Disney Movie Deleted Scenes You Need To See

Disney movies are pretty unforgettable. You might not remember where you left your keys, what day of the week it is, or the password to your online banking account, but we bet you can remember every word of your favorite flick from the House of Mouse. Even before it became the entertainment juggernaut we know it as today, Disney was a leader in the field of animation. Mickey Mouse made his debut in a cartoon called Steamboat Willie on Nov. 18, 1928, and their first full-length feature, Snow White, premiered on Dec. 21, 1937, becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. After a troubled period in the '80s, the '90s were deemed the Disney Renaissance, which kicked off with The Little Mermaid in 1989, and included classics like 1991's Beauty and the Beast, 1992's Aladdin, and 1994's The Lion King.

It's hard to imagine that the Disney movies, characters, or songs that you learned by heart could have turned out any other way. But, as with any creative process, many Disney movies started out as ideas that transformed as the films progressed. Here are deleted scenes that could have totally changed the way you remember your favorite Disney films.

As with most Disney movies, the story of Peter Pan, released in 1953, was not an original. It was based on a 1904 play and a 1911 book written by J.M. Barrie, who based the character of the "boy who wouldn't grow up" on five young brothers who played near his home in London's Kensington Gardens. The movie opens in London, in the Darling family's nursery, but originally it was closer to the tone of the book and play, which is much darker than the Disney version.  

In the scrapped opening, the movie starts out in Neverland, with mean girl mermaids taunting Tinkerbell, and Peter Pan, knife in hand, telling his bored Lost Boys that he will go out and kidnap a mother to tell them stories. Terrifying! This version of Peter Pan is similar to how he's portrayed on stage and page: His mischievousness is less adorable and more self-centered, arrogant, and a little bit evil, as he struggles to tell the difference between reality and fiction. Ultimately, Disney decided to make the hero more child-friendly — and this opening went out the window.

Given that most of the action in 1970 Disney movie The Aristocats focuses on the felines and their accomplices, you could be forgiven for forgetting that there were human characters besides the burglarizing butler. But Duchess and her kittens' beloved mistress, retired opera singer and OG cat lady Madame Adelaide, nearly had her own moment in the spotlight.

In a deleted song that many cat owners have probably unknowingly recreated, Madame Adelaide lovingly tells her cats about how happy they make her and the purpose they bring to her life. In a later deleted scene that reprises the song, Duchess thinks back on the happy times she and Madame Adelaide have had together and how much she and the kittens mean to their mistress, and she realizes that even though she loves alley cat Thomas O'Malley, she can't leave Madame Adelaide on her own. It's a very sweet moment, and it explains Duchess' motivations in choosing her human over O'Malley — but at least they left us with the unbeatable "Everybody Wants to be a Cat" instead.

The Disney movie that saved the company from its '80s slump, The Little Mermaid has a backup cast of musically gifted aquatic creatures that helped take it from fluffy fairy tale to forever classic. For instance, it's Sebastian the crab who leads "Under the Sea," one of Disney's best songs and an Oscar winner. 

However, another scene focused around the Jamaican crustacean got cut down in editing. You may remember that when voiceless Ariel and stowaway Sebastian arrive at the castle, she is treated to a bath and a new wardrobe, while he ends up in the laundry. After escaping into a jacket pocket, he's sent into the kitchen, where he's chased by a chef. 

In the deleted scene, Sebastian makes it out of the laundry and down a corridor, jumping from a window into a courtyard, where he is chased by Eric's Old English sheepdog Max, whom Sebastian angrily labels, "You shark with fur!" He clambers up a wall into the kitchen, where the chef scene starts. This wasn't the first edit the character faced: Originally he was an English crab butler named Clarence!

It's hard to imagine the 1994 Disney movie The Lion King unfolding in any other way — despite the best efforts of the 2019 live-action version. However, the movie went through a bumpy creative process. When the animation team at Disney were given the choice to work on The Lion King or Pocahontas, many felt that the latter was the better project. Unlike other contemporary Disney hits, The Lion King's music wouldn't involve Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, but instead Elton John and Tim Rice, and the man considered to be the studio's best animator, Glen Keane, was assigned to Pocahontas.

During those early days, Mufasa was given his own song, "To Be King," to be sung after he shows Simba the entirety of his kingdom — "everything the light touches" — and it involves Mufasa advising his son on best practices for being a ruler. The early sketches that went with it show an all-animal dance sequence similar to that of "I Just Can't Wait to be King." Supposedly the song was cut because it didn't suit James Earl Jones, who voiced Mufasa.

The Ancient Greek myth of Hercules had a moment in the mid-'90s. It started with TV drama Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, starring Kevin Sorbo as the muscular hero, and hit the big screen in the 1997 Disney movie, Hercules. Although the movie was considered a box office flop, the soundtrack composed by Alan Menken (who also did The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, to name just two) provided several Disney classics, including "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)," "Zero to Hero," and "Go the Distance."

But the latter song nearly didn't make it into the movie. Menken originally wrote a different song for that heart-wrenching who-am-I number. He told MTV News, "We had a beautiful song in Hercules that we ended up cutting called 'The Shooting Star.' We needed something that was more of a masculine 'I Want' song as opposed to something for a sensitive lad." Fortunately, we can still hear the ballad and see some of the early animation ideas. And the song did find a new home: It was released by boy band Boyzone, and it made it to the international version of the soundtrack.

Released in 2000, The Emperor's New Groove feels like the weird cousin of the '90s Disney movies. As Variety noted at the time, a lot of the jokes went over kids' heads. The film had been through a grueling production process that started in 1995. Although the premise was always the same, initially it was helmed by The Lion King director Roger Allers and was supposed to be a serious musical drama. In 1998, Disney decided to pep it up by introducing younger animator Mark Dindal. Allers ultimately quit, Dindal and producer Randy Fullmer rewrote the script, and the zany comedy was born.

All of those edits meant that there were plenty of deleted scenes. One introduced us to villager Pacha's extended family. Fullmer explained, "We thought, boy, he oughta have a lot of crazy elements to his family." In the scene, Pacha's trying to tell his wife about Kuzco, but is interrupted by his lively daughter, curious son, entrepreneurial grandad, and stoner-esque neighbor, until Kuzco eventually escapes by running into the jungle.

To mark their 50th animated film, released in 2010, Disney went back to their fairy tale roots, retelling the story of Rapunzel and her magical hair. The idea had been floating around the studio as early as the 1940s, when Walt Disney himself wanted to make a version. When it came time to create their own take, the directors were excited to shake things up. Director Nathan Greno said, "I think what's great about the original fairy tale is you're dealing with some very unique, iconic imagery. ... There's a chance to tell this classic story, make it contemporary, but at the same time be true to what the original story is."

One twist that ended up being a little too twisted was the presence of a monkey medium. In the deleted scene, a skeptical Flynn and an open-minded Rapunzel have their fortunes told, with the monkey nearly revealing Rapunzel's true parentage. Ultimately, producer Roy Conli explained (via Variety) they couldn't figure out how it would fit in the story. Greno said, "As with a lot of things in this movie that came and went, we made a bunch of changes; some things stick, some things don't."

Disney movie Incredibles 2 froze out Frozen in the U.S., making it the most lucrative animation of all time in the country. But as we've learned, even the most successful animated movies have gone through many iterations before they find success on our screens. And Incredibles 2 was under extra pressure. Not only did it come out 14 years after 2004's The Incredibles, but the team had a shorter production time frame than usual. Writer/director Brad Bird likened making the film to "running in front of a train, laying down track" (via IGN).

One sequence that was edited down during that frantic process was the restaurant scene. In the final movie, Bob embarrasses Violet by taking her to a restaurant where he knows her crush Tony works. But originally, the scene was meant to give Violet and Dash a chance to use their superpowers. While Bob goes to change Jack-Jack's diaper, the two stop a robbery. "I liked seeing the Parr kids solving an adult-sized problem without Bob ... and it was meant to add to Bob's frustration," Bird explained. Luckily the movie was still incredible without it.