This story comes from several sources, but the most in depth reporting is from MiceAge.com, a site devoted to showing “a different look at Disney…”

The full story (too long to quote here) describes the recent rash of park guests who scatter cremated remains on park rides.  It started with the Haunted Mansion ride, which prompted Disney to outfit custodians with high-powered, HEPA filtered vacuum cleaners to remove the illegally scatter remains.

The latest story, detailed in the MiceAge post, A Pirate’s (After) Life For Me, involves a woman flinging remains onto the sets of the recently revamped Pirates of the Carribbean ride in Anehiem.

 Here’s a telling quote from the article: 

The residue is often found at the end of the night however, and most of the people who carry out a last request by spreading a loved one’s remains at The Happiest Place On Earth likely don’t know the less-than-reverential end they meet at the hands of the ultra-efficient Disneyland Custodial Department.

I’ve often had families ask me about the rules regarding scattering of cremated remains.  I’ve always told them that it is illegal to scatter remains on someone else’s property, regardless of your loved one’s desire to make “___________” their final resting place.

But I also explain that cremated remains are not toxic and, in the right setting (a national park, outdoor facility, etc.) would probably go unnoticed.

And while I never encouraged families to break the law by scattering remains in a public place (like the man who rushed onto the Philadelphia Eagles’ field and scattered his mother’s remains during a football game!) I offered that the remains would mix with dirt and be absorbed into a natural landscape.