Moana is no exception to this, and in fact was originally a project that was going to be titled Mighty Maui – centering on the character in the feature played by Dwayne Johnson.
And the only reason it changed was because of an eye-opening research trip that directors John Musker and Ron Clements went on early in development.
When it comes to films from Walt Disney Animation, you can be sure the finished products that arrive on the big screen probably bear very little similarity to the original concept that got the movie going in the first place.
A major part of the process at the studio is A) building up an idea/story, B) tearing it all down, and C) repeating steps A and B multiple times until what they have is perfect and ready to be fully animated.