Disney is about spreading magic, not ashes. During an episode of the “Las Culturistas” podcast, Ariana Grande shared a peculiar wish her mother, Joan, has—to have her ashes spread at Disney World. However, this wish is unlikely to be fulfilled.
Grande, 31, was discussing iconic attractions at Disneyland and Disney World with hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers when she revealed her mother’s repeated requests to her and her brother, Frankie Grande, to scatter her ashes at the Florida theme park. “When it comes to Disney in Florida…we get Cinderella’s Castle, which is a landmark,” Grande, who grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, mentioned on the podcast. “My mom often tells us she wants her ashes sprinkled over it. I always respond, ‘Mom, it’s Christmas. Do we have to talk about this now?’ And she insists, ‘Yes. You have to make sure that happens.’”
Grande, who will be starring as Glinda in the upcoming “Wicked” movie, expressed her reluctance, saying, “Mom, I don’t want to make sure that happens.” She also pointed out a potentially awkward issue with her mother’s wishes. “I think there are actors back there working. So you’ll be sprinkled on people’s heads who are dressed as Tinker Bell waiting for their cue,” she joked.
Yang, 34, added, “Totally. There’s a hotel room in there,” referring to the Cinderella Castle Suite. Grande shared, “I’ve been in there because I performed at the castle once and got to change in there, which was really cool. It’s beautiful and feels very real.” However, despite its beauty, spreading ashes there is illegal.
According to a 2018 report from the Wall Street Journal, spreading ashes at the theme park is strictly prohibited and unlawful. Guests attempting to do so will be escorted off the property. Disney tries to keep anything morbid out of its parks, including banning the words “In Memory Of” from personalized commemorative bricks. Custodians have to remove tiny ash particles from rides when discovered.
When ash residue is found on a ride, Disney workers shut it down for “technical difficulties” so a manager can search for ash piles before custodians arrive with high-powered vacuums. The code for this clean-up is “HEPA Cleanup,” indicating a guest has scattered cremated ashes somewhere in the park. One former employee admitted they and others got in trouble for calling it “Code Grandma.”
Popular spots for spreading ashes include flower beds, bushes, the Magic Kingdom lawn, outside park gates, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and the moat under the Dumbo ride. However, the Haunted Mansion ride is the most popular, with one Disneyland custodian saying, “The Haunted Mansion probably has so much human ashes in it that it’s not even funny.”
Guests often get away with it, including Whoopi Goldberg. On an episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” she revealed that she and her late brother, Clyde, spread her mother’s ashes inside the It’s a Small World ride shortly after her death in 2010. “No one should do this. Don’t do it,” Goldberg warned. “She loved Small World. So, in the Small World ride, periodically, I’d scoop some of her up and do this poof, and 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! Poof.’” She admitted to Disney park employees that she did it, wanting to ensure she hadn’t done something dangerous.
Source link: https://nypost.com
