20 Fun Facts About Disney’s Moana
These 20 fun facts about Disney’s Moana reveal how the original animated movie was made, from Moana’s seven costumes and Maui’s once-bald head to the animation technology behind the ocean, Heihei, and Mini Maui.
What makes this list different is that several of these Moana facts came from my own conversation with Auli’i Cravalho and her mother, Puanani, during a Disney press event in Burbank. It is part behind-the-scenes movie trivia, part firsthand interview, and part memory of meeting the remarkable young woman who became the voice of Moana.
This article is about Disney’s original animated Moana and is for Disney fans, family movie nights, trivia lovers, and anyone curious about how the characters, culture, music, costumes, and animation came together.
Some of my favorite facts? Heihei was once a smart, sassy rooster. Maui did not always have his famous hair. Disney created special technology to animate Moana’s wet curls. The ocean had to be animated like a character instead of simply a setting. And before the movie opened, Auli’i had to keep one enormous secret for more than three months.
Readers also enjoy: Planning a family movie night? Keep the adventure going with these free printable Moana activities and coloring sheets.
20 Fun Facts About Disney’s Moana
Before we get to the costumes, animation, music, and movie-making secrets, we have to begin with the part of the story I was lucky enough to witness for myself.
As August was heating up, I took a seat at a long conference table in a room somewhere on Disney’s Burbank lot. To be honest, the room was bland. Windows let in the light, but the room still felt dull and hollow.
Then Auli’i Cravalho walked in.
There are people who seem to light up any room they enter. There is simply something magical about them. Auli’i was one of those people.
Her smile seemed to span the universe and send all the beauty back into the room.
With her was a woman who radiated that same beauty: her mother, Puanani.
1. Auli’i Cravalho kept being Moana a secret for more than three months
I had seen the video in which Auli’i learned she had been chosen to become Disney’s newest leading heroine.
It is the kind of moment that puts a lump in your throat. There is joy, disbelief, and gratitude all at once.
After landing the role, however, Auli’i could not immediately celebrate with everyone she knew.
“Yes. Sworn to secrecy,” she told us. “July. August. September. October. A little over three months, we couldn’t tell anyone.”
Imagine being a teenager, becoming the voice of Moana, and still having to go home and act as though nothing extraordinary had happened.
2. The person Auli’i trusted with the secret was her mom
The first person Auli’i shared the news with was her mother.
Or, as Puanani quickly clarified when we asked who Auli’i told next:
“No. You couldn’t. We were sworn to secrecy.”
Her mother remembered Auli’i coming home at night, the two of them hugging, and her daughter saying, “Mommy. I’m Moana.”
Puanani’s answer was simple.
“Yes. You sure are, Sweetie.”
Then Auli’i explained the mother-daughter relationship behind that enormous secret.
“The truth is I told my mom. We would literally have these conversations at night about how there was no one that I could tell. There was no one else that I felt like I had to tell. It’s just been my mom and I for like three years or so.”
She laughed about not being very good at Snapchat or social media because, at heart, she liked having a little part of her life that belonged to just the two of them.
It was a surprisingly ordinary confession from a girl living through something completely extraordinary.
3. Auli’i recorded Moana without meeting most of her co-stars
One of the most surprising Moana movie facts Auli’i shared was that recording an animated movie was not what she had expected.
She had spent all that time in the studio becoming Moana, yet she had not been working in the booth with the actors whose characters surrounded hers on screen.
“This whole process of recording without meeting someone was something that I was not prepared to do,” she said. “I assumed we would be in the same booth.”
Just a couple of days before our interview, she had finally met Dwayne Johnson, the voice of Maui. A few weeks earlier, she had met Rachel House, the voice of Gramma Tala.
Seeing Rachel House in person was especially interesting because Auli’i had become so familiar with the voice of Gramma Tala.
“That isn’t her actual voice,” Auli’i told us. “She totally commits to the character. Otherwise she’s just a really sweet, kind woman who doesn’t sound like Gramma Tala.”
4. Meeting Dwayne Johnson showed Auli’i how focused he could be
So, what was it like meeting “The Rock”?
Puanani wasted absolutely no time answering.
“I did some ‘Rock’ climbing for all of us. I’m just saying, you know, I took one for the team, sweat and everything.”
Auli’i took the more professional approach.
“He was very nice. Very professional,” she said.
What impressed her was his ability to manage many responsibilities and then focus on the one directly in front of him.
“Dwayne is very focused,” she explained. “It brought to mind how dedicated he can be to one thing and then convert his attention to another.”
5. Auli’i said she and Moana shared a deep love of culture and family
My first trip to Hawaii began on September 10, 2001.
The next morning was September 11.
My planned two-day trip became 16 days on an island. During that unexpected time, I met extraordinary people who were proud of their culture, their traditions, and their heritage.
I had not given that memory much thought in years, but sitting in that room, Auli’i reminded me of it.
She was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. She spoke about her culture with an ease and pride that made it clear this was not simply a role she had stepped into.
“Dwayne loves the character Maui so much,” she said. “He is Polynesian just like I am. To see that he is so committed to the character just made it almost overwhelming.”
She understood how much emotion she had poured into Moana, and she recognized that same commitment in her co-star.
Auli’i also said she and Moana shared a love of family and of their people.
She described something she believed visitors noticed in Hawaii: a feeling that one person’s success could belong to the whole community.
“For everyone that I’ve ever met in Hawaii, it’s like you made it and you made it for us. I just feel so proud of that.”
When people back home learned she was Moana, she joked that the family received banana bread practically every night of the week.
“Aside from that,” she said, “it’s been really normal!”
6. The wayfinding in Moana was not invented for the movie
One of the most meaningful facts about Moana came directly from Auli’i.
Wayfinding was not something created simply to give the movie an adventure story.
“Wayfinding isn’t something they made up for animation purposes. It was truly almost lost in the Polynesian culture, which is something that not a lot of people know.”
She was proud that the movie placed navigation and wayfinding in a positive light and that those traditions were experiencing renewed attention in everyday life.
That mattered to her because the movie was not simply borrowing an ocean setting. It was telling a story connected to people, history, knowledge, and identity.
7. Auli’i believed Moana’s journey to find herself was universal
What Auli’i loved most was that Moana’s story could belong to almost anyone.
“To have such a beautiful young teen, who shows that it’s okay to go on a journey to find yourself, it’s wonderful, because that message is universal to everyone.”
I looked at Auli’i and saw a girl the same age as my own daughter.
She was living an extraordinary fairy tale and carrying the title of a Disney leading lady with power and grace. Yet as I sat there amazed by how balanced, well-spoken, and positive she was, she raised the bar again.
She told us she loved acting, but she was also thinking seriously about the future.
She studied no matter what. At that point, she was considering a career in law or perhaps science, particularly cellular and molecular biology.
Puanani brought the conversation back to something every mother could understand.
“This is an amazing journey. We’re with Disney; we’re in good hands, but this is outside of my knowledge. I’m doing my mommy part and I’m staying close with her, because I need to on this journey with her.”
Then she gave us the perfect image for the journey they were taking together.
“Auli’i is happy and she’s thriving. This canoe is sailing and we’re sailing well. We really are.”
The interview ended with Auli’i looking at her mother and saying, perhaps for the first time that day:
“I have a really amazing Mom; right?!”
She did.
And now, on to more of the animation, costume, character, and production facts that made Moana such an interesting movie to explore behind the scenes.
8. Moana wears seven different outfits in the movie
Moana has seven outfits throughout the animated film.
That count includes the red tapa garment she wears as a toddler when she first encounters the ocean.
Most viewers are focused on the story and may never stop to count the costume changes, but each look had to support a specific moment in Moana’s journey.
9. Moana’s main outfit was designed to let an adventurer move
Moana’s best-known look includes a tapa top, a pandanus skirt, and a shredded pandanus underskirt.
The costume could not simply look beautiful. Moana had to swim, run, climb, sail, and navigate her canoe.
Her skirt was designed with movement in mind, including an opening at the front that allowed her legs greater freedom during all that adventuring.
10. Moana’s ceremonial clothing was inspired by the Taualuga
One of Moana’s more elaborate costumes was inspired by the Taualuga ceremonies of Samoa.
Her ceremonial garment includes shells and pearls. Her Tuiga, or headdress, incorporates shells from the ocean and red feathers associated with royalty.
One particularly elaborate outfit created for the movie is visible on screen for only about six seconds.
That is an extraordinary amount of artistic work for a moment many viewers could miss in a blink.
11. The characters’ clothing used materials that fit the world of the story
The clothing in Moana was designed around materials that would have been available to the characters roughly 2,000 years ago.
That gave the costume team creative boundaries while helping the clothing feel connected to the movie’s setting rather than like modern fashion dressed up for an adventure.
12. Maui was originally bald
It is difficult to imagine Maui without his enormous head of hair, but early versions of the character were bald.
After cultural consultants advised the filmmakers that Maui was traditionally imagined with a full head of hair, the character designers changed direction.
Of course, creating Maui’s hair was not as simple as drawing a few more curls. A technical team also had to determine how to make all that hair move convincingly in animation.
13. Disney used real wet curls to study Moana’s underwater hair
Animating Moana’s curly hair became especially complicated when she went underwater.
The artists needed to understand how curls changed when wet, so volunteers with similar hair textures were invited to the studio and dunked in water while the team studied what happened.
Technology then had to be refined so Moana’s hair could look believable when wet, underwater, and back in motion.
14. Mini Maui was hand-drawn inside a computer-animated movie
Maui’s tattoos include Mini Maui, the tiny two-dimensional version of the demigod who acts as his conscience.
Mini Maui was created using traditional hand-drawn animation techniques by Disney animator Eric Goldberg and his team.
The little tattoo was often compared to Jiminy Cricket because he pushes the larger Maui toward the right thing, even when Maui would prefer another option.
Perfect with: A family movie night that turns into an art afternoon. You can also step inside my art lesson with Disney animator Eric Goldberg for another firsthand look at Disney animation.
15. The ocean had to be animated as a character
The ocean in Moana is not simply a setting.
It behaves like a character. It reaches, reacts, helps, teases, and communicates.
To make that possible, the animation team developed a rig with a curved, wave-like shape that could be posed differently depending on the needs of a scene.
The effects team then added the details that made it feel like water: flowing movement, splashes, droplets, and drips.
Earlier Disney animation work also helped inform the process, including techniques developed for Rapunzel’s flowing hair in Tangled.
Filmmakers also studied water itself in unusual ways.
To understand underwater clarity, the team created a physical rig about 50 feet long. Gray, black, and red balls were attached at intervals and photographed underwater in several locations so the artists could study how distance and water affected what the eye could see.
16. Heihei was originally smart and sassy
Heihei did not begin as the spectacularly confused rooster audiences know from the finished movie.
Early versions of the character were smart and sassy.
The filmmakers did not believe that version felt unique enough, and at one point Heihei was in danger of disappearing from the movie entirely.
A small group of story team members spent a couple of days trying to save him.
Their solution was wonderfully simple.
Lower his IQ.
The new version earned so many laughs that Heihei stayed.
17. Heihei’s feathers created another animation challenge
Saving Heihei meant creating another technical problem.
The animation team needed a special feather pipeline for both Heihei and the hawk form Maui takes when he uses his magical fishhook.
Feathers can be difficult in computer animation because they overlap and rest on top of one another.
Even one ridiculous rooster can require a surprising amount of sophisticated technology.
18. Disney worked with the Oceanic Story Trust
The filmmakers’ research trips through the Pacific Islands continued to influence the movie long after they returned to the studio.
A group of advisors known as the Oceanic Story Trust helped the creative team consider cultural details throughout the filmmaking process.
The group included anthropologists, educators, linguists, master tattooists, choreographers, haka practitioners, master navigators, and other cultural advisors.
Polynesian dance experts were also brought into the studio to choreograph and demonstrate movements. Disney artists watched, sketched, and studied the meaning behind those movements instead of simply inventing gestures that looked good on screen.
That part of the filmmaking process connects directly to what Auli’i told us about wayfinding: the traditions behind the story mattered.
19. The stars in Moana were researched, too
The sky did not escape the research process.
To create the starry nights in Moana, the filmmakers consulted astronomers about which stars would have been visible in Pacific Island skies roughly 2,000 years ago.
Maui’s magical hook also echoes a real constellation recognized in Oceania and known elsewhere as part of Scorpio.
20. Moana’s music team found its rhythm together at Pasifika
The musical team behind Moana included Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina.
During a trip to New Zealand for the Pasifika cultural festival, dancers pulled Miranda onto the stage for a competition with other audience members.
He won.
Mancina joked that he had been there for two days and still did not know where the restrooms were, while Miranda had already jumped onstage and won a dance competition.
Miranda had loved The Little Mermaid since childhood, making the chance to work with filmmakers associated with that Disney classic especially meaningful.
A Few Bonus Moana Facts I Couldn’t Leave Out
Maui’s look has a personal connection to Dwayne Johnson’s grandfather
Maui has another connection to Dwayne Johnson beyond the actor providing his voice.
The demigod’s powerful build, tattoos, long hair, and larger-than-life presence have been connected to the spirit and appearance of Johnson’s grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia.
That makes Maui more than another voice role in Johnson’s family story.
Tamatoa lives below the sea for a reason
Tamatoa, the enormous treasure-loving crab, lives in Lalotai, the realm of monsters beneath the ocean floor.
The name reflects that location: lalo means below and tai means the sea in Proto-Polynesian.
Even the home of a giant, shiny crab with serious trust issues got a thoughtful name.
How to Use These Moana Facts for a Family Movie Night
These facts are fun to read on their own, but they can also turn another viewing of Moana into a completely different experience.
- Ask everyone to watch for Moana’s costume changes and see how many of the seven outfits they can spot.
- Look closely at Mini Maui and notice how his hand-drawn movements differ from the computer-animated world around him.
- Watch the ocean as though it is another character and notice how it reacts to Moana.
- Pay attention to Heihei and imagine the movie with a smart, sarcastic version of the rooster instead.
- Look at Maui’s hair, Moana’s wet curls, the feathers, and the stars with the animation challenges in mind.
For a rainy afternoon, summer family movie night, Disney marathon, or Moana-themed party, the behind-the-scenes details can become trivia questions, conversation starters, or clues for a movie-night game.
Related posts: Continue the Moana fun with my free Moana activities and coloring sheets, learn from Disney animator Eric Goldberg, or step into another of my behind-the-scenes Disney experiences.
Frequently Asked Questions About Moana
What are some fun facts about Moana?
Moana wears seven outfits, Maui was originally designed without his famous hair, Heihei was once a smart character, Mini Maui was hand-drawn, and the ocean required its own animation rig so it could perform like a character.
How many outfits does Moana wear?
Moana wears seven outfits in the original animated movie, including the red tapa garment she wears as a toddler and the main adventuring outfit designed for running, swimming, and sailing.
Was Heihei originally smart?
Yes. Early versions of Heihei were smart and sassy. The character was nearly removed from the movie before the story team reimagined him as the wonderfully clueless rooster in the finished film.
Did Auli’i Cravalho record Moana with Dwayne Johnson?
No. Auli’i told me she had expected the actors to record together, but much of the voice work was done separately. She met Dwayne Johnson only shortly before our interview.
Is the wayfinding in Moana real?
Yes. Auli’i Cravalho emphasized during our interview that wayfinding was not invented for animation. The tradition of navigating across the ocean was an important part of the cultural foundation behind the story.
Why does the ocean act alive in Moana?
The ocean was treated as a character. Animators created a special rig so it could be posed, react emotionally, move toward Moana, and interact with the other characters.
Was Maui based on Dwayne Johnson’s grandfather?
Maui has a personal connection to Dwayne Johnson’s grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, particularly in the character’s powerful presence, tattoos, long hair, and cultural significance.
Is this article about the original animated Moana?
Yes. These facts and my Auli’i Cravalho interview are connected to Disney’s original animated Moana.
Final Thoughts on These Moana Fun Facts
I love the animation secrets. I love knowing that Heihei was once smart, that volunteers got dunked so Disney could study wet curls, and that an elaborate costume might appear for only a few seconds.
But years later, the part of this story I remember most clearly is still that bland conference room.
I remember Auli’i walking in and somehow making it brighter.
I remember Puanani’s pride.
I remember the two of them teasing each other, finishing each other’s stories, and describing this enormous adventure as a canoe they were learning to sail together.
There are plenty of fun facts about Disney’s Moana.
The best one I learned that day was that behind the voice of Moana was a remarkable young woman with a remarkable mother standing close beside her.
Next story to read: Go behind the scenes again with my firsthand Disney Legends experience.
Original Auli’i Cravalho and Puanani Cravalho interview conducted by Julee Morrison and first published in 2016. This updated article combines that firsthand interview with the original Moana behind-the-scenes facts previously published on Mommy’s Memorandum.