First Day of Rule

First Day of Rule is the first episode of the Disney Channel animated series, Elena of Avalor. It serves as the series' pilot, and premiered on July 22, 2016.

Before making its television debut, the episode became available via On-Demand cable viewing through Rogers TV on June 20, 2016, before becoming available for verified users on the Disney Channel app and Disney Channel VOD platforms on July 1, 2016.

Plot
Elena gives a prologue, giving a summary of the events of Elena and the Secret of Avalor. Sometime later, the Kingdom of Avalor is shown to be celebrating the defeat of Shuriki and the liberation of the kingdom. Elena's jaquin friends, Migs, Luna and Skylar, head to Avalor Castle to wake Elena only to find that she's already awake. Elena could not sleep last night due to the fact it is the day she becomes Queen today and invites the jaquins to her coronation. Suddenly, Zuzo appears before her and both are surprised she can see him since animal spirits can only be seen after a wizard conjures one up. The pair quickly deduce that Elena's forty-one year imprisonment inside the Amulet of Avalor made such things unnecessary for her. Zuzo reminds her it is time for breakfast. Elena goes to her sister's room only to find Isabel also could not sleep because of her own forty-one year imprisonment. Elena gives Isabel a journal as a gift and together they race down to breakfast.

The two sisters race into the dining room extremely late for breakfast, to the disapproval of their cousin Esteban, the Chancellor of Avalor, who states that is not how princesses should behave. Isabel tells him that night Elena will become Queen. Esteban and the Princesses' grandparents Francisco and Luisa tell the pair that she is not becoming Queen because according to the by-laws of Avalor she is too young to become Queen. Elena reminds them she was imprisoned in the Amulet for forty-one years but the trio remind her she did not age and is still technically sixteen. They tell her she is still becoming the Ruler of Avalor but she will rule as the Crown Princess alongside a Grand Council of four people chosen by her until she comes of age. Francisco agrees to the formation of the Council but Elena feels she's ready to rule now and to prove it has Esteban arrange meetings with all the city leaders in Avalor City.

Elena, Esteban, and Isabel arrive at the harbor. Elena meets Gabe, a new Royal Guard. Elena meets up with Captain Turner, the Harbor Master, and, after receiving paper from Esteban, begins making a list of everything he needs to make the harbor better. Suddenly, Turner's daughter Naomi comes up and tells them that three ships have gone missing. Elena wants to set out immediately to find the ships but Esteban insists she delegate that responsibility to the Harbor Patrol in favor of meeting with Dona Paloma, the Magister of the Trading Guild, reminding her she wanted to meet the city's leaders and tells her that Dona Paloma is the most important one. Elena agrees to meet with Dona Paloma but insists that she come back to lead the search for the missing ships afterwards and has the Navy dispatched to search for them in the meantime. When Isabel wants to stay behind Elena tells Gabe to watch over her before leaving. Isabel and Gabe spot purple creatures boarding a ship and sneak onboard to investigate. The creatures are revealed to be the ship thieves and take Isabel and Gabe captive. This event is witnessed by Naomi who goes to alert Elena

Elena is meeting with Dona Paloma making a list of the trade deals she wants to make from now on when Naomi arrives and tells Elena what happened. Esteban has Higgins alert the Navy while Elena calls down her jaquin friends so she can go after them. Esteban tries to assure that it is too dangerous but Elena is adamant and takes Naomi along to find them since she knows what the thieves look like. Naomi describes the creatures and they head to Mateo, Alakazar's wizard in training grandson, who identifies the creatures as Noblins, magical creatures that can shape shift and make gold, and they head out to rescue the kidnapped pair.

Back on the ship, Isabel leaves a trail for people to find her and Gabe. The trail leads Elena and her friends to the ship. A battle erupts and the humans are quickly overwhelmed. Zuzo appears and reminds Elena of the importance of patience. Elena talks to Jiku, leader of the Noblins, and learns that during Shuriki's forty-one year rule of Avalor Shuriki imprisoned the Noblins for their golden touch and had them turn all sorts of things to gold so she could get rich. One day, the bar keeping them imprisoned vanished and they were free. The Noblins were taking the ships so they could get home. Gabe reveals that the reason they are free is because Elena defeated "that evil Queen" and Elena agrees to let the Noblins borrow the ship to get home on the condition they be sent back.

With everything settled, Elena and her friends head back to Avalor Castle. At the Royal Ball, Elena accepts the need of a Grand Council and picks her grandparents, Esteban, and Naomi to be its members.

Cast

 * Aimee Carrero as Princess Elena
 * Jenna Ortega as Princess Isabel
 * Keith Ferguson as Zuzo
 * Christian Lanz as Chancellor Esteban
 * Julia Vera as Luisa
 * Emiliano Díez as Francisco
 * Jillian Rose Reed as Naomi
 * Jorge Diaz as Gabe
 * Chris Parnell as Migs
 * Yvette Nicole Brown as Luna
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Skylar
 * Constance Marie as Dona Paloma
 * Lucas Grabeel as Jiku
 * Rich Sommer as Captain Turner
 * Joseph Haro as Mateo
 * Joe Nunez as Armando

Song

 * Ready to Rule

Home Video Release

 * Elena of Avalor: Ready to Rule

Trivia

 * It is revealed in this episode that Elena had been trapped inside the Amulet of Avalor for forty-one years.
 * During the Royal Ball, Cinderella and Belle can be seen among the guests.

International Premieres

 * July 15, 2016 (United Kingdom and Ireland)