Walt just chillin...

[Frog]

I have a question for those in the Disney "know" on the board...
I heard something that I have tried to just throw in my "it's just a rumor" box, and have held on to it for a few days. I've read lots on Walt, but of course, this is not the kind of stuff you see in the biographies. I just know someone on here has the true answer...

Is Walt really cryo-ginized (sp) for a later time?

A bit morbid I know, but I just can't let it go... someone put my brain at ease, please.

[MegaDisney]

Not true.

Walt is buried in the family plot in Forest Lawn in LA.

This rumor started mostly due to the secretive burial. Walt did not want his funeral to be a big Hollywood production, just a small family gathering, this fueled all the speculation.

His grave is also kind of hidden from the public which also keeps this rumor alive.

[MegaDisney]

Here is some more details I found via a quick Google Search:

Eisner debunks Walt Disney burial myth
March 10, 2004

Of all the grave matters facing Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, he recently raised an unexpected one.

In an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, where he fielded questions about the mounting criticism of his management, Mr Eisner told how he once sought out Walt Disney's burial site.

"His wishes were that it was unmarked and not available to anybody to ever find out," Mr Eisner said. "But I went up there and I talked my way into them showing me where he's buried."

Asked by King whether he knew why the site wasn't marked, Mr Eisner said Mr Disney, who died in 1966, "wanted his privacy forever", as did his widow, Lillian, who died in 1997.

On the final resting place of the founder of the entertainment empire, Mr Eisner said: "It's a beautiful little spot and nobody could ever find it, and I'm very proud that I talked myself into it."

It might not have been that difficult. Bonnie Quintanilla, a spokeswoman for Forest Lawn Glendale (California), said the cemetery did not as a policy volunteer any information about where people, famous or not, were buried. But Walt Disney's grave, she said, isn't unmarked.

Anyway, it's easy to find on various websites offering detailed maps to celebrity tombs.

At Disney, a spokesman said that Mr Eisner "visited the grave 10 years ago, and at the time there were no markings to the site. He had to be led to it. Unless you were led to it, it would have been difficult to find."

The topic came up on King's show after Mr Eisner was asked by a caller from Canada about the urban legend that Mr Disney's body was frozen, providing a lighthearted respite from the more uncomfortable give-and-take with King about Comcast Corp's unsolicited takeover bid and Disney's restless shareholders.

Mr Eisner had debunked the myth before, and did so again. (According to numerous accounts, including one in his 1998 autobiography Work in Progress, Walt Disney was cremated, with his ashes buried at Forest Lawn.)

Since taking control of the company 20 years ago, Mr Eisner often has emulated the entertainment legend, from hosting a TV show himself to putting his personal stamp on nearly every facet of the company.

[xipetotec]

I have a question for those in the Disney "know" on the board...
I heard something that I have tried to just throw in my "it's just a rumor" box, and have held on to it for a few days. I've read lots on Walt, but of course, this is not the kind of stuff you see in the biographies. I just know someone on here has the true answer...

Is Walt really cryo-ginized (sp) for a later time?

A bit morbid I know, but I just can't let it go... someone put my brain at ease, please.

further to Megadisney's response, there are pictures of the family plot and name plaque ( and even death certificate certifying cremation ) online if you do a bit of googling.

[Dixie Springs]

Oh yeah? Then what's this "Disney on Ice" I keep hearing about?

Sorry - couldn't resist...

[pink]

My family always discusses this, I have to admit it would be neat if years from now he could be un-frozen and brought back to life, that would be amazing! However, I'm glad to know that he is in a peaceful resting place.

[Imagineer1981]

if walt came back, what would he think?

[Frog]

Thanks guys...
I knew I could count on yall for a solid rebutle.
I especially liked the "Disney on Ice" comment... Pretty funny in a morbid kind of way. Walt is a fascinating study on the human drive and spirit.
I do wonder what he would think (and do) if he was a round today...

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Yes, Walt is buried and not frozen.
2) However, finding his grave is relatively easy.
3) As you walk around the cemetery, you feel vibrations in the ground.
4) As you get closer to the grave, the vibrations get stronger.
5) At the grave site, th vibrations are like a small earthquake.

NOTE: Turns out those vibrations are Walt turning over in his grave from what has been done to his parks buy Eisner and Ogre (I mean Iger) in the name of profit and forgetting the guest. After all, he said, "Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.".

[MegaDisney]

After all, he said, "Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money."

The key word there is "just" I think people tend to forget about that word.

They DID go into it to make money, they also went into it for the fun and excitment of something new. The quote doesn't mention the guest or magic.

Walt was not a saint and too many seem to put him on a pedestal.

Disney is and always will be a for profit corporation. If the business was run the way some fans think it should be, it would have been bankrupt YEARS ago...

[Vito]

If Walt were alive today, I'm pretty sure he'd be amazed at how huge his "little" idea has become. Four parks in Florida, two in California, two in Europe, three in Asia... There are parks all over the world, there are amazing attractions that have taken his original Audio Animatronic technology and advanced it into amazingly themed attractions. Sure, as with anything, I imagine there would be things he would be disappointed with, but on the whole I think he'd be impressed.

Again, we have to remember that Walt may not have created Disneyland with the sole intention of making money, but if it didn't make money, he would have gone broke and there would have been no more Disneyland, let alone WDW.

The Disney parks today are created for the sole goal of good family entertainment that you can't find anywhere else. The wonderful side affect of such a creation is that you make money.

[SgtTigger]

Walt died in Dec. 1966 and the company Cyro Tech did not start till late 1966 so this was a new thing back then.
So I dont think it was real big yet when walt died....

Another reason that the answer is no.....

[Jasper]

Actually the real answer was that since it was his body that let him down with the lung cancer but his brain had done so many great things in his life that he only had his head frozen because he was part of a secret group of wealthy, important people who the government is making new audio-animatronic bodies for!

Believe it or not there was actually a story like this many years back in one of those tabloids like the National Enquirer or one of the others! It never fails to amaze me at the creative things people will come up with. Oh, and just for the record and to make sure no one thinks I am trying to start a new rumor, this is another one that is false!

[TheRustyScupper]

Actually the real answer was that since it was his body that let him down with the lung cancer but his brain had done so many great things in his life that he only had his head frozen because he was part of a secret group of wealthy, important people who the government is making new audio-animatronic bodies for!

1) OMG !
2) I get shivers thinking of the head/brains being reused from
. . . Mike Eisner
. . . Jimmy Carter
. . . Paris Hilton

[judoma]

Actually the real answer was that since it was his body that let him down with the lung cancer but his brain had done so many great things in his life that he only had his head frozen because he was part of a secret group of wealthy, important people who the government is making new audio-animatronic bodies for!

Believe it or not there was actually a story like this many years back in one of those tabloids like the National Enquirer or one of the others! It never fails to amaze me at the creative things people will come up with. Oh, and just for the record and to make sure no one thinks I am trying to start a new rumor, this is another one that is false!

I can faintly remember a few years back a kids show or movie that followed a similar premise. Honestly! I have to ask my kids if they remember what it was.

[Wells]

1) OMG !
2) I get shivers thinking of the head/brains being reused from
. . . Mike Eisner
. . . Jimmy Carter
. . . Paris Hilton

Why not? they have never been used.....

[KAT1811]

The key word there is "just" I think people tend to forget about that word.

Of course Walt went into it to make a profit and bring joy to families. I think they have done a better job making WDW avaliable to more families with the addition of the values. There are still a ton of ways to do WDW very expensive (ie. the deluxes) but there are a ton of ways to do it fairly inexpensive too. After all there is still FW and you can always bring your tent.

[Mousemates]

I get shivers thinking of the head/brains being reused from
. . . Mike Eisner
. . . Jimmy Carter
. . . Paris Hilton

Paris might take offense at being mentioned in the same list as ME and JC.