Move over Anna, Merida and Rapunzel, there’s a new Disney Princess in town.
Elena — Disney’s first Latina princess and the star of the Disney Channel animated series “Elena of Avalor” — made her Walt Disney World Debut Thursday at Magic Kingdom.
The royal welcome included a procession through the hub, an introduction and welcome by Cinderella and Prince Charming and a performance of the song “My Time” from the series. Members and officials with the Girl Scouts of the USA were also on hand, with Ashley Chico of Citrus County receiving the inaugural Scepter of Light, an award recognizing leadership and success with scout’s “Gold Award Take Action” project.
One powerful moment during Elena’s Magic Kingdom debut was when she and dozens of Girl Scouts in the crowd raised scepters in unison.
A slightly scaled down version of the royal welcome and stage show will run five times daily, weather permitting, for a limited time. She will also appear for guests at Disneyland Resort in California. Disney did not give specifics on run length.
“We really wanted to find a way for Elena to meet as many people as possible, and what better place than the Cinderella Castle stage to do that,” said show director Tara Anderson.
“Elena of Avalor” debuted on Disney Channel July 22. The series tells the adventures of Elena Castillo Flores, the 16-year-old ruling princess of Avalor, a fictional kingdom inspired by Latin culture and architecture.
Elena fits the mold of feature film Disney princesses like Merida from “Brave” or Fa Mulan from “Mulan” as a strong, confident and independent young woman.
Craig Gerber, the show’s creator and executive producer, knows a thing or two about this trend. Gerber developed and serves as the executive producer of Disney Junior’s Emmy Award-winning animated series “Sofia the First,” a coming-of-age tale of an adventurous young girl that becomes a princess overnight when her mother marries a king.
“I kind of look at princesses as super heroes with tiaras,” Gerber said. “They’re looked at as these great role models, so it’s up to us to really make them these strong characters that kids can look up to.”
Sofia has been misidentified in the past as Hispanic, leading Gerber and his team to see the need for Disney’s first true Latin-inspired princess.
“It was very important for us that in creating Disney’s first Latina princess that we create a fairy tale world that was very relatable, that was based on authentic culture, that Latino audiences could watch and feel like they were represented,” Gerber said.
That was first and foremost to us and the rest of it was delivering a Disney princess character with an amazing story that people want to follow and that audiences both young and old would enjoy.”
Elena’s backstory is that she was trapped in an amulet for 41 years by the evil sorceress Shuriki. After escaping and saving her kingdom, she must now learn how to rule Avalor. She is joined on her adventures by magical flying creatures, her younger sister Isabel, friends Mateo and Gabe and a spirit animal named Zuzo.
“I think what Elena represents is the leadership qualities that we are so eager for all of our children to embrace as they head into the next century and take care of this world,” said Nancy Kanter, executive vice president of original programming and general manager of Disney Junior. “That she is from a Latina-influenced world is tremendous because it gives little Latina girls a chance to see somebody that looks like them, but importantly it gives all girls a chance to see that princesses come in all sizes, shapes and colors and that it is the sense of inclusion that is so important in our world today.”
For actress Jenna Ortega, 13, who voices Isabel on the show, Elena is more than just the latest Disney Princess.
“The fact that little girls that look like me can relate to a Disney Princess and just be proud of where they’re from is something that I’m proud of and I’m honored to be a part of,” she said.
Ortega said that seeing Elena come to life Thursday at Magic Kingdom was equally special.
“This is something that us Latinas have been waiting for for a long time, so to be able to witness that in person was a dream come true.”
