4
Walter Elias Disney is the man behind the Mouse — the creator of The Walt Disney Company and the dreamer that created Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Guests walking down Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland in California are walking down the same streets Walt walked down, but he never lived to see the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida.
Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966. Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, with the help of his brother, Roy Disney.
Related: Birthplace of Disney Animation, Walt’s First LA Home, Being Restored
Despite the widespread rumor that Walt Disney’s head was cryogenically frozen and entombed under Disneyland, Disney was cremated. His ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Along with Walt, his wife Lillian and son-in-law Robert B. Brown are interred at the site. Walt’s daughter, Sharon Disney Brown Lund, was cremated, and her ashes spread “in paradise,” according to a plaque at Walt’s gravesite.
A recently shared video by TikTok user grace_goodnight shows a brief tour of the gravesite on a sunny day, stopping for a moment at a green statue of the Little Mermaid and zooming in on the plaque listing the names of the dead:
@grace_goodnight The statue is of the little mermaid🧜♀️❤️ #waltdisney #waltdisneygrave #forestlawn #forestlawncemetery #littlemermaid #cemetery #gravetok #fyp #celebritygraves #famousgraves
The statue is of the fairytale version of the Little Mermaid, written by Hans Christian Andersen, as Disney Animation’s The Little Mermaid wasn’t released until 1989, decades after Walt’s death.
In the comments of the video, some Disney fans expressed disappointment over the simplicity of Walt’s gravesite. One user, @mommadrizzy_xo, wrote:
“It’s so plain.. for someone who created Disney I would think his grave site would have more 🥺.”
Related: A Cryptic Tour of The Haunted Mansion Tombstone Tributes at Walt Disney World
User @latinvibez74 agreed, writing:
“its so plain. i thought he was frozen?”
Another comment by @Kathygalaxy joked:
“Where’s the hidden Mickey?”
The three comments were among many similar and received hundreds of likes each, but generated upset on that spread to Twitter. User @GrandCalStan wrote:
No because I saw the exact same tiktok and I was infuriated by the amount of disrespect. It’s a grave. His wife is also buried there. There’s absolutely no need to comment on the aesthetic of a GRAVESITE
No because I saw the exact same tiktok and I was infuriated by the amount of disrespect. It’s a grave. His wife is also buried there. There’s absolutely no need to comment on the aesthetic of a GRAVESITE
— ✨Johnny Your DAS Return Time Is Ready To Redeem✨ (@GrandCalStan) May 22, 2022
Another Twitter user, @Vinbreezal, wrote:
As if the love of your life dies and all you can think about is putting a hidden Mickey on his gravestone. Smh…. The disrespect
As if the love of your life dies and all you can think about is putting a hidden Mickey on his gravestone. Smh…. The disrespect
— Vinbreezal🎄 (@Vinbreezal) May 22, 2022
Not all of the comments on @grace_goodnight’s video were disrespectful. One Disney fan, TikTok user @angelofmusicdt, wrote that she visited the site herself:
“I’ve been there, I’ve sat on that bench and just said thank you; it was cathartic”
Visiting a gravesite is of course different than visiting a Disney Park, and it’s important to be respectful if you decide to visit Walt Disney’s gravesite at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.