You grew up watching Disney movies.
You know the characters, you know the songs,
you’ve probably been on the rides!
But not everything you’ve heard about the magic kingdom is true,
there’s plenty of myth and mystery surrounding the real world of Disney.
If I asked you who invented Mickey Mouse, whether Uncle Walt is preserved on ice, or
what exactly is underneath Disneyland, your answers would probably be wrong.
I’m Stu, this is Debunked, and we’re about to sort the truths from the myths, and the
facts from the misconceptions, about the House Of Mouse.
Number 5.
Is Walt Disney Cryogenically Frozen?
To start with, let’s clarify a common misconception.
Cryogenics is the science of studying and preserving things at very low temperatures.
Cryonics is the belief that dead humans can be frozen and resurrected.
As of 2023,
about 500 very rich people have been cryonically preserved after death so that one day they
can be brought back to life.
It makes sense that the king of cartoons, Walt Disney, would want to be Frozen and re-animated.
Whether you believe his whole body was frozen and hidden under Disneyland, or only his head
was kept in a jar, Futurama style, it’s not true.
As his daughter, Diane Disney Miller, made clear:
“There is absolutely no truth that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen.
I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics.”
“I can tell you he's not frozen.
He was cremated, and his remains are at Forest Lawn in Los Angeles.”
“When we first heard that rumor we laughed.
Then to our horror we realized that people really thought he was cryonically preserved.
How goofy!"
If Walt had wanted to be frozen, he would have spoken to the founders of the Cryonics
Society of California (CSC), which wasn’t even incorporated until Walt died.
Robert Nelson, the first President of the CSC said:
“Lots of people think that he was (frozen), and that the body’s in cold storage in his
basement.
The truth is, Walt missed out.
He never specified it in writing, and when he died the family didn’t go for it.
They had him cremated.
I personally have seen his ashes.
They’re in Forest Lawn...
“If Disney had been the first it would have made headlines around the world and been a
real shot in the arm for cryonics.
But that’s the way it goes.”
Indeed, his death certificate shows that he was cremated on 17th December, 1966.
So there you have it.
Uncle Walt was cremated two days after he died from lung cancer on December 15th, 1966
and,
coincidentally, nearly a whole month before the first person* was cryonically preserved.
Number 4.
There’s An Abandoned Disneyland
Deep in North Carolina, you’ll stumble upon a derelict theme park called Mowgli’s Palace.
It bears all the signs of being mysteriously abandoned in a hurry, with discarded food,
broken rides and even mascot costumes left to rot…
So said the Creepypasta published online in 2013.
Sadly, it’s not true.
There never was a Disney theme park planned for North Carolina, and there’s never been
a theme park based on The Jungle Book - only a short-lived 2016 show at Animal Kingdom
in Florida.
However, on the other side of the Pacific in Japan, Nara Dreamland opened in 1961, blatantly
“inspired” by Disneyland.
It was left abandoned in 2006 as a Nightmareland until finally being demolished in 2017.
Meanwhile, Disney has given up on its own resorts.
In 2001, DisneyWorld closed River Country for refurbishment and ultimately demolished
it.
In 1999, DisneyWorld closed “Discovery Island”, which is only accessible by boat and now lies
in ruins.
In 2020 a man was arrested for trespassing after camping there during the coronavirus
pandemic, so don’t try to go there yourself.
Number 3.
Who Is Mickey Mouse’s Creator?
The House Of Mouse.
The Man Who Made Mickey.
Everyone knows that Disney built his empire on the character he drew with his own hand,
Mickey Mouse.
Right?
Wrong!
After an unamicable split with Universal, Walt Disney and fellow animator Ubbe Iwerks,
lost the rights to their original creation ‘Oswald The Lucky Rabbit’.
In the true spirit of a CEO, Uncle Walt wanted a new mascot for his new company,
and asked his employees to invent a character that he could own the copyright on.
Iwerks designed Mickey Mouse in 1928, and animated the rodent in a series of cartoons,
making a big splash with ‘Steamboat Willie’.
As Journalist Jeff Ryan puts it:
“[Iwerks] was doing most of the behind-the-scenes work.
And when Walt was taking credit, Ub was the one who was denied credit.”
Walt didn’t even come up with the name.
He wanted to call him Mortimer Mouse, but thankfully his wife Lillian rejected the idea
and suggested Mickey instead.
It was Walt’s idea to use a mouse for a mascot…
but this was after seeing a 1925 sketch by Hugh Harman, of Walt surrounded by mice.
Harman’s Mickey-esque character had already featured in a series of shorts that he worked
on with both Disney and Iwerks from as early as 1923, five years prior to the ‘creation’
of Disney’s front man.
Moreover, these mice were “inspired” by the mice
created by animator Paul Terry
in 1921 for ongoing cartoons very loosely based on “Aesop’s Fables”.
Walt himself reportedly once said,
“My ambition was to make cartoons as good as Aesop’s Fables.”
For his part, Terry said, “Disney is the Tiffany's in this business,
I am the Woolworth's.”
Number 2.
Disney has a secret network of tunnels under its parks.
Have you ever seen an overflowing trash can at a Disney theme park?
Do you ever see the staff come and go from behind kiosk counters?
According to myth, Disney preserves the magic by forcing staff, stock deliveries and garbage
to go underground via a secret network of tunnels, out of the sight of guests.
This is only partially true.
There aren’t any tunnels under Disneyland in California, nor at Animal Kingdom or Hollywood
Studios in Florida.
But there is an elaborate network of tunnels under the Magic Kingdom.
They’re not secret, though.
Disney calls them "Utilidors", and visitors over the age of 16 can see them on a 5 hour
guided walking tour called "The Keys To The Kingdom".
The tunnels cover 9 acres (390,000 square feet) and cost $5 million to construct in
1967 ($45.8 million in 2023).
They were actually built at ground level.
They were then buried under 8 million tons of earth
dug out from what would become the Seven Seas Lagoon,
and the Magic Kingdom was built on top, with a deliberately gentle incline so that visitors
wouldn’t notice they’d actually walked uphill.
There’s also a U-shaped tunnel under Future World in Epcot,
the "Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow”.
Just like in the Magic Kingdom, this allows for easy deliveries to shops and restaurants.
Number 1.
There’s A Hidden Message In The Lion King
In 1995, The Lion King caused controversy when the American Life League accused Disney
of hiding a certain three letter word in the dust and pollen thrown up by adult Simba in
this shot.
Was it simply foreshadowing the inner thoughts of Simba and Nala?
Or was it an evil attempt to corrupt the innocent youths of America?
In 2015, Disney animator Tom Sito, who worked on The Lion King, clarified that:
"It doesn’t say 'sex.'
It says special effects.
It’s SFX."
This is because a special department of animators handle the animation of things like rain,
slamming doors and dust clouds.
They’re called the effects department and snuck this in as a nod to their work.
In 2022, Tom Bancroft, another animator who worked on The Lion King, agreed but clarified
even further:
“It actually says E-F-X, which stands for effects, the effects department.”
Sadly, if you want to check for yourself, you’ll have to dig out a VHS.
Disney altered all digital versions of the film to remove any hint of
a naughty word.