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More fun Little Mermaid trivia:

1.  The special effects needed for the underwater sequences were among the most complex for any Disney animated feature since "Fantasia" 50 years earlier. Animator Mark Dindal estimated that he and his colleagues had to draw a million bubbles.

2. As it turned out, "The Little Mermaid" was the last Disney feature to use traditional hand-painted cel animation. Almost all of the film was hand-painted except for the final wedding sequence, which was Disney's first use of a computer-assisted production system, one that digitally scanned the animators' drawings and inked and colored them. The system was designed by Pixar, marking Disney's first collaboration with the computer-animation company that would become Disney's in-house developer of beloved CGI cartoon features.

3. Katzenberg nearly cut Ariel's yearning ballad "Part of Your World" from the film when kids attending a rough-cut screening grew fidgety. The filmmakers reminded him that MGM nearly made the same mistake when it had threatened to cut the slow-moving "Over the Rainbow" from "The Wizard of Oz." Viewers responded better to the song during a screening with more complete animation, and the number stayed.

4. The film was nominated for three Oscars, all for its music. Menken won for Best Score, and he and Ashman landed two Best Song nods, for "Under the Sea" (which won) and "Kiss the Girl." They were Disney's first Oscars for an animated feature since "Song of the South" 42 years earlier. "Mermaid's" Oscar success launched a new wave of Academy Awards for songs from Disney cartoons.

5. A Broadway musical version of "Mermaid" opened in New York in 2008. Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater composed some new songs for the play.