Whoopi Goldberg, EGOT winner and iconic American treasure of screen, stage, and talk shows, has admitted to disposing of a human body at Disneyland.
The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim is one of the most beloved tourist attractions in the United States, rivaled only by its sister, Walt Disney World, and Dollywood. Many people treat their visits to the Happiest Place on Earth as one of their most cherished memories and a highlight of their lives (which is likely why most people are even willing to go into severe debt to accommodate a Disneyland family trip).
It is thus shocking, but not particularly surprising that many people request to have their ashes scattered at Disneyland. The idea of having your earthly remains put to rest at a place of joy and happiness has a lot of appeal for many people, but that does ignore the fact that, well, there are a lot of other people at Disneyland who do not want to be covered in the remains of former humans.
Related: Vehicle Filled with Human Remains Found in Pond at Disney World Entrance
Guests trying to covertly scatter loved ones’ ashes is a particularly weird nuisance for cast members and comes up a lot more frequently than one might think. In fact, according to former cast members, it is actually so common that the resulting HEPA cleanup is informally known as a “Code Grandma.” In most of those situations, however, the Guest disposing of human remains is not an Academy Award winner or the star of the Sister Act movies.
In a recent interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Whoopi Goldberg confessed to scattering her mother, Emma Harris’, ashes at the it’s a small world ride at Disneyland, though she said she pretty much immediately felt bad about it.
Whoopi Goldberg said, “My mother loved Disneyland [who died in 2010], and so we took her to Disneyland. She loved small world. So, in the small world ride, periodically, I scooped some of her up, and I do this.”
By this, the esteemed Star Trek actress meant a sneeze, which she mimed. She continued, “I said, ‘My God, this cold is getting worse and worse.’ And then we got over to the flowers where it says, ‘Disneyland,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, look at that!’”
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According to Goldberg, she confessed to cast members immediately about what she had done, saying, “I told them I did it. I wanted to make sure, actually, that I hadn’t done something that was dangerous because it hadn’t occurred to me. But there’s a reason they don’t want ashes just floating around.”
It probably goes without saying that The Walt Disney Company does not want Guests to dispose of human ashes (or any other kind of human remains) around Disney Parks, so the act is strictly forbidden. Additionally, California Code, Health and Safety Code – HSC § 7116 explicitly prohibits the “disposition of the cremated remains or hydrolyzed human remains [without] written permission of the property owner or governing agency to scatter on the property.”
But that doesn’t stop a lot of people and it didn’t stop the star of Ghost (1990). But now that she’s done it, she warns others: “No one should do this.”
Is it okay for people to dispose of human ashes at Disneyland?
