"The Floating Palace" is a television special of the Disney Junior animated series Sofia the First. It premiered on November 24, 2013 on Disney Channel as part of a family night special event.
Plot[]
Traveling across the sea aboard a ship known as The Floating Palace, Sofia is in the library reading a book when the Royal Family arrives at a cove known as Merroway Cove for a vacation. When Sofia asks if they'll meet any mermaids, Roland and Admiral Hornpipe both tell her mermaids are not real. Also accompanying the royal family is Cedric, who is out on another scheme to take over Enchancia -- only this time, he's not after the Amulet of Avalor. Instead, he’s in search of an enchanted comb known as the Mermaid Comb of Merroway Cove, that gives whoever possesses it the power to harness the ocean. He takes a boat to a cave and transforms himself into a sea monster and Wormwood into a squid.
Meanwhile, Sofia meets up with Clover and heads down to the swimming platform. Once there, they spot a mermaid who gets trapped in a net. Sofia pulls her onto the platform and helps her get untangled. Once free, Sofia introduces herself to the mermaid who introduces herself as Oona and the two girls become fast friends. Oona is amazed by the Floating Palace which was why she came up to get a closer look. She notices Sofia's amulet glowing and when she asks her about it, Sofia tells Oona it’s enchanted. Oona tells her that the comb she's wearing is enchanted as well, but doesn't know what its powers are because her mother refuses to tell her stating that she’s not old enough yet. After she gets back in the water, Oona discovers her fin was injured by the net. Sofia takes off her shoes so she can get in the water and help her. The moment her feet makes contact with the water, she transforms into a mermaid. Remembering the glow her new friend saw earlier and the amulet's rule, Sofia tells Oona her amulet gives her special powers when she does good deeds. Since she helped her when she was in trouble, her amulet blessed her with the ability to transform into a mermaid. All this makes Sofia squeal with joy as she happily hops into the water. She drifts down a few fathoms until she opens her eyes and squeals "This is incredible!" and starts swimming at lightning speed before returning to the surface. With the use of her new abilities, Sofia helps Oona swim home. Meanwhile, Clover meets a seagull named Farley who tries to make off with a bag of blueberries that Clover marked as his lunch. A battle erupts between them that causes the blueberries to get spilled overboard and gets them both stuck in a lifesaver.
Meanwhile, Sofia takes Oona to the bottom of the cove and all the sights make Sofia squeal with delight. The two girls enter a shipwreck that Oona uses as her hideaway. Suddenly, a seahorse appears and calls out for Oona who tries to hide Sofia. She tells Sofia that seahorse is her friend Sven who gets very suspicious around strangers. Sven finds the two girls and then asks Oona about where she’s been and who her new friend is, stating he hasn't seen her in the cove before. Oona says Sofia is visiting from another colony and when she hurt her fin she helped her get back. When he hears this, Sven panics and says Oona needs to see the doctor right away just as an older mermaid shows up. After being told about Oona's hurt fin, the mermaid proceeds to examine her fin: It turns out her injury is so minor it can be treated with some moon kelp. Oona introduces Sofia to the mermaid who happens to be her big sister Cora, who was sent by their mother to check on her. After Cora bandages her fin and leaves, Oona begins to moan about how her sister treats her like a merbaby, which Sofia understands completely as she knows how it feels. Then, Sofia asks where the other merfolk live and Oona and Sven give her a tour of the cove.
Unbeknownst to Sofia, she and Oona are being watched by Sea Monster Cedric and Wormwood the Squid who recognize Oona's comb as the item they seek. When he spots Sofia, he is shocked because he knows she will ruin his chances of getting the comb. Suddenly, the Floating Palace appears from above and Cora shows up to tell Oona their mother wants them back at the castle. Sofia follows the two mermaids to the coral castle where she meets their mother, Queen Emmaline of Merroway Cove and her chief advisor, Plank. It turns out that the merfolk think humans are dangerous because many years ago, a ship entered the cove and tried to capture one of the colony's inhabitants and most of its people were hurt. Plank proposes that Queen Emmaline move the ship from the cove by conjuring a storm with her Trident. Cora is the only one who supports this decision but Sven and Queen Emmaline view the plan as too reckless and irresponsible because it might sink the ship. Knowing her family is on that ship, Sofia is immediately against this plan and insists on a peaceful alternative. She tells Plank and Queen Emmaline that she will go up and persuade them to move the ship. When Queen Emmaline and Plank both ask her how she would do that since they think she's a mermaid, Sofia reveals she's actually a human and the ship belongs to her family to the shock of the entire mercolony except for Oona, who knew the whole time. When Plank and Cora start acting negatively towards Sofia, both Oona and Sven swim forward and defend her by telling everyone how Sofia helped Oona when she was hurt. Sofia gives the Mermaid Queen her word that she will get the ship to leave, with Queen Emmaline ordering that the Floating Palace never returns to Merroway Cove again, and sadly bids Oona farewell before leaving. Oona goes after Sofia and apologizes for how everyone acted. Sofia tells Oona the only thing she's upset about is that she'll never see her again and gives her a loving hug before sadly continuing to head back to the ship.
Just then, trouble erupts for both girls. As Oona starts to head back home, Sea Monster Cedric appears and attacks her. Sofia hears Oona calling for help and dives back into the ocean to help her. Oona heads into the kelp forest but gets ambushed by Wormwood the Squid and Cedric captures her. Sofia finally arrives in the kelp forest and calls out for Oona but to no avail. Realizing the monster must've kidnapped Oona, Sofia heads back to tell Queen Emmaline what happened. Unfortunately, Plank doesn't believe her and accuses her family of kidnapping Oona and urges Queen Emmaline to use her trident to conjure a massive storm that will sink the Floating Palace. Convinced that Plank is right, despite Sofia's pleas, Queen Emmaline gives Sofia until sundown to return her daughter or she'll use her trident to do as Plank suggested. Sven goes after Sofia because he could tell she was telling the truth the whole time. On the ship, it turns out the royal family hasn't even noticed that Sofia is gone and are only just now noticing but they all assume that she's in her room finishing her book. When Sofia gets back on board, she heads to her family and tells them about Oona's kidnapping and her mother's threat to sink the Floating Palace. Unfortunately they don't believe her and with no one else to turn to Sofia now believes its up to her and her animal friends to find and rescue Oona before it's too late. She frees Clover and Farley from the lifesaver and instructs the seagull to take to the skies and look for Oona. He finds her locked in a cage on the monster's boat and goes back to tell Sofia, Sven, and Clover. The four of them find the cave and find out the monster knows magic and wants Oona's comb, but Sofia does not realize it's Cedric. Sofia tries to rescue her but the sea monster is too powerful for her and she fails. Meanwhile, Queen Emmaline gets tired of waiting for Oona to come back and uses her trident to conjure a storm to sink the Floating Palace.
Sofia notices the storm in the distance and finally feels like all hope is lost: She failed to rescue Oona and knows the second the monster get s her comb there will be no telling what he'll do to her mermaid friend and her family will be drowned for a crime they never committed. Sven suggests going back to tell Emmaline they found Oona, but Sofia refuses stating that she won't believe her, and pretty much gives up and sadly cries. Suddenly, Sofia's amulet begins to glow summoning her new friend Ariel. She tells Sofia she still has a chance to save Oona by enlisting Cora to help by showing her that she cares about Oona as much as Cora does. Soon after seeing Ariel Sofia manages to convince Cora to help her and they head off to the rescue while Sven and his family go to stop Queen Emmaline. Meanwhile, Queen Emmaline is about to turn the storm into a typhoon when Sven and his family intervene. With the trident in their possession, they lead Emmaline and Plank to where Oona is being held. With Sofia and Cora working together, they successfully rescue Oona and defeat the sea monster with the power of Oona's comb. The two mermaids are reunited with their mother who apologizes to Sofia for her rashness and, using the trident, stops the storm. While she does this, she is seen by Sofia's family and Admiral Hornpipe forcing them to realize that Sofia was right all along. Sofia heads back to the ship and happily reunites with her family who all apologize for not believing her. Then she takes them to meet the merfolk who all become good friends with them and Sofia and Oona are allowed to remain friends forever. Meanwhile, a defeated Cedric returns to the Floating Palace and turns himself and Wormwood back to normal.
Home Video Release[]
- Sofia the First: The Floating Palace DVD
Songs[]
Cast[]
- Ariel Winter as Sofia
- Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
- Wayne Brady as Clover
- Tim Gunn as Baileywick
- Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
- Zach Callison as Prince James
- Travis Willingham as King Roland II
- Kiernan Shipka as Oona
- Jodi Benson as Ariel, An adventurous and headstrong who is the mermaid of Atlantica. Benson Also voices Queen Emmaline
- Jeff Bennett as Farley
- John Ross Bowie as Sven
- Phil Morris as Plank
- Sarah Mitchell as Cora
- Jess Harnell as Cedric the Sorcerer
- Jim Cummings as Admiral Hornpipe