Here’s All The Camp Rock 3 Easter Eggs and Throwbacks You Probably Missed!

While Camp Rock 3 introduces us to a whole new generation of campers, the Disney Channel movie is full of nostalgic callbacks to the first two films. From musical throwbacks to familiar faces, here are some of the biggest Camp Rock 3 Easter eggs and references you may have missed.

Right from the beginning, Camp Rock 3 lets fans know this is a return to the original franchise. Liamani Segura’s cover of “Brand New Day” from Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam plays during the opening as campers arrive for their first day at Camp Rock. It immediately brings you back into the world, especially as you see campers doing flips off the bus like they did in the original movie.

We get a peek at what Segura’s Sage Scott mixtape playlist which is filled Connect 3 and Mitchie Torres music, proving that the previous generation of Camp Rockers are musical mainstays. As she arrives at camp she says she’s “exactly where she’s supposed to be,” a callout to the hit song “This Is Me.” Segura appeared in the third season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series which pulled a lot of inspiration from Camp Rock, even having her sing “This Is Me.” Foreshadowing, anyone?

If you remember the campers chanting and getting hyped in Camp Rock 2, you’re going to recognize this one. The new campers bring back the classic Camp Rock chant and stomp.

The franchise’s resident mean girl has definitely changed with the times. Instead of being the daughter of a Grammy-winning musician like Tess Tyler was in the original, Madison (Ava Jean) and her Baddies (Orlando Lucas and Elle Lucas) are social media famous dancers and influencers.

Of course, Connect 3 is back! Joe, Nick and Kevin Jonas return as Shane, Nate and Jason, with the band playing a major role in the new story as they search for an opening act for their tour. It’s also really fun to see that their real life personas have influenced their characters. Nate is now very much in his movie-star era, while Jason is embracing dad mode. We even learn his baby son is named Lennon McCartney as Jason dreams about his future at Camp Rock.

Maria Canals-Barrera also returns as Mitchie’s mom Connie Torres. She’s gone from being the camp caterer to running the whole show as camp director.

Even after all these years, some things at Camp Rock remain exactly the same, including those trumpet-shaped drinking fountains.

For the first competition, the campers are challenged to perform one of Connect 3’s biggest hits and put their own spin on it. That leads to a fun callback to “Play My Music,” with the new campers each bringing their own interpretation to the song. During the challenge, Maddie and the Baddies include a nod to Tess’s by doing her “Too Cool” shoulder move. I also noticed there was a kid who got cut and started crying. His name was Luke, and ironically in Camp Rock 2, the lead singer of Camp Star was named Luke Williams. Whether it’s an intentional callback or simply a reused name, it’s another little connection for eagle-eyed fans.

During the songwriting workshop, the campers meet an up-and-coming singer-songwriter and Camp Rock alum named Calvin Rhodes who turns out to be none-other than Zombies star Milo Manheim. It was especially nice to see him giving advice to Malachi Barton’s Fletch who leads the new generation of the Zombies franchise.

Then there’s a dance challenge led by Brooklynn Pitts’ Callie. She tells everyone to “grab a mic and a hat” as they all dance to “Start The Party,” calling back the scene where Shane teaches a dance class in Camp Rock.

One of the biggest discoveries comes when Sage finds something hidden underneath the floorboards of her bunk. It’s Mitchie’s old songbook. Although I’ll admit I don’t know if this was as effective as they hoped. Sage doesn’t really do much with the book and it doesn’t look like the original book from the first film.

That third season of HSMTMTS also had a sibling rivalry between Jet and Maddox while at Camp Shallow Lake, which feels reminiscent to Sage and Desi’s (Hudson Stone) storyline. The duo are siblings who dreamed of going to Camp Rock together, but are at odds because Sage ultimately broke up their band to go to a prestigious music school.

Some things never change. Shane gets thrown into the lake again, giving fans another classic Camp Rock moment.

When Sage and the other campers face off against Maddie and her Baddies, they break into “It’s On,” the signature battle song from Camp Rock 2. It’s a fun way to recreate the rivalry-driven musical showdown from the second movie. Maddie and her Baddies even drop the iconic “whatever, major loser” before the battle begins.

When Connect 3 makes their big appearance at the Final Jam, one of the new campers mimics Shane’s iconic introduction from the first movie: “That’s Shane Gray for crying out loud!”

Sage brings everyone together for her song “Work In Progress,” but one lyric really stood out to me. She sings “written in ink on the back of my hand” which reminded me of when Dana wrote Nate’s name on her arm in Camp Rock 2.

And Demi Lovato officially returns as Mitchie Torres! She makes it just in time for the Final Jam. She gets a sweet scene with her mom Connie before reconnecting with Connect 3. She even does a callback to one of Mitchie’s most quoted lines from Camp Rock when she says “She’s really good” about Sage. In fact, she’s the one who tells Connect 3 that they don’t have to pick just one person and encourages them to choose all five as a new group.

The movie ends on “We Rock,” bringing the franchise right back to where it started. The song was the defining anthem of the original Camp Rock, so ending the third movie with it feels like a deliberate passing-of-the-baton moment, especially as Mitchie waves to Sage.

All three Camp Rock films are streaming on Disney+.