Source: Walt Disney World Resort, DisneylandThe Walt Company has been around for a long time. And with age comes and with comes legend. Urban legends to be precise.
has perhaps the vastest catalog of stories and incidents that have been canonized into and .
However, whether about the theme parks, , or Mr. Walt himself, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.
That’s why we’re going to look at five and bust some popular myths. From an that is allegedly the final resting place of to a about explicit writing in The Lion King, there are so many crazy rumors and most of them are simply not true.
#1 – can be dismantled in the event of a hurricane
A slightly more recent states that ‘s is more hurricane-proof than we think. Variations on the say that the ‘s centerpiece, , can either be dismantled, folded up, or in some cases, evacuated into the ground through a secret elevator to save it from intense storms.
Is it true? Not even a little. While the including is certainly built to withstand storms, there is nothing to suggest that any of these more extreme measures are true. Anyway, if this mad was real, wouldn’t we have already seen it in action?
#2 Toy characters will drop to the floor when you shout ‘Andy’s Coming!’
Guests have reported seeing their favorite drop at their command at a number of . It’s a cute detail that imitates how the characters in Toy drop to the ground and it lead to a viral rumor a few years back. But is it true?
It sounds like it used to be, but isn’t anymore. In an article on the same , Snopes reached out to a Walt World cast member who gave the following statement;
The characters USED to drop to the ground when someone yelled “Andy’s coming.” As of the last week or so, however, they no longer do this. This is because EVERYONE found out about it at the same time (when that meme went viral) and now people are shouting this about 50 times per hour and a half, as opposed to hearing it once or twice a day, like before.
So there you have it. While there’s no official word on the matter from the Parks (shocker), it sounds like health and safety and overuse killed this cute character beat as soon as it got popular.
#3 Explicit writing in the sky in The Lion King
This suggests that two-thirds of the way through the 1994 classic, the word ‘sex’ is spelled out in stars above Simba. Allegedly, it was first noticed by a 4-year old boy in New York whose aunt then notified the American Life League who lambasted for inserting adult content into its cartoons. This incident remains unconfirmed and dubious at best, however. Looking at the evidence though, it does look pretty bad.
Is this true? No. One of the film’s animators, Tom Sito has confirmed that while there was indeed a secret word in the sky, it wasn’t sex. It was SFX; or special effects. It’s nothing more than a little easter egg that spun way out of control.
#4 Spreading ashes at the
For years and years, the has been home to an endless supply of myths and legends, including sightings of more than one real and a dispute as to whether Walt himself is one of the . But the ‘s most prevalent and persistent is that guests regularly spread the remains of their friends and family inside the . This can’t be true though, right?
It is 100% true. The Wall Street Journal of all publications did an expose on the practice, and found that spreading ashes at both Disneyland and Walt World is a common occurrence that isn’t limited to the . Take a look:
Human ashes have been spread in flower beds, on bushes and on lawns; outside the gates and during fireworks displays; on of the Caribbean and in the moat underneath the flying elephants of the Dumbo . Most frequently of all, according to custodians and workers, they’ve been dispersed throughout the , the 49-year-old featuring an eerie old estate full of imaginary ghosts.
“The probably has so much human ashes in it that it’s not even funny,” said one Disneyland custodian.’
Whoa. This true sure gives me the creeps. The next time I this iconic , I know what I won’t be able to stop thinking about!
Related: Disneyland Surveys Guests About Theme Parks Reopening
#5 and / or cryogenically frozen head is buried underneath the of the
Where do we begin? We already covered this in our things that annoy the in all of us article, and the point we made there remains. It’s incredibly disrespectful to suggest that and/or head are buried underneath the of the at Disneyland. The was cremated just two days after his death in 1966, so this is just all kinds of false. Case closed.
However, in case you haven’t heard the myth, because of Walt ‘s status as a futurist and the first , a circulated that he was investigating cryogenics before his death. This would apparently allow him to freeze himself just before he passed and emerge at a time where better medical care is available.
But it’s a load of Mouse droppings.
Any will tell you that this is complete phooey and it’ll be instantly debunked by any . Walt may have planned the original city build of EPCOT, but nothing ever suggested that he was interested in cryogenics. If you’re STILL not convinced, How Stuff Works states that the first person to ever be cryogenically frozen was Dr. James Bedford, in December 1967. The year AFTER Walt’s passing.
The only thing Mr. left behind was the on Earth, and one of the greatest legacies of the 20th century; not a frozen head.
What do you think about this list of ? Would you like to see a second list? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Snopes, The Wall Street Journal