“My friend is with me, in the glass”: Disney fans come to scatter the ashes of their deceased loved ones in the theme park

Le parc Disney World en Floride aux États-Unis. imageBROKER.com – imageBROKER/Ron Buskirk

While the public is not weakening at Disney World in Florida (United States), more and more fans of the amusement park are resorting to a practice that is to say the least… Astonishing, morbid but above all forbidden.

Disney World, located south of Orlando, in Florida in the United States, is still very busy. The American amusement park has something to delight young and old alike. But some fans are getting inside, not to enjoy the facilities, but to pay tribute to deceased loved ones, indicates the American magazine Thrillist taken up by Ouest France.

“My friend is with me, in the glass”

Throwing away the ashes of a deceased person has become an increasingly common practice at Disney World. “It was one of his favorite places because you can see the park and Main Street and the castle behind [Cinderella's]”, says Philip Swift, who lost his grandmother and decimated her ashes in the park. “So it seemed like the perfect place to do it.”< /p>

While this may seem surreal to some, it is nevertheless very real and recurring. The story of Dave Ensign, relayed by the American magazine, is quite macabre to say the least. One of his friends, a die-hard Disney fan, died and had indicated that he wanted his remains (ashes) to be scattered in the middle of the Florida site.

“After he died, I went to see his mother. She gave me his ashes in a plastic bag and asked me if I knew what to do with them. I said yes”, said Dave Ensign. So he decided to honor his friend's wish and hid his ashes in a bag before placing it in his pants.

Once at the site, Dave went to buy a soda, which he emptied in order to put the remains inside the cup. At the same time, a Disney World employee approaches him and offers to take a picture of him in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle. In the photo, we can see him next to his wife, and him with a drink in his hand. “Where dreams come true”, he wrote (“Where dreams come true”). “My friend is with me, in the glass”, Dave told Thrillist.

A practice totally prohibited

The amusement park reminds that this practice is totally prohibited, despite the facts that multiply. “Visitors who attempt this will be escorted off the property,” Disney World had repeatedly written in emails. Staff are trained to spot suspicious behavior, the Washington Post notes.

“The Haunted Mansion probably has so many real human ashes it's not even funny anymore,” one employee noted several years ago. Furthermore, disposing of the ashes of a deceased person in Florida requires “written permission from the owner of the premises, under penalty of fine or imprisonment”, note Ouest France.