Kids all over the world love Moana.
In fact, they love it even more than Frozen. A lot of the children, especially the girls, love that Moana is an independent princess and doesn’t need a prince to save her.
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But there’s one other character that the girls love.
The strong “demigod”, Maui.
“[Maui] shape-shifts into animals like a bird, shark, and lizard, and finds himself in some hilarious situations,” Emily Rivas wrote for Today’s Parent. “He’s also decked out in tattoos that represent different stages and encounters in his life—including mini-Maui, a tiny tattoo of himself that moves around his chest and back and acts as his conscience.”
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These two girls love Moana and Maui and they had the surprise of their life when they went to Costco in Kapolei, Hawaii for their regular grocery trip.
Their mom, Rella Riviera, asked them who’s the person behind the cash register in their lane. And the girls turned to her with big smiles on their faces.
Guess who’s manning the cashier.
Yes, it appeared to be Maui.
Of course, it wasn’t really Maui but he sure does look like the animated character.
He’s convinced Riley and her little sister, Rylyn, that he’s the same person they love in the movie, Moana, just by his looks alone.
His name is William Va’ana and he looks like Maui but with shorter hair and probably fewer tattoos.
Getting into character
He loved that he made the two girls smile and decided to “get into character” to make their day.
While he was ringing up their purchases, he asked the girls to come over to his side for another surprise. Even their mom encouraged them to “go by Maui.”
And when they reached his side, William a.k.a Maui asked them if they were ready. He counted to three and reenacted Maui’s famous line.
“Chee-ho!” William shouted.
The two girls loved this reenactment.
They were giggling so hard that they didn’t get to do it with “Maui.” Wonder if they asked him to do it again a second or third time.
Safe to say, the girls will be coming with Mommy to Costco every time now.
“It brought so much joy to my face to see how excited the girls were. Before I could get my phone out to video, he had already let out a loud “chee-hoo.” And the girls lit up even more,” Rella shared.
William is such a good sport who most likely enjoyed playing with kids.
If he didn’t, he would have ignored these girls and would have been annoyed that they thought he was an animated character.
But he played along with them.
It will definitely become a great memory for these girls. And it’s most likely they’ll be coming back with their mom again and again so they can see Maui every time.
Or maybe they’ll see him at a party or a resort, playing Maui.
“Will, featured in this video, also does character appearances as Maui for parties and previously at Aulani Disney resort,” Rella explained.
See William take on the role of Maui to make these girls smile in the video below!
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