Fact or Fiction: Disney Edition

With an iconic corporation such as Disney, there are bound to be some weird rumors that surround the company. Disney has hundreds of crazy urban legends, so which ones are true, if any? Here are five crazy stories about Disney and whether or not they are fact or fiction.

1) Small World Hanging

Sources say that at Disney World, California, one day the “It’s a Small World” ride was randomly shut down and passengers were asked to quickly and quietly leave the premises. Supposedly, a guest accidentally snapped a picture while leaving to reveal the body of a small child or possibly a midget hanging from the rafters.

Fact or Fiction: Fiction

The truth: The “body” was actually one of the dolls from the ride. Why it was hanging from the ceiling, who knows. Maybe someone should look into doll cruelty at the park.

2) Donald Duck Nazi Short

There is a rarely shown short of Donald Duck as a Nazi which many people claim proves that Walt Disney supported Hitler and the Nazi regime and subsequently hated Jewish people and what not.

Fact or Fiction: Fiction (kind of)

The truth: Yes, the short film does exist. However, it was released as propaganda for the United States explaining why people should support the war effort. The short is about how Donald Duck wakes up one day under the Nazi regime because they have taken over the world, which is what people feared would happen if the U.S. didn’t take part in World War II. In no way was Disney trying to show support for Hitler.

3) No one is allowed to die on Disney premises

Word on the street is that in order to keep up appearances of “The Happiest Place On Earth”, Disney does not allow anyone to be declared dead on their property.

Fact or Fiction: Fiction

The truth: No one is quite sure how this started, but it is false. People have definitely died in the parks before and while it wasn’t publicized, no one hid that information from the public.


“Here are five crazy stories about Disney and whether or not they are fact or fiction.”

4) The Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion rides (in all Disney locations) are popular dumping grounds for ashes.

It’s popular opinion that guests frequently spread the ashes of their loved ones in both the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the Haunted Mansion ride due to both rides being very popular, dark, and indoors.

Fact or Fiction: Fact

The truth: This is true. Unfortunately, most of the time when it happens, the ride is shut down and cleaned for health reasons. That means those ashes mostly end up in trash bags so those dedicated guests need to rethink their final wishes for their loved ones’ remains.

5) Water park abandoned due to horrific deaths

Disney World Florida’s River Country water park was a popular attraction for many years. Unfortunately due to the park feeding into the Bay Lake, there was an infestation of Naegleria fowleri (a.k.a. brain eating amoeba) that resulted in the tragic deaths of many patrons leading to the park’s closure in the early 2000s.

Fact or Fiction: Both

The truth: Yes, the park did close and yes, there were two instances of people dying from the amoeba that they picked up from the water, but the cases were not the reason the park closed. The park only closed because once Disney’s more popular water parks such as Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon opened, River Country lost a lot of buzz and ended up using more money than it made. The park was shut down, but never fully destroyed, resulting in it looking majorly creepy and abandoned. It’s current appearance is part of the reason why so many people believe it was shut down due to tragic deaths, but the decision to close it was solely made due to its financial situation.

Google more Disney urban legends if you want to ruin your childhood memories of “the happiest place on Earth”. Just remember that most of them are completely fake.