native to Central and South America) in The Lion King, which is set in Africa?"

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The ears are slightly wrong, but it's likely that these are actually meant to be aardvarks, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa.

5. "When Aladdin wishes to be a prince, Genie gives him clothes and a parade, but not a kingdom. But when Jafar wishes to be Sultan, Genie gives him Agrabah. What gives?"

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Simple: Aladdin wished to be "a" prince. Jafar wished to be "THE" Sultan. Of course, if Genie were a proper, tricky djinn, he probably would've been like "sure thing boss" and made Jafar the Sultan of some far-off kingdom and just booted him over there. But that's another question for another day.

6. "In Beauty and the Beast, they say that the Prince would be cursed until his 21st year, and Lumiére sings, 'Ten years we have been rusting.' So did the Prince get cursed when he was 11? Why are there portraits in the castle where he looks like a young man?"

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The narrator in this movie states, "The rose — which was truly an enchanted rose — would bloom until his 21st year." It's possible that means that the rose would only BLOOM until that time, after which it would only START to wilt. So the Prince could've been cursed at any age before 21 — say, maybe 17 or 18 — and the rose started losing petals after three or four years. The Prince, and all the other victims of the curse, seem to be frozen in time, so when the curse is broken, they haven't visibly aged. This explains why Chip still appears to be a 5-year-old boy.

7. "Speaking of the castle, how did the villagers manage to avoid the place for so long? Did nobody notice it after all this time?"

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There are all kinds of enchantments on this castle, so it's not beyond possibility that it was enchanted to be hidden as well. Certainly, Maurice was off the beaten path when he stumbled upon it, and other people who accidentally discovered it may have been scared off.

8. "So, Elsa made her palace out of ice...does she sleep on an ice bed? Are her toilets made of ice? That sounds uncomfortable! And what does she eat? Everything on that mountain is frozen solid!"

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Elsa definitely does a lot of ice stuff, but she also makes herself a new shiny dress using her magic, and it's definitely some kind of fabric. So clearly, her powers actually stretch beyond just ice stuff. Also, she's not up there for very long, so she could probably live off whatever arctic creatures are up there, or maybe even animate a snow creature to go fetch food for her.

9. "Buzz Lightyear thinks that he's an actual Space Ranger, but he still pretends to be a toy whenever Andy's around."

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It's possible that acting like a toy is just a toy instinct, and Buzz is doing it without thinking about why. But you could also argue that, as a Space Ranger, if he sees a gigantic creature that he knows he can't defeat, playing "dead" might be the best option.

10. "Why is King Triton so controlling and angry? Was it really necessary to destroy Ariel's entire grotto full of stuff she collected?"

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According to the sequel to The Little Mermaid, Ariel's mother — Triton's wife — died after a run-in with a pirate ship. So Triton rightfully considers humans to be dangerous, and doesn't want Ariel going anywhere near them. To him, her curiosity (and obsession with human objects) could get her killed.

11. "In Mulan, Li Shang threatens to send recruits home if they don't perform well in training. Mulan's dad was feeble, so he probably would've just been sent home too."

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Mulan's father was a famous war hero, so he probably wouldn't have had to go through training at all. He was mostly likely going to be an officer, so his fighting ability might not have mattered as much...although that also means he would've had a better chance of surviving since he likely wouldn't have been on the front lines.

12. "How did nobody else in the entire kingdom have the same shoe size as Cinderella?"

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We don't know exactly where or when Cinderella takes place, but assuming it's in a European village in the early 18th century, chances are there weren't that many people under the prince's rule. Then, when you narrow it down to unmarried women of Cinderella's specific age, that leaves you with a smaller pool of potential shoe-wearers.

But also, consider this: The slipper is made out of glass. Glass is very hard! Imagine wearing a high heel that has zero flexibility...it'd have to fit absolutely PERFECTLY. The better question is why it fell off when it was magically made to fit?

13. "Why does Elsa magically create a dazzling gown? She's already royalty. Really, after all that stress, she realistically would've taken off her bra and created herself some nice pajamas, or at least sweatpants and a hoodie."

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I have no rebuttal to this. It's an airtight argument.