The Floating Palace

Sofia the First: The Floating Palace is a Sofia the First special that aired on November 24, 2013 on the Disney Channel as a Family Night special event.

Plot
Somewhere travelling across the sea aboard a boat known as The Floating Palace, Sofia is in the library reading a story when the royal family arrives at a tropical island known as Merroway Cove for a vacation when Sofia asks if they'll meet any mermaids here Roland and Admiral Hornpipe, the arrogant and pompous captain of the floating palace, both tell her "mermaids are not real." and everyone else eats this up except Sofia. Also accompanying the Royal family is Cedric who is out on another scheme to take over the kingdom only this time he's not after the Amulet of Avalor. This time he's after the Mermaid Comb of Merroway Cove,a mystical object the contains powerful magic that gives whoever possesses it really strong hydrokentic powers. He takes a boat to a cave and transforms himself into a sea monster and Wormword into a squid.

Meanwhile, Sofia meets up with Clover and they head down to the swimming platform. Once there, they meet a mermaid who's just Sofia's age and only a little bigger that Sofia is. She gets her tail trapped in a net. Sofia pulls her onto the platform and help her out of the net. Sofia introduces herself to the mergirl who introduces herself as Oona and the two girls become fast friends. Oona noticed the floating palace enter the cove and came up toget a closer look. Oona notices Sofia's amulet glowing and asks her what it means. Sofia, for once, tells the truth about her amulet: It's a mustical item that contains powerful magic that gives her powers. Oona tells Sofia that the comb she's wearing in her hair is also a mystical item that contains powerful magic that gives her powers but, unlike Sofia, she can't use the powers her comb gives her at all because her mother refuses to teach her how to use them because "she says she's not old enough yet." After she gets back in the water, Oona and Sofia both discover the Oona hurt her fin in the net. Sofia, as usual, want to help soshe takes off her shoes so she can put her feet in the water. The moment she does, she transforms into a mermaid to the shock of Sofia, Clover, and Oona who asks "Sofia, how'd you do that?" Remembering the glow her new friend saw earlier, Sofia tells Oona the Amulet of Avalor's rule: with each deed performed for better or worse, a power is granted a blessing or curse. She then tells Oona what the rule means: When she does a really good deed, her amulet will bless her with a magical power or ability. Sofia then explains to Oona that since she helped her when she was in trouble, her amulet blessed her with the magical ability to transform into a mermaid and back. All this makes Sofia squeal "I can swim in the water like a mermaid!" with delight and she happily hops into the water to the concern of both Clover and Oona. Sofia drifts down a few fathoms until she opens her eyes and squeals "This is incredible!" with delight and she starts swimming at lightning speed before returning to the surface. Oona is amazed that Sofia's amulet turned her into a mermaid. Sofia tells her she can take her back to the platform but Oona tells her she needs to get home so Sofia decides to escort her home.

Meanwhile, Clover meets a sea gull named Farley who tries to make off with a bag of blueberries that Clover has mark as his. A battle erupts between them that causes the blueberries to get spilled overboard and gets them both stuck in a life saver tube in a way that makes Farley say "Well, this is awkward."

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 sea horse appears and calls out for Oona and Oona tries to hide Sofia. When Sofia question why they're hiding Oona states "That's Sven. He's my friend but he gets very suspisious around strangers." Sven heads into Oona's hideaway and finds the two girls and then asks Oona "Where have you been?" and upon seeing Sofia asks "And who is this?" stating he hasn't seen her in the cove before and Sofia, who's unused to being so noticable because of her introverted personality and the fact that most people including her family don't pay attention to her for more than 5 seconds, can only give a very sheepish "no" and giggle. Oona intervenes and states " She's uh just visiting from another colony. I hurt my fin and she helped me get back." When he hears this Sven panics and says Oona needs to see the doctor right away. A older mermaid appears and says "See the docter. About what?" Sven tells her that Oona hurt her fin and the mermaid tells him to relax and then procedes to examine Oona's fin. It turns out Sofia needn't have worried: her injury is so minor it can be treated by bandaging it with some moon kelp.While Sven leaves to go get the moon kelp, the mermaid notices Sofia and asks Oona "Who's your friend?" and Oona tells her "This is Sofia. Sofia, this is Cora. My sister." prompting Cora to say "Big sister." When Sven gets back with the moon kelp, Cora bandages Oona's fin much to her little sister's embarassment causing Oona to moan "Cora still treats me like a little merbaby." Sofia gives a "Hm" that tells her new friend that she understands her chagrin completly because it's something she can relate to. Sofia asks where the other merfolk live and, through a song, Oona and Sven give her a tour of the cove. Unbeknowest to Sofia, she and Oona are being watched by Sea Monster Cedric and Wormwood the Squid who reconize Oona's comb as the mystical item they seek. When he sees Sofia, he asks incredulously "Is that who I think it is?!" and when he reconizes her he mutters in disbelief "Ooh, it's the Princess all right! I don't know how she turned herself into a mermaid but she won't stop me from getting that magical mermaid comb!" Suddenly, the floating palace appears and Cora appears and tells Oona their mother wants them back at the castle. Sofia follows the two mersisters to the coral castle and meets Oona's mother, Queen Emmaline the ruler of the mercolony of Merroway Cove and her chief advisor, Plank. It's shown that al the merfolk think humans are  dangerous except Oona who tels her mother so prompting Sofia to swim forward and follow suit. Thinking that Sofia is a mermaid and noticing that she's a child due to the fact that she's even smaller than Oona, Queen Emmaline tell her that she and Oona are too young to know what humans are capable of.Years ago, a pirate ship entered the cove and tried to capture one of the colony's inhabitants and most of it's people were hurt which is the reason they avoid going to the surface. Plank proposes that Queen Emmaline move the ship from the cove by conjuring a storm with her trident, a mystical item that gives it bearer the power to control the weather. Cora is the only one who supports this decision. Sven and Queen Emmaline, who view the plan as too reckless and irresponsible becaue it might sink the ship, Sofia, whose family is onborad the ship and who also knows that might sink the ship, and Oona, who also knows that that might sink the ship and who also knows that Sofia's family are on that ship and how devestated her new friend will be if her family drowns, are all against the plan. Sofia insists on a different plan. When Plank asks if she has a better plan she gives an alternative: 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 she's a mermaid, she tells them the truth: she's a human who has transformed into a mermaid and the ship is her family's ship. The entire mercolony is shocked except for Oona, who knew all along. When Plank and Cora start acting negitivly toward her both Oona and Sven swim forward and defend her by telling everyone how Sofia helped Oona when she was in trouble. Sofia promises to get the ship moved and Queen Emmaline commands her to do so and never return. Sofia is visibly hurt by the Mermaid Queen's command, due to the fact that she and Oona just became friends and the fact that the queen's command means she can never see the one person that she trusted her secret with again, but agrees to do as commanded by saying "Yes, Your Majesty." and says good bye to Oona.

Oona goes after Sofia because she saw how hurt Sofia really was by her mother's words and apologizes for how her mother, her sister, and Plank acted. Sofia shrugs it off as nothing and gives Oona a loving hug and then slowly and sadly swims back to the ship. But then trouble erupts for both girls: Just as Oona starts to head back home Sea Monster Cedric appears and attacks her. As Sofia is about to climb back onboard the floating palace, she hears Oona calling for help and she dives back into the ocean and tries to help her friend but a school of fish cross in front of her and prevent her from helping Oona. Oona head 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 her friend doesn't answer. Sofia realizes that the monster must've kidnapped Oona and heads back to tell Queen Emmaline what happened. Sofia arrives back at the mercolony and tells Queen Emmaline what happened but Plank declares that it's a trick stating that there are no sea monsters in Merroway Cove prompting Sofia to protest "But I saw it!" but Plank ignores her and accuses Sofia's familyof kidnapping Oona and states that  they must've sent Sofia back to lie to them causing Sofia to protest "That's not true!" but again Plank ignores her and urges Queen Emmaline to use her trident to conjure a massive storm to sink the floating palace cause Sofia to cry a resounding "NO!" but Queen Emmaline is convinced that Plank is right and tells Sofia to return her daughter or she'll use her trident to do as Plank suggests. Realizing that returing Oona to the cove and having her tell her mother what really happened is the only way to prove that she's telling the truth and her family's innocennce, Sofia pleads with the Mermaid Queen for time and a chance to get Oona back herself and Emmaline tells her she has until sundown to do so. Sven goes after Sofia and tells her that he believes her because he could tell that she was being sincere the whole time stating "Sea horses always know when someone's telling the truth and you were telling the truth. Which means Oona really was captured by a sea monster!" and urges Sofia to go back to her ship and get help.

On the ship, it turns out that the family hasn't even noticed that Sofia is gone and are only just now noticing that she's not there but they all assume that Sofia must've gone back to her room to finish her book. When Sofia gets back on board she heads to her family. Her mother notices that Sofia's all wet and asks her how come stating "You know your not supposed to go swimming by yourself." Sofia tells them about Oona, her getting kidnapped by a sea monster, and her mother's threat to sink the floating palace but they all laugh scornfully in her face literally telling her that that's all impossible, that she must be kidding, that it sounds farfetched, and that she must've fallen asleep while reading her book and dreamed it. Unbeknowest to Sofia, Miranda knows that Sofia's telling the truth because she can tel that she's being sincere and that the others excuses don't explain why she's all wet. When Admiral Hornpipe scornfully states "Either she dreamt it or she's making things up!" Miranda angrily defends her daughter stating "Sofia does not make things up!" But Amber unknowing pushes Sofia over the edge bystating that she's sure she does by stating that she's always pretending to talk to Clover. Sofia, hurt by her family's and Admiral Horepipe's scornful remarks to the point where her trust in others has been completly destroyed and finally sick of trying to tell others the truth only to be accused of playing the boy who cried wolf by everyone and having had enough of trusting other only to be let down, decides it's now up to her and Clover to find and rescue Oona goes to find Clover. She frees Clover and Farley from the life saver tube and tells them what happened and Farley goes looking for Oona. He find her in locked in a cage on the monster's boat and goes back to tell Sofia. Clover asks Sofia if she's going alone and Sofia, still hurt about her family's and most especially Admiral Hormpipe's scornful remarks and angrily regretful that she trusted her family and the Mermaid Queen enough to expect them to help her and now believing she can't trust anyone but Oona and her animal friends, says that she is. Sofia and her animal friends find the cave and find out that the monster wants Oona's comb and try to rescue Oona but the sea monster is too powerful and they fail.

Sofia finally feels like all hope is lost: she failed to rescue Oona and she knows that the second the monster gets her comb he'll kill her mermaid friend and believes that she can't ask anyone else for help because so far everyone she's told what happened to except her animal friends refused o believe her and knows that because she failed to rescue Oona, her family will be drowned for a crime they never commited. Sven suggests going back to tell Emmaline that they found Oona but Sofia, still angry about what her family said to the point where she feels she can't count on anyone anymore, refuses stating that it's a waste of time. Suddenly, Sofia's amulet glows and summons Ariel. Through a song, Ariel tels Sofia that she can get Cora to help her rescue Oona by showing her that she cares about Oona as much as Cora does and then vanishes. Sofia and Sven tel Cora everything and she agrees to help.

Meanwhile, Queen Emmaline uses her trident to conjure up a storm but Sven stops her before it gets too fierce and then he takes her and a stubbon and deluded Plank to where Oona is held captive. Meanwhile on the ship, the storm changes everything. While Roland, who still stubbonly refuses to accept that Sofia was right, dismisses it as just a little squall, James and Amber take it as proof that Sofia was telling the truth and Miranda, who knew all along and who, correctly, suspects that Sofia must've gone off to look for her mermaid friend herself, asks Baileywick if he's found Sofia and he tells her that they haven't. Meanwhile, Sofia and Cora both successfully rescue Oona and Oona tells her mother and Plank that they have Sofia to thank for the fact she's safe. Cora proceeds to scold Plank for his rashness by stating "You were wrong about her Plank! We all were!" and Emmaline apologizes to Sofia for her own rashness and uses her trident to stop the storm. While she does this, she is seen by Roland and Admiral Hornpipe which forces the stubbon pair to accept that Sofia was telling the truth all along. Sofia heads back to the ship and her family embraces her unaware of Sofia's loss of innocence and the fact that they no longer enjoy her confidence and respect and apologize to her. Despite the fact she hasn't truly forgiven them, Sofia accepts their apologies because she's relieved that her family's all right. She then takes them to meet the merfolk and all become friends and Sofia and Oona are allowed to remain friends forever.

Home Video Release

 * Sofia the First: The Floating Palace DVD

Songs

 * Merroway Cove
 * The Love We Share

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 / 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 Wormwood

Trivia

 * This is the second time a Disney Princess shows up in a special (Cinderella) and the second special of the show (Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess). There are also similarities especially between these two meetings:
 * Sofia covers her eyes in despair seconds before her amulet glows and a glow is seen where the summoned princess will appear.
 * Both state that the amulet summoned them to help.
 * The princesses (Sofia and the summon) take a stroll (or a swim) in both cases.
 * The meetings include a musical number, and both hint on what Sofia should do to set things right and the one person (Princess Amber and Cora) she should converse with to get started.
 * The strolls end in a doorway to a "room" where an older girl is sulking (Princess Amber and Cora).
 * In the last word of the musical number the summoned princess and Sofia are in the same position in both cases, with Sofia facing the doorway and the princess right behind her, hands rested on the former's shoulders and as Sofia turns round to thank her, the princess had magically disappeared leaving behind a cloud of shimmering stars.
 * As Sofia meets the girl, they respond negatively at first until Sofia declares her mission to her. Both missions also involve a confrontation with Cedric or at least Wormwood with both girls working together.


 * This is the second time Sofia undergoes a magical transformation. In "Cedric's Apprentice", she became a lizard.
 * This is the second time Sofia strengthens ties between her family and supernatural creatures. Before, it was the trolls in the episode "Let The Good Times Troll".
 * Ariel is the fourth Disney Princess to assist Sofia.
 * The first was Cinderella in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
 * The second was Jasmine in "Two to Tangu".
 * The third was Belle in "The Amulet and the Anthem".
 * Ariel is the first princess to not to be seen in her redesign as she was in her mermaid form.
 * When Oona asks what kind of animal Clover is, he says "I'm a Blue Ribbon Bunny," a reference to the song and the seventh episode.
 * Oona, in many ways, is similar to Sofia. Both are princesses who are the youngest members of their kingdom's Royal family and possess a mystical object given to them by their parents, which gives them magical powers which they can't use to their full potential because they haven't been taught how.
 * The timeline of the series seems to be falling into a year since Sofia became a princess. Jade stated in "The Little Witch" that Lucinda arrived a few months after Sofia left. "Princess Butterfly" took place on Halloween, "Great Aunt-Venture" in November (most likely) and now a vacation, followed by winter holidays
 * This is the second episode where Cedric doesn't go after the Amulet, the first episode was "Tea for Too Many".
 * Cedric undergoes a magical transformation for the first time in the series and so does Wormwood.
 * This is Cedric's last appearance in the first season.
 * This is the only episode where James is seen shirtless.
 * It's revealed that Sofia may not be a strong swimmer, because Miranda states that Sofia isn't supposed to go swimming by herself, until her amulet gave her the power to transform into a mermaid and back.
 * Oona is the only one Sofia willingly reveals the truth about her amulet to.
 * Oona also remains the only one who know the truth about Sofia's amulet. Her mother, her older sister, and Plank are aware of Sofia's powers but not the source.
 * This is a turning point in the series because in this episode, Sofia loses her innocence and the naivtiety that came with it and she no longer trusts others enough to count on them but thanks to Ariel she still values teamwork. She also can no longer be reassured by words.