"Could this day get any better?!"
— Princess Elena
On the eve of Carnaval, Elena attempts to capture Avalor’s most dangerous villain and falls into an ancient well of magic crystals, giving her new magical abilities. But even as luck has smiled upon the soon-to-be Queen, a secret betrayal is enough to snap her family in two!
- Anything but That!: Esteban's reaction when Elena and the council rule to banish him to Soledad to live out the rest of his days alone.
- Art Evolution:
- Tears swell up in Elena and Carla's eyes when the former reminisces about her parents and the latter cries over her petrified father.
- Isabel's character model is updated to make her look older.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Esteban and the Delgados get to the treasury room, he tells them to wait so that he can deactivate the traps. He then walks over to a control panel and deactivates it with his key, as opposed to his whole dancing sequence from the Carnaval two years ago.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Luisa's reaction when Francisco decides to forgive Esteban for betraying them all to Shuriki. She acknowledges her husband is a kind and wise man, but states outright that he's wrong to forgive him, since Esteban's actions cost them their daughter and son-in-law.Luisa: You're a wise and thoughtful man, mi amor. But today... you are wrong.
- Bittersweet Ending: Elena is able to save Carnaval and everyone has a great time (including Doña Paloma, who accepts her song not being used and joins Marlena, Naomi, and Gabe on their float), but Esteban's betrayal is revealed and he has alienated his friends and family, even moreso with him freeing the Delgados and running off with Ash to Takaína.
- Call-Back:
- Ash is able to solve the map to Takaína, but gets thrown in jail with her family.
- Takaína is beneath Tepet Muul.
- Esteban is happy to plan Carnaval and is saddened that he has to miss out because it's his favorite holiday.
- Esteban's secret that he's been hiding since Elena and the Secret of Avalor is finally revealed. Francisco also says that he and Luisa raised him "like a son", the same wording used when Esteban told Armando that he knows the importance of family.
- Victor is annoyed that Elena still doesn't believe him about Esteban being a traitor.
- Esteban is troubled when he sees his family's painting when he steals the Delgados' tamboritas from the treasury room, which is a call back to when he robbed it for Lucia's tiara for Victor and Carla while singing about how he didn't want his secret to go out.
- Elena says that she and Isabel went sightseeing in Vallestrella, referring to the Adventures in Vallestrella shorts.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- While planning for Carnaval at the beginning of the special, the family mentions that the main song will be "Love Always", a song that Lucia often sung to her daughters. Flo suggests to Elena to use it to summon her love magic in order to calm down and revert the rogue Carnaval floats later.
- Elena's new Reveal power (which includes seeing into the past) that she accidentally discovers while trying to find out what happened to the Carnaval supplies (Flo happened) comes back later that day when Flo suggests she uses it to find out what her parents' Carnaval float looked like if Esteban can't remember, which leads into her using it to find out where Esteban was when Shuriki invaded Avalor.
- Continuity Nod: Elena intends to banish Esteban to a remote isle for his betrayal, which is what happened to Princess Ivy in Sofia the First, not to mention the similarities between Esteban and Ivy.
- Death Glare: Everyone, especially Elena when she learns the truth, looks at Esteban with daggers in their eyes after the reveal.
- Dirty Coward: Esteban freaks out when Elena is suggested to learn where Esteban was the day her parents died, begs for her to wait, believes that explaining his actions to his family and the council will let him go off scotfree, chooses to escape from the dungeons as opposed to accepting his punishment, frees the Delgados when they convince him that he can't fight past the guards, and flees with Ash after seeing her turn against Victor and Carla out of fear of what she may do to him.
- Easily Forgiven:
- After learning why Esteban betrayed them all, Francisco forgives him and is the only member of the Royal Council not to vote in favor of exiling him.
- Averted with everyone else. Luisa even flat out says that while her husband is a kind and wise man, he is wrong for forgiving Esteban because after all, he indirectly killed his family and brought a dark age to Avalor all because he thought he wasn't loved.
- Emotional Powers: Elena's new powers from Takaína's Well of Crystals.
- Face–Heel Turn: Esteban refuses to take his punishment and breaks out of his prison to hide out somewhere, but takes the Delgados with him to be pragmatic. After Ash turns against Victor and Carla, he joins her only out of intimidation.
- Flashback: Flo suggests to Elena to use the scepter to see where Esteban was the day Shuriki invaded Avalor, which she does when Esteban suspiciously begs her not to. We then see a flashback of Esteban and Victor rowing Shuriki to shore and preparing to take over Avalor.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Esteban explains his reasoning for aiding Shuriki: he felt he wasn't loved or listened to after his parents' deaths, and desperate to be seen and heard, agreed to help her take over Avalor. Only Francisco is willing to forgive him and accept his Freudian Excuse; everyone else tells him point-blank that there's no excuse for selling his family out to Shuriki, getting his aunt and uncle killed, and bringing a dark age to Avalor.
- Get Out!:
- After Elena's anger towards Esteban's betrayal throws the dining room into chaos, the guards rush in to the see the commotion. She then orders them to throw Esteban into the dungeons and get him out of her sight.
- Elena and the other council members voting to exile Esteban also counts as this.
- Hard Truth Aesop: There are some actions that you will not be, nor should you expect to be, forgiven for. Most of the family refuses to forgive Esteban for his betrayal, regardless of the reasons, and the one character who does forgive him is explicitly stated to be in the wrong for doing so.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Not so much this than Victor deciding evil schemes have become too dangerous for Carla and Carla just wanting her dad back, but after the petrified Victor and a surrendered Carla are arrested by the Royal Guard, Carla pleads with Elena to at least free her father. Elena, who has never had reason to trust the duo not to be a danger again apart from one giving up/being unable to retaliate and is fresh off of a disastrous problem due to the actions of a liar, doesn't respond to her (and considering the circumstances, was probably her way of gently putting her down at the time).
- Hope Spot: Just after Abuelo says he believes Esteban has changed, Luisa then follows up calling him wise, looking as if Francisco has convinced her...only for her to tell him he's wrong because she lost her daughter.
- Internal Reveal: Everyone (or at least the main cast and the castle staff, anyways) learns of Esteban's involvement in Shuriki's invasion.
- Irony: Back when Elena accidentally discovers her Reveal power to find out that Flo had tampered with the Carnaval supplies, Flo calls it her "tattletale" powers. Soon enough, Flo suggests to Elena to find out where Esteban was the day of Shuriki's invasion using her Reveal power, or as she called it earlier, her "tattletale" power.
- Kick the Dog: Esteban guilt-trips Higgins into bringing him his sunbird statue as a trick into getting the key to his cell.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Ash turns against Victor and turns him into stone when he refuses to continue being evil out of concern for Carla's safety. And then when Carla refuses to leave with her, she doesn't hesitate to leave except to ask Esteban if he's in or not.
- Like a Son to Me: While giving Esteban their Reason You Suck Speeches, Elena tells him that he was like a brother to her and his abuelos tell him that they loved him like a son.
- Moment Killer: Flo barges into the councilroom while Esteban is being tried for his crimes and is completely oblivious to the seriousness of the subject matter.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: The crystal well that Elena falls into gives her magical Emotional Powers that change the color of her dress and activates a special magic power whenever she feels a strong emotion. However, as a side-effect, she is now prone to moodswings as she must now learn how to use these powers.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Elena gains new powers but struggles to control them, Elena and her family learn of Esteban's betrayal, the Royal Council plans to exile him to a remote island, Esteban instead breaks out and escapes with the Delgados so that they can protect him, Victor decides to stop with the evil plans including going to Takaína after Carla nearly gets hurt, Ash turns him to stone and alienates her daughter, and Esteban joins Ash in fear of his life. And with Esteban gone, Elena will have to rule without a chancellor.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Luisa has always agreed with Francisco’s wisdom, but not this time. The only thing that clearly ran in her mind was that her daughter lost her life because of Esteban.
- Power Incontinence: Elena has trouble controlling her new powers, which leads to havoc at Carnaval, including causing the floats to come to life.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Inverted. The intro sequence is updated for this season and removes Esteban from the group picture at the end, spoiling that something in this episode causes him to leave.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Towards Esteban.
- Luisa gives one to Esteban, saying that his actions are unforgivable because she lost her daughter and son-in-law and Avalor lost its king and queen.
- Elena also gives one to Esteban, asking him how could he do something that killed her parents and ruined Avalor when he was her brother in all but name and decides that she doesn't know him that well at all.
- Remember the New Guy?: Elena recognizes the Flo model as an alpacamundi, one of the creatures she and Isabel had seen in Vallestrella, but this is the first time we see it.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story: Elena is able to catch Ash, but Esteban frees her and her family while escaping. Though Victor and Carla are arrested again (but they've both lost interest in villainy, and Victor is kind of immobilized), Ash intends to return to Takaína and Esteban goes with her in fear of her turning against him too. As a result, Avalor is still in danger and Esteban digs himself a deeper grave towards his former friends and family.
- Shout-Out: According to storyboard artist Scotland Barnes
, Elena's transformation sequence is based on the Sailor Moon transformation sequence as well as Kida taking the Heart of Atlantis in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.- Elena gets new powers tied to her emotions and that she has a hard time controlling. Because of them she ends up jeopardising a celebration organised in the kingdom and accidentally gives life to a puppet she had built with her sister and who ends up with a cheerful personality. Why does that sound familiar?
- Spoiler Opening: The new intro removes Esteban from the group picture at the end and the "With her family by her side" scene is taken from a moment from this episode that doesn't include him, hinting that something happens to Esteban in relation to the cast.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Now that Isabel's character model is updated to make her look older, she looks more like a younger version of Elena.
- Tempting Fate:
- Elena is excited to have new powers and a super-charged scepter, but since she has no idea how to use them yet, she ends up having Power Incontinence and it goes haywire at Carnaval.
- Not only that, but after getting upgraded and catching Ash, she rhetorically asks if this day could get any better. What happens later that night changes everything for the worst.
- Thicker Than Water: Esteban expects to be Easily Forgiven for this reason once he explains his actions, insisting that he knows his family and that "familia always comes first." Ultimately subverted; while Francisco is willing to forgive him, no one else is.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Doña Paloma wants to change the plans Naomi, Gabe, and Marlena had for their Carnaval float in order to win this year's competition. The overly flashy presentation and the It's All About Me lyrics of her song turn them off and they go with their own song. Though initially upset, Paloma accepts their offer to join them on the float and they end up winning. This subplot is mainly there to lighten up an otherwise serious special.
- The Unreveal: A humorous version. While trying to figure out how to get the floats under control, Mateo explains to Elena that her power of love made good things happen, so she needs to feel love. When Elena despairs over how she can feel love at a time like this, Mateo is about to happily suggest something before he's cut off by Flo, who instead sings her mother's song.
- Wham Episode: Ash discovers Takaína, Elena gains new powers, and Esteban's betrayal is revealed and alienates him from his friends and family, but Esteban escapes from his cell with the Delgados before he can be exiled, and Ash turns Victor into stone, leaves Carla behind, and Esteban joins her out of intimidation.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Everyone except for Francisco, Isa, and Flo give Esteban the cold shoulder and chew him out for his betrayal.
- You Are Not My Father: Elena and her family disown Esteban. Particularly drilled in whenever they talk about how they love each other and Elena has to rescue her family after Esteban is jailed. This is even reflected in the intro, where Esteban is absent from the scenes where he was, including the ending where Elena is surrounded by her family and friends.
