Disney is one of the biggest corporations on the planet, spawning films, television
shows, theme parks, merchandising and much, much more.
The company is basically everywhere at this point, and with its widespread fame also comes
widespread notoriety.
Rumors about Disney and its properties range from sweet, to odd, to downright creepy.
Let's debunk some popular false facts about Disney you always thought were true.
And let's kick things off with a doozy...
Walt Disney is cryogenically frozen
Rumor has it that Disney founder Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen after his death in
hopes that he could one day be resurrected.
But though Walt reportedly was interested in the procedure, in 1972 Bob Nelson, the
then-president of the Cryonics Society of California, told the Los Angeles Times that
Walt missed the boat by just a few days when he died on December 15, 1966 from lung cancer
at the age of 65.
"The truth is, Walt missed out.
He never specified it in writing, and when he died the family didn't go for it…Two
weeks later we froze the first man.
If Disney had been the first it would have made headlines around the world and been a
real shot in the arm for cryonics…They had him cremated.
I personally have seen his ashes."
Alas, it looks like the dream of a reanimated Walt will remain just a wish upon a star.
Literally Haunted Mansion
It's enticing to believe that the classic Disney theme park attraction The Haunted Mansion
is actually haunted, especially since the original version in Disneyland sat apparently
abandoned for six years after the exterior was completed in 1963.
Rumors swirled that the ride didn't open until 1969 because the ride was so scary a guest
had a heart attack on it.
It's true a death contributed to the delayed opening — but that's because the ride had
to be re-imagined after Walt's death occurred during the construction phase.
Another rumored death in the Haunted Mansion alleges two high school seniors visiting the
park decided to exit the Doombuggy to look for a room called the "Séance Circle."
One teen allegedly fell to his death, breaking his neck after plummeting between the tracks
and the platform.
However, there is also no record of this death, either.
The only reported incident on the ride involves a 15-year-old who survived a fall onto the
tracks.
The plane from Casablanca
News reports in 1988 widely claimed that the airplane in the Casablanca section of the
Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida is the actual plane from the film.
However, that now seems like it might have been fake news.
In the book Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca, the film's assistant
director, Lee Katz, explained that the classic ending of the movie was filmed using a fake
plane.
"This airport was built on a stage with a cutout airplane.
And, obviously, we fogged in the set not so much to give it atmosphere but because we
had to conceal the fact that everything was so phony."
However, later research by the Yesterland website reveals there was an actual plane
used for some shots filmed by a second unit without the stars present.
So while it's possible the plane did appear in the film, it definitely wasn't in the scene
depicted on the Disney World ride.
Walt to expect when you're expecting
There are variations of this rumor, but they all boil down to one idea: Walt decided to
bequeath a large portion of his massive fortune to the first man to become pregnant.
However, this is clearly untrue, not only because Walt's will has been made public,
but also because there have been pregnant men and they obviously didn't get Disney World
as a prize.
Sorry, Arnold!
"I'm gonna be a momma too!"
Walt Disney was an illegitimate child
One of the weirdest rumors surrounding Walt Disney claims he was born in the town of Mojacar,
Spain and secretly adopted by American parents.
According to this far fetched tale, an unmarried woman named Isabel Zadora got pregnant and
was pressured by the baby daddy's family to leave Spain.
She came to America and put her newborn baby Jose up for adoption — and he was taken
in by Elias and Flora Disney, who changed his name to Walt.
Residents of Mojacar certainly believe it, saying that a pair of FBI agents came to the
village in 1940 to destroy Jose's birth record so the truth about Walt Disney would never
get out.
Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, there's absolutely no evidence any of this is true.
Walt's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, flatly denied the rumor, telling the Los Angeles
Times she found it completely baffling.
"I can't understand why it got such wide acceptance…
Evidently there's a little town in Spain that's supposed to be very pretty; a friend of ours
showed us a brochure from there that says 'and among other things, we are also the birthplace
of Walt Disney, although he does not choose to acknowledge it.'
Apparently the story's been out there for a long time."
Disney artists are perverts
Depending on who you listen to, Disney animators supposedly are in the habit of hiding very
adult jokes in their films, most notably The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.
However if you're seeing something dirty, it seems the pervert might be you, because
none of the three most famous examples actually happened.
Oh, it's true that the VHS copy of The Little Mermaid had a castle in the background with
a somewhat phallic image.
However, according to Snopes, it was a complete accident, with the artist himself not even
noticing it until "a member of his youth church group heard about the controversy on talk
radio and called him at his studio with the news."
The Little Mermaid was also the target of a lawsuit by a woman who claimed the minister
at Ariel's wedding was packing an extra swordfish in his trousers.
But it was just an optical illusion caused by the placement of his knees, and after Disney
altered the animation to clear up the confusion, the lawsuit was dropped.
Finally, during The Lion King, lots of people reported seeing the word sex in the sky during
one short sequence.
But former Disney animator Tom Sito told The Huffington Post the letters actually read
"SFX" as a shout-out to the film's special effects department.
Other producers have reportedly confirmed this was the intention of the lettering.
So get your mind out of the gutters!
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