Urban legend set straight in Southwest Airline’s Spirit Magazine March issue: Walt Disney was NOT cryogenically preserved, as some people seem to think.
According to Albert Jack, author of Phantom Hitchhikers and Other Urban Legends: The Strange Stories Behind Tall Tales, Disney is not cryopreserved at Disneyland. Says Jack:
“It’s rumored that Walt Disney had himself frozen while awaiting a cure for lung cancer. In fact, he died without knowing his illness was terminal, so no such arrangements would have been made. Disney’s cremated remains rest in peace in Glendale, California.”
Disney died on December 15, 1966. His ashes are interred in a modest spot at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Ironically, a funeral director told me one of the top places for illicit cremated remains scattering is Disneyland and Disney World… specifically the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Disney employees have to replace the filters for the water system frequently because they get clogged with people’s ashes.