Families visiting Disneyland may have unknowingly floated through the ashes of Whoopi Goldberg’s mother on the It’s a Small World ride. Goldberg revealed that she and her late brother, Clyde, spread their mother’s ashes inside the popular attraction shortly after she died in 2010.
“No one should do this. Don’t do it,” Goldberg, 68, cautioned during the July 10 episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” “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.’”
Goldberg later informed Disneyland officials about spreading her mother’s ashes in the It’s a Small World ride to ensure her actions were safe and appropriate.
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“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. But there’s a reason they don’t want ashes just floating around,” she said.
The Oscar-winning actress detailed this act in her memoir, “Bits and Pieces,” released in May. “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 would hold hands in unity,” Goldberg wrote.
“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,” she continued. “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.”
Walt Disney designed the It’s a Small World ride for the 1964 World’s Fair before it moved to Disneyland in 1966, according to the New York Post. Goldberg acknowledged the health and cleanliness concerns of spreading ashes, which reportedly occurs often in Disney parks. Recently, a guest scattered ashes inside the Star Wars-themed Rise of the Resistance attraction in March, according to Inside the Magic.
In July 2023, Goldberg expressed her own preference for cremation during an episode of “The View,” envisioning her remains as “dust in the wind.”
“I’m going to be going around the world, I’m going to be everywhere. I might be in your backyard – I don’t know,” the moderator said. “I don’t want people to feel obligated to come to the cemetery. If you want to remember me, remember me.”
When co-host Joy Behar then asked if she cares how she is portrayed after death, Goldberg replied: “I don’t want to be a hologram. That’s been in my will for 15 years.”
“They don’t ask you, that’s the thing,” Behar, 81, responded. “They just do it, and then you go – ‘Hey, isn’t that Tupac? Wait a minute.’”
“I don’t want that. It’s a little freaky, creepy, yeah,” Goldberg stated.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin mentioned that holographic recordings of celebrities after their death are considered acceptable if permitted by their estate.
“My estate doesn’t want it,” Goldberg noted. “My estate wants to be left alone.”
In December 2023, Goldberg revealed a provision in her will that bans unauthorized biographical films about her life and career unless her family grants permission.
