She also spoke of the sentimental moment in her book ‘Bits and Pieces.’
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Whoopi Goldberg recently sat for an interview with Seth Meyers, where she doubled-down on the time she spread her mother’s ashes all over Disneyland‘s “It’s A Small World” ride.
Goldberg recalled blowing the bio-hazardous remains in the waters of the storied boat ride and on the flowers of the park, after her mom passed in 2010. Speaking of the bizarre, yet sentimental act, she advised, “No one should do this. Don’t do it.”
She also detailed her mother’s infatuation with the ride, adding, “She loved ‘Small World.’ So, in the ‘Small World’ ride, periodically, I’d scoop some of her up and I’d 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.’”
See below.
The coveted actress and TV personality admitted that afterwards, she informed Disneyland reps of what she had done to make sure it wasn’t illegal or a health hazard.
“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,” she said. “But there’s a reason they don’t want ashes just floating around.”
The Sister Act star spoke of the act in her 2024 memoir Bits and Pieces, which is heavily about her family and their influence on her early life.
“It was her vision of what human beings should be, these children of the world: all colors, religions, and cultures together. Disney had made it seem possible that all the kids of the world hold hands in unity,” she wrote of her mother’s infatuation with the Disney ride created in 1964 in support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
She continued, “The day Clyde and I took her ashes to Disneyland, it’s possible a lot of her went into the ‘Small World’ ride, her favorite. We were subtle about it, kind of sneezing Ma out here and there when no one was looking. We didn’t get caught, but I confessed it later to a park employee. They weren’t surprised, and they certainly were not happy about it.”
Dumping a loved one’s ashes in a place that meant the world to them can be seen as a heartwarming gesture, but for Disneyland, it’s a cleanup issue and criminal act.
According to the Southern California Defense Blog, Disneyland is a private property, therefore “you need the permission of the parent company that owns the park to spread the ashes of a loved one there.” As far as consequences for spreading a loved one’s remains, a person can be “cited under HS 7054(a),” and if found guilty, “subjected to up to six months in jail and/or a fine of $500.”
Per SCDB, the amusement park’s staff will “escort” anyone they find violating their policies off the premises, and will unfortunately “vacuum the ashes and remove them from the park.”
Take a look at Whoopi Goldberg speaking on the time she spread her mother’s ashes at Disneyland above.
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