Addendum: Disney's Newest Princess

As promised. I was asked to provide the information from the character panels in the Animation Gallery of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. So, without further ado, here is what Disney has to say about each of their newest characters.

Tiana is a bright and resourceful nineteen year-old who dreams of opening her own New Orleans restaurant. Inspired by her late father she knows everything about cooking and running a business. She has taken his advice by dreaming big and working incredibly hard to achieve her goal even in the face of sizable obstacles. Along the way, however, she has begun to loose [sic] sight of what is really important. As fate should have it, an adventure involving a frog, a firefly and an alligator reveal to her that what she wants isn’t necessarily what she needs.

Prince Naveen is a handsome, exotic prince from the far-off country of Maldonia. A Jazz fanatic, Naveen is visiting New Orleans to experience first hand [sic] the birthplace of this musical phenomenon. Naveen is a charming, gregarious man who has a problem with responsibility. Recently cut off by his parents because of his gallivanting ways, he is looking to somehow maintain his lavish lifestyle while avoiding having to actually work for a living. Through his relationship with Tiana, Naveen discovers inner nobility he never knew he had.

Doctor Facilier is a sinister, charismatic Voodoo practitioner who works the French Quarter luring unsuspecting “marks” into deals where he technically gives them whatever they want but always leaves them much worse off than they were before. Facilier is accompanied by his sidekick shadow that actually has a life and personality of its own. Facilier and the shadow yearn to expand their small time operation, spread darkness and corruption, and become fantastically wealthy in the process.

Louis is a huge, fun-loving alligator with a heart of gold and a love for Jazz. After a lifetime of listening to the great Jazz musicians performing on the riverboats, Louis taught himself to play the trumpet and has become a Jazz virtuoso. He desperately yearns to play for an audience of appreciative humans while trying not to scare them half to death.

Ray is a lovesick Cajun firefly who’s constantly pining for his beloved paramour, Evangeline. Amusingly obtuse, warm and easygoing, Ray beams positive energy, spreading light and always looking on the bright side of life.

Mama Odie, a two hundred year old blind Voodoo Fairy Godmother who lives deep in the Louisiana bayou wither her “seeing-eye snake” Juju. She’s comically eccentric, yet wise and all knowing, and love making big batches of her magical gumbo that she concocts in an old bathtub.