Over its long existence, Disney has created a lot of great stories. They’ve also had many stories told about them, and some of those are far more fantastical than any animated film. A few of these tales have snowballed, and become full-blown urban legends.
Are they fact or fiction, though? Do they have any truth to them, or are they just the products of over-active imaginations? The answer is… well, it depends on the tale, really. Some of them are true, or are at least based in reality, while others are things that someone once heard from their cousin’s friend’s roommate whose brother’s mom totally knows someone who works for Disney.
Here, for your consideration and/or entertainment, are a few of the Disney-themed urban legends out there:
On Ice
We may as well kick this madness off with one of the most well-known tales, eh?
The Legend: The body of Walt Disney, according to some folks, is kept on ice below a Disney park. This one has been making the rounds for many years, with people saying that he’s in cryogenic stasis below Tomorrowland or maybe Pirates of the Caribbean. The claim is that he himself opted for freezing, with the intent of being thawed out when medical science could cure his lung cancer. Given that Walt was a futurist and very interested in cutting edge technologies (even some that seemed like science fiction in his day), the thought that he knew about cryogenics and opted to undergo such a procedure isn’t actually that far outside of his character. Research into the science was going on in the 1950s and 1960s, which would put many theories and publications about it right in Walt’s lifetime. Plus, doesn’t it make sense that the Disney company would have the money and technology to keep a body frozen? Some more conspiracy-minded folks even go so far as to say that his grave, located at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA, is just another bit of theater and that the man himself is really on ice somewhere and waiting to be woken up.
The Reality: Sorry, friends, but it seems like this one is less “cold truth” and more “hot air”. Walt’s death certificate states that he was cremated, per his own wishes. There’s no one specific birthplace of this urban legend, and rather it appears to have a few possible origins. One is based on conspiracy theories: the announcement of Walt’s death wasn’t made until hours after it happened, sparking some rumors that they had to transport the body to the cryogenic facility before they made anything public. He also never had a funeral, again per his own wishes, as he very much disliked them, which may have further stoked the flames of conspiracy as there was no big public send-off for the beloved man. Then there were a couple of sensationalistic biographies, which leaned more on speculation than facts, which suggested his body was frozen and used shaky “evidence” to try and prove it. Some people even claim that the story was cooked up by some Disney Studios animators who were having some macabre fun. Whatever the origin of the legend, though, the Disney company and Walt’s family have always maintained that he is not frozen under a theme park.
For the record: if I get sick and have the option of being cryogenically frozen underneath Disneyland until I can be thawed and cured, I’d very much like to take it. Then, the first thing I could do with my new health is get a churro and go on some rides!
Also, as a side note, I highly recommend the film The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head.
Welcome To Thunderdome
Getting caught in the rain while at Walt Disney World can be a bummer. It’s wet, lightning can cause rides to be closed, it’s wet, it can be cold when you go into the AC, it’s wet…
The Legend: Supposedly, Walt Disney World has a dome that they can put up over the parks when it rains, protecting the guests from inclement weather. Some cast member can just push a button, and a massive bubble will keep the parks dry and warm.
The Reality: I think it goes without saying, though I’m obviously saying it, that there is no giant dome protecting Walt Disney World from the elements. While I’m sure that cast members and guests alike would appreciate never getting rained on while in the parks, it’s going to happen once in a while and there’s not much that anyone can do about it. Sorry if you were hoping otherwise. I’d recommend bringing a poncho (though I rarely bring one and then often get soaked when it rains). I’m not even sure where or how this one got started, other than someone either thinking that it was real or just trying to be funny and then telling someone else who believed it and told someone else. Et cetera, et cetera. I’d guess that the internet, fountain of (sometimes erroneous) knowledge that it is, may have had something to do with it.
There are a surprising number of folks out there who genuinely believe that this is an actual thing. More than one cast member has actually had to deal with a guest upset that someone didn’t put the dome up when it was raining.
Fly Away
Have you ever noticed that planes, helicopters, and other such flying contraptions don’t seem to be in the skies above the Disney parks? No? Well, you probably will now…
The Legend: The spaces above and around the Disney parks are no-fly zones, meaning that planes are forbidden from flying the friendly skies over both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. It actually sounds a bit like a crackpot theory drummed up by that cousin who has a conspiracy for any situation: the powerful Disney corporation (the company, like many companies in conspiracy theories, is Very Evil) somehow managed to convince the government to reroute all flight paths around the parks. For… reasons.
The Reality: This one is actually true! There’s also a bit more to it than you’d think. For many years, companies would fly low over the parks with advertising banners (there was even a blimp designed like Shamu to advertise Sea World) to try and entice the captive audience below. So when Animal Kingdom was set to open in 1998, Walt Disney World petitioned the FAA to make the park a no-fly zone. Their argument was that noisy aircraft could potentially disturb the animals. They did get it approved in the interest of animal welfare, and while the original ban was just for Animal Kingdom it eventually got expanded to cover the entire property. Pilots were told to stay at least 2,000 feet above the parks and not within two miles of the property. It wasn’t exactly a rule, however, really just more of a guideline, and the penalty for violating this was just a slap on the wrist. Still, it helped keep the animals safe, and discouraged companies from advertising in Disney’s airspace. Then came the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, and the government felt it prudent to make many important places no-fly zones. This included official buildings and military installations, as well as other places that could be considered targets–including certain vacation spots that regularly had tens of thousands of people in them at any given time. So in 2003 the general rule became a real law: it’s illegal to fly lower than 3,000 feet above a domestic Disney park or within three miles of one. You can still sometimes see skywriters overhead when you’re there, but they’re really just outside of the enforced no-fly zone.
There go my plans to fly low over Magic Kingdom and glitter bomb the folks below (an advertisement, of course, for my glitter bombing service). Oh well.
What The Hell
Content Warning: The following segment includes mentions of suicide and violence. If you’d prefer to skip such things, please skip ahead to the next bold header.
Mickey Mouse, over the course of his long career, has gone on many exciting adventures. He’s beloved around the world, he’s brought happiness to millions of people, and he’s known for being fun and generally wholesome. So there’s no way that he’d be in a cartoon so horrible that it causes people to go insane, right? Right?!?
The Legend: This disturbing tale is about a “long-lost” cartoon. According to the story, film critic Leonard Maltin was going through some old Disney cartoons and came across a reel from the 1930s. The first few minutes of the cartoon are nothing noteworthy, just a dejected-looking Mickey walking down a city street while piano music plays. This goes on for a bit, and then things… get weird. It goes to a blank screen with no visuals or audio for a bit, then the video comes back with an unnerving cries. The cityscape melts and distorts, Mickey starts grinning in an evil fashion, and the disturbing shrieks get louder. The background distorts further, and colors that weren’t possible with the technology at the time start bleeding in. The cries become screams, and Mickey’s face gruesomely falls apart. Maltin, at this point, was too freaked out to keep watching and had an assistant finish for him. Shortly before the end, the screaming and distorting suddenly stops, and the screen shows a normal Mickey Mouse face. A discordant tune, like from a broken music box, plays over this for about 30 seconds, and then there’s… something after that. Whatever happens in the final seconds of the video, some people say, is enough to break a human brain. According to the legend, the employee came out of the room and said “real suffering is not known” seven times before grabbing a security guard’s pistol and shooting himself. In his notes, he had also scrawled something in Russian that roughly translates to “The sights of Hell bring its viewers back in”.
The Reality: Wow, that’s creepy. Fortunately, it’s also an internet hoax. Well, the video is real, but its origins and the terror it unleashed aren’t. It appears that the video first surfaced on a site called CreepyPasta, a place for original horror stories and such, in 2009. Originally called Suicide Mouse, the video and the associated scary tale was a work of fiction created as a part of the fairly popular “lost footage” genre on the website. The story did take the internet by storm, however, and quickly grew beyond its CreepyPasta roots and into an actual urban legend that I’m guessing more than a few people believed. Experts have even pored over the cartoon to make sure that it isn’t real, and have determined that the animation–while intended to look like something from the 1930s–doesn’t fit the actual style or technology of the time. Basically, some creative soul came up with this concept and ran with it, and somehow the creepy story took on a life of its own.
The video and associated story isn’t hard to find online, and it’s been viewed well over a million times on YouTube. I read a few different pieces about the cartoon while researching this, and I’m kinda curious to see it, but I’ll admit that I haven’t actually watched it. I’m scared…
Stop, Drop, And Andy
So, y’know how in the Toy Story movies the toys stop what they’re doing and drop whenever Andy or another human comes into the room?
The Legend: This one is fairly popular, and has been making the rounds for a while now. Basically, it’s widely believed that if you’re in the parks and go up to one of the characters from the Toy Story films–Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, etc–and yell “Andy’s coming” they’ll drop to the ground and lay there like a lifeless toy.
The reality: This one is both true and false, in that it used to be a thing and now it isn’t. Early on, when the popular Pixar characters were appearing in the parks, you could in fact say that and they would drop and lay there (though I never actually did it myself, I’d assume it was quite a hoot). Then it hit the internet and went from “secret little inside thing” to “something everyone and their ninth cousin six times removed knows about”, and soon poor Buzz and Woody had to deal with a constant stream of people yelling at them about Andy. So, in the interest of safety and not having their characters dropping to the ground every four seconds, Disney put the kibosh on the whole thing. You can still certainly tell Toy Story characters that Andy is approaching, and they’ll react more or less appropriately, but they’ll stay on their feet while they do so.
I wonder who the first person to do this was, back when it was a thing? Like, did some kid walk up and say it to be cute, and then get surprised when the character fell to the ground? Did the character have that planned in advance, just waiting for someone to say “Andy’s coming”, or did they just suddenly decide to fall down the first time they heard it? It sounds like it could have been an odd moment for everyone involved…
Sex Sells
Disney has a reputation for being wholesome and family friendly. So nothing untoward (wink wink, nudge nudge) would ever make it into one of their films.
The Legend: Some Disney animated films have subliminal sexual content in them, according to folks who hunt for subliminal sexual content in cartoons. The Rescuers, for example, is said to have a topless woman in the background of a scene. Then there’s The Lion King, which some people claim has the word “sex” spelled out in a cloud of dust and leaves. Hidden sexual content isn’t always just in the films, either, as the original VHS case for The Little Mermaid may have included a rather phallic structure hidden among the castle spires.
The Reality: So in the case of The Rescuers, this is absolutely true (I know, I was surprised as well). In a scene where Bernard and Bianca are flying through a city, a topless woman could be seen in a background window in two non-consecutive frames. It’s an actual photograph, too, and not animated. The frames were supposedly in the film’s theatrical release, but Disney insists that the frames were not inserted by their animators but somehow slipped in during post-production. Of course, without the ability to freeze-frame a theatrical film, nobody even noticed. It wasn’t until a recall of a much later home video release that the story got out, and it was a voluntary recall by Disney themselves (presumably to get ahead of it before someone else discovered the frames). So while there’s no naked woman in the film now, there was at one point in time. In The Lion King, outraged parents claim that the word “sex” can very briefly be seen in the movie when a frustrated Simba flops down onto a rock and a cloud of dust and leaves puffs up into the air. Disney animators have responded by saying that yes, the debris does momentarily spell something, but that it’s intended to be SFX–short for special effects–as a nod to movie magic. So I guess that the truth is in the eye of the beholder on that one. And as for The Little Mermaid, when the original home video was released (on VHS, ask your parents about it kiddos), many folks said that a castle spire on the cover was less “golden castle tower” and more “glittering penis”. Rumors started swirling about a mysterious employee who was upset about being laid off by Disney and as revenge incorporated the bit into the artwork. However, the cover art wasn’t done by Disney but by an outside firm, and both companies insist that it wasn’t actually what people thought it was. One widely accepted story is that the artist was working on a crazy deadline, and while trying to finish the piece at some insane hour of the night he just didn’t double check to make sure that none of the towers looked like a shiny wiener. A variant version claims that he did it as an inside joke, and then never had time to remove it before the piece went to print. Either way, Disney apologized, and that it was just a spire that sorta could maybe be kinda taken to look somewhat phallic. They recalled that version, and re-released it without the questionable architecture.
My take on all this sauciness? Well, I’ve gone online to research The Rescuers, and there certainly was a grainy little photo of a topless woman in a couple frames, so that’s a thing that happened for some reason. In the case of The Lion King, I have seen the letters but what I think they say is really dependent on what I want to see (they could be either SFX or SEX if I’m trying to see one or the other). I’ve also got that version of the The Little Mermaid VHS, and I I suppose that it’s again a matter of what the beholder wants to see. I do personally believe that the tower in question is rather phallic, though, so I guess I want to see it as a golden wiener in a fantasy castle?
Ultimately, people are always going to swap stories–either for fun or because they really believe them–and some of those are going to take hold and grow into urban legends. Especially with the speed of social media information, and the technology to doctor photos and videos, it’s only going to get tougher to determine what’s fact and what’s fiction. While some tales are true, or at least have a basis in reality, others are as fantastical as a flying pirate ship… and maybe even less believable.
Now, let’s get back to discussing me being cryogenically frozen under Disneyland…