A film director hopped into the fray to solve the mystery behind a baffling piece of concept art that a guest discovered on Disney’s newest cruise ship.
The curious find was spotted by podcast host Courtney Guth last week when the Disney Treasure first opened to guests. While eating at 1923, one of the main dining options on the ship, Guth took a peek at the Disney animation artwork around the restaurant. Near her table, she noticed a cluster of artwork depicting the classic characters from Winnie the Pooh — and one unexpected addition.
“Who is this bug?? We cannot find anything about him online,” Guth posted on X. “Reverse image search didn’t work.”
The bug in question appears with the Winnie the Pooh crew, guiding them along a tree branch in one image and posing Washington on the Delaware-style in a boat in another. Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Rabbit and others are approximately the same size as the bug, suggesting they’ve shrunk down to insect dimensions.
Somehow in the wilds of the internet, the post crossed paths with someone who had the answer: the co-director of the 2011 “Winnie the Pooh” movie.
“That bug is named Small,” director Stephen Anderson wrote in response to Guth’s query. “He is one of Rabbit’s friends and relations from the original A. A. Milne books. The artwork is for a deleted storyline from our 2011 Pooh movie where the gang goes in a search for Small, who’s gone missing.”
Small the beetle appears in “The House at Pooh Corner,” Milne’s second collection of Winnie the Pooh tales. The 2011 movie ultimately used another story from the collection, “In Which Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings,” as the primary plotline. Anderson added that the Small storyline even had a song, sung by Rabbit, called “Have You Met Small?”
The use of Small the bug in 1923 suggests there may be more unused concepts hidden in the restaurant’s artwork. Luckily for Disney Treasure guests, everyone gets a chance to sit in 1923 for a meal: It’s one of the ship’s three rotational dining options for dinner.
