You would think that any child actor who got their start on a high-profile Disney Channel would just remain in the business for their entire lives. In fact, many of them have! Demi Lovato, Raven Symoné, and Selena Gomez come to mind. (Not to mention the likes of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake from a generation before that, too.) After all, getting a start like that as a young kid would line a person up for untold riches, fame, and adulation for the rest of their lives, right?

But interestingly, not every Disney Channel alum decides to stay in the business. In fact, many former child stars quickly check out of Hollywood altogether! And yes, this even includes stars you know very well—and maybe even stars that you grew up watching on television! In this list today, we’ll take a fascinating look at the life paths of ten of those stars. These ten former child stars rose to fame on the Disney Channel. But when they got to the pinnacle of their young careers, they all decided to go do something else instead. These are their stories…

Related: 10 Actors Who Turned Down Movie Roles and Regretted It

10 Ashlie Brillault

Actress Ashlie Brillault grew up playing the character of Kate Sanders on the Lizzie McGuire series. But as she aged out, she eventually decided that acting wasn’t for her. So, instead, she went off to college after filming for the show wrapped up. She attended California State University Long Beach, where she studied political science and government. After graduating, she matriculated to the University of Denver to get a degree in law.

Ever since then, she’s been working happily in the legal world! She got a job as a lawyer right out of law school and eventually worked her way up to becoming a partner in the law offices of David Givot back in southern California. She reflected on her desire to do something bigger than television, too. “My ultimate goal is to work on issues related to criminal justice reform,” she said once in a 2015 interview. It seems like she’s done just that!^[2]

9 Clayton Snyder

Back in the day, Clayton Snyder played the iconic heartthrob Ethan Craft on Lizzie McGuire. However, just like Brillault, he decided to take a break from acting once he got to the end of his high school days. Instead of continuing on in show business, he instead went off to college at Pepperdine University in Malibu. And from there, he became a very good water polo player. So good, in fact, that he actually played it professionally for a time in Italy after graduation! Then, he transitioned into a full-time career in real estate. And he’s been selling homes ever since!

To him, the funniest part of his life now is when a homebuyer suddenly recognizes who he is and where they know him from. “We’ve had plenty of clients where halfway through showing them homes, they’re like, ‘My wife and I just found out who you are, and we can’t believe it!’” he told E! News about his two worlds sometimes coming together. “But that makes me feel good because I know that’s not why they’re working with me. It’s the best of both worlds, where they have the fun of realizing that, but their actual entry point was because of the work that we do.”^[2]

8 Nick Spano

Nick Spano rose to fame as a child star by playing the older brother Donnie on Disney’s Even Stevens sitcom. After that show wrapped, he tried his hand at a few more television series, too. But eventually, he grew tired of the acting grind. So he opted to go to UCLA for college. After graduating, he went into business—opening up a spa as well as a market management firm. Then, in 2015, he pulled another major career switch by opening up a coffee house-slash-restaurant in Los Angeles called Re/creation Café. There, he hosts community art shows and other social events for locals.

“Re/creation Café is a creative community space and eatery,” he once explained to the local news outlet VoyageLA. “It’s a place where people come to play and connect through good food, art, and music. Our goal is to get people (specifically adults) playing again. There really is nothing out there like Re/creation at this time. We are known for our events, such as Paint Social, Play, Goddess Celebration, Rave on Wheels, Yamashiro Night Market, and Love is Blind, but the cafe is something different.” Well, good for him. It sounds like he’s found what he is meant to do after all that child acting!^[3]

7 Kay Panabaker

Kay Panabaker’s whole life was devoted to the Disney Channel during her childhood. She appeared on several different shows, including Phil of the Future, Life Is Ruff, and Read It and Weep. But then, in 2012, she stepped away from acting for a bit to go to college. And she never returned!

She first went to UCLA to study zoology. After finishing there, she transitioned to Santa Fe College in Florida in an animal husbandry program. Now, she’s back to working with Disney—but not in the way you might be assuming! In her adult life, Kay actually works with various wild animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in central Florida. So she’s still in the Disney family… just not anywhere close to being on screen!

“Looking back, finding my true passion was worth all of the extra time,” Panabaker once told Naperville Magazine about her slow move to finally work with animals rather than keep on with her acting career. “I work with some of the most incredible people who inspire me to work harder and make a bigger difference in the world. That aspect was missing in my previous career and is something that feeds my soul in my current line of work. I love it when I leave work and have felt like I was able to inspire and make a difference, even if it was just one person that day. I don’t earn a fraction of what I used to, and yet, I couldn’t be happier.” We love to hear that!^[4]

6 Amy Bruckner

Amy Bruckner got her start on the Disney Channel when she appeared as a cast regular on Phil of the Future. In that show, she played Phil’s younger sister, Pim Diffy. She was there for the show’s entire run, and she became a well-known star to millions of young people who quite literally grew up watching her on television. However, when it came time for her to grow up, Amy wanted to do something totally different. Always precocious and forever a great public speaker, the law was what called her name!

After wrapping the series, Bruckner matriculated to New York University. There, she studied human rights and feminist theory. Then, after graduation, she returned to Los Angeles and attended UCLA School of Law. Now, she works at a law firm in Los Angeles that represents movie studios, television networks, production companies, and other entities. So, she’s still in entertainment! Just at a much higher level than as a child actor. Oh, and one more tidbit: she goes by Amelia now rather than Amy. Clearly, her adult life has come full circle and is far different from who she was as a child!^[5]

5 Jennifer Stone

Jennifer Stone was a star on Wizards of Waverly Place opposite Selena Gomez. On the show, she played the best friend of the main character, Alex—a girl named Harper. But after the show ended and Gomez transitioned into super stardom as a pop music sensation, Jennifer took a very different route. She gave up acting, went to school, and eventually decided to become an emergency room nurse! That decision came about after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in her own personal life. She became interested in medicine and decided that she wanted to help other people along the way.

“Regardless of your background, circumstances, choices, we’re all very much the same—and acting gives you that gift,” Stone reflected once on her acting career in an interview with Deadline about her choice to go into the nursing profession. “In nursing, you come across so many different kinds of people that to be able to view people that way is such a gift.”

She continued from there: “For so long, I’ve developed characters and just explored human nature and what makes people, people. I think it strengthens your sense of empathy and it strengthens your area of questioning why people do what they do. It also leads me to an understanding that people are very much the same.” What an amazing realization. We love to see it—a child star who turned out perfectly well-adjusted and is doing something for the betterment of society^[6]

4 Morgan York

Morgan York made a name for herself at a very young age when she landed a role opposite Miley Cyrus on Hannah Montana. But television didn’t turn out to be everything she wanted as she got older. At some point, the job became more of a job and less of a fun endeavor as she aged out of her youngest years. So she moved on. After acting, she pursued a career in literature. Today, she works at a publishing house. She is even hoping to become a published author herself at some point in the future!

Looking back on her short but successful acting career as an adult, York once explained her reason for transitioning out of the industry in a TikTok video: “I started acting when I was 9, and from the beginning, my mom told me, ‘The second this becomes not fun, or you want to stop, you can stop.’ I never expected it to be a lifetime thing. I even remember as a kid trying to imagine myself as an adult actor and just not seeing it.”

She wasn’t done there, either. The former child star continued with more about her decision to walk away from acting: “It wasn’t fun anymore. My passion for acting did not outweigh all the costs, like all the time you have to spend away from loved ones on sets and the constant scrutiny from people watching you.” Honestly, that sounds like a very mature and sensible decision to us.^[7]

3 Daniel Lee Benson

Daniel Lee Benson has had quite the road after quitting acting. He played Zeke on Wizards of Waverly Place. After the show wrapped, he initially decided to walk away from the world of theater and television. However, as he aged into being a full-grown adult, he began to receive messages threatening blackmail. That’s because leaked pictures of himself in suggestive photos were being spread online and posted on adult websites. For a long time, Benson tried desperately to scrub all that content from the internet. But the pictures just kept getting passed around and re-shared. And things got so bad that he almost lost his job!

Sick of continually dealing with that part of his past, Daniel decided to flip the switch on it and join OnlyFans. Amazingly, he built up a large following. And he also received a ton of support from fans who have continued to follow his, um, interesting second career. “I decided to stop fighting against it and, instead, go the other direction and completely lean into it and build out a page instead of letting these people sell my privacy,” Daniel shared in a very revealing TikTok about his unexpected career move. “I’ve met a lot of really great people in the adult entertainment industry, and it’s changed my life for the better.” Well, all good, just as long as he feels that positively about it, we suppose…^[8]

2 Tiffany Thornton

Tiffany Thornton was Demi Lovato’s closest co-star back in the days when the two of them were on Sonny with a Chance. But after that show ended, and Demi moved onto huge heights in the pop music industry, Tiffany shifted away from the Hollywood world. Instead of continuing to act, she left the screen and stage behind. And she became… a cheerleading coach! For a while, she worked as a recruiter at a Christian college in Arkansas. But she eventually found her way back to the thing that she really loved the most—cheerleading.

Ever since, she has been mentoring teenage girls and young women in a positive way while teaching them the value of cheerleading. “I absolutely love working here and seeing how God moves in the lives of these students,” Tiffany wrote of her decision to move into the world of cheerleading in a very appropriately peppy Instagram post back in 2017. “Plus, they come to my house a few times a semester for a big get-together where I make chicken spaghetti, salad, and banana pudding for dessert.” Wow. That sounds like a wonderful life!^[9]

1 Bridgit Mendler

When Good Luck Charlie made it to the Disney Channel, millions of viewers watched Bridgit Mendler steal the show as its star. But after the series wrapped, she took a complete left turn away from acting. And what she’s doing now will REALLY shock you! First, she attended the prestigious University of Southern California. Then, she got a master’s degree in humanity and technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Then, she went on to earn a PhD from MIT while simultaneously getting a law degree from the world-renowned Harvard Law School. We’re tired just thinking about all that!

After all those graduations came and went, Mendler then took a job at the Federal Communications Commission working in… wait for it… their Space Bureau! Yes, really! She “completely fell in love with space law” while there, as she told the media later. She came to love space so much that she eventually left that job and started her own company called Northwood Space. That company is tasked with building ground stations that can link up to satellite dishes that fly high in the sky, miles and miles above the Earth. And it’s already raised millions of dollars in early-stage startup funding!

“The vision is a data highway between Earth and space,” Mendler revealed to CNBC when they asked her about the company. “Space is getting easier along so many different dimensions, but still, the actual exercise of sending data to and from space is difficult. You have difficulty finding an access point for contacting your satellite.” Impressive to see that a Disney Channel alum turned to that level of work after teenage stardom. We love to see it!^[10]

Many Star Wars fans are not particularly happy about the new movies, and some feel that Disney threw out the baby with the bathwater when it came to the expanded universe. See, before Disney took over, Star Wars had a huge amount of extra material (novels, comics, etc.), referred to as the expanded universe, or EU.

It used to be that all of the EU was considered canon unless directly contradicted by a movie. However, when Disney came along, they declared that the EU was all just “legends” told within the Star Wars universe. While they can still use elements of it of they so desire, they have chopped the whole thing to pieces, and there were a lot of good reasons why.

10 The ‘Big Three’ Were Far Beyond The Age Of Most EU Stories

One of the biggest reasons that Disney had to go ahead and just throw out the baby with the bathwater is that a huge wealth of the EU stories involved the “big three” (Han, Luke, and Leia), and the actors were advancing in years. Most of these books were written back when the three were still in their prime and were quite popular as depictions of the characters go, but it’s hard to imagine how you could change a lot of the stories enough to make up for such an age gap.

The truth is that what the fans wanted was something fairly shortly after Return of the Jedi—as close as could be plausibly done—and a story that had a young Han, Luke, and Leia simply could not work. For this reason, an incredible amount of EU story lines already had to be scrapped. People simply wouldn’t have been able to suspend their disbelief. Unfortunately, no one would have believed that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, or Carrie Fisher were in their thirties.^[1]

9 Anakin Solo’s Entire Existence Was A Sore Point For George Lucas

In the Star Wars expanded universe, Han and Leia get married and have three kids.^[2] Two of them are twins named Jacen and Jaina, which some fans wished had been replicated at least in some form in the new movies. In fact, it is for this reason that many fans really like the idea of Rey and Ben secretly being brother and sister—it would fulfill the fan wish for Han and Leia to have had twins. However, the Solos also had another child, and George Lucas kind of wished they hadn’t.

In one of the crazier comics, Leia has her womb touched by the cloned Emperor Palpatine while she’s pregnant—another reason to ax the EU—and is worried about how it may affect her son and make him dark in the future. In order to honor her father, and somehow try to show that the name can be overcome, she names her third child Anakin, after her murderous cyborg father. George Lucas was never happy about this character, if nothing else, because he felt fans would confuse him with Anakin Skywalker. Lucas was reportedly pleased when the kid was finally killed off later on in the New Jedi Order series.

8 Many Of The Most Popular Characters Had Already Been Ruined Or Killed

As we mentioned above, in the EU, Anakin Solo was killed off in The New Jedi Order, but they killed a wealth of other characters in that series and since as well.^[3]The New Jedi Order killed off mostly side characters apart from Chewbacca and Anakin Solo, but after that, the purge really got going. Jacen Solo went to the dark side and was eventually killed by his twin sister. Meanwhile, Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker’s expanded universe wife, gets killed by Jacen Solo, her own nephew, when she tries to confront him and bring him back to the light. Han becomes a washed-up wreck, and Luke goes into exile; Luke’s son Ben gets killed as well.

In the end, nearly every main character that was remotely interesting either dies, loses all the people close to them and becomes a sad sack, or first experiences the second one and then the other—kind of like most Game of Thrones characters. By the time Disney got its hands on the franchise, you could practically count on one hand the amount of interesting characters left whose stories hadn’t already been driven into the ground with incredible force. In the end, Disney felt they needed to be able to go their own route with old characters and be able to feel more free to introduce new ones as well.

7 The Ssi-Ruuk Would Have Given Awkward Questions For Kids To Ask Their Parents

In Star Wars‘s early days, there were a few novels that just kind of left everyone wondering what kind of drugs the author was using. This was mainly because back then, the people in charge, Bantam Books, were basically just letting a lot of sci-fi authors try their hand at the universe and see what they came up with. Still, it is kind of hard to figure out how this one not only made it past the editors but even got a reprisal years later in the form of multiple appearances in The New Jedi Order—a 19-book series.

The Sii-Ruuk are a species that shows up in The Truce at Bakura, and they use a process called entechment to suck out your soul, slave it to a piece of machinery, and use your life energy to power it.^[4] You are stuck in a nightmarish state, powering their desk lamp or whatever until your energy finally fades, your soul passes on, and you die. This is a terrible, horrific thing that really belongs in the most disturbing sci-fi horror novel, but instead, it makes multiple appearances in the Star Wars EU. This is an example of killing it with fire not even being nearly enough.

6 The Yuuzhan Vong Made Such A Mess That A Hard Reset Was Almost Necessary

The Yuuzhan Vong were introduced largely in The New Jedi Order.^[5] This series focused on the invasion of the Star Wars galaxy by a group of extragalactic invaders called the Yuuzhan Vong. This species was largely humanoid but was a black hole in the Force. You could not feel them in the Force or use Force powers on them, but they could not use the Force at all themselves. They came in great numbers and swarmed through the galaxy, almost taking over and destroying everything. Using great organic machines, they reshaped entire worlds to their will.

What made the entire thing so bizarre, and almost ruined the universe from that point forth, is what they left behind. These invaders eschewed all conventional technology and pleasure and thought it evil. They worshiped pain and were extremely sadistic and masochistic. All of their weapons and technology were actually living, which was extremely bizarre and otherworldly. Their shapers, a group of their species responsible for massive genetic engineering, changed entire worlds and left their ridiculous organic matter and other invasive organisms littered all over the universe. The entire thing was simply too crazy for the Star Wars universe and ruined it forever—a hard reset was almost necessary after the horrible disaster of the New Jedi Order series, which never should have been and whose creators should still be ashamed by the existence of.

5 The EU Is So Complicated That One Man’s Entire Job Is Keeping It All Together

One thing many people who are only casual fans (not that there’s anything wrong with that) are unaware of is just how mind-bogglingly huge the entirety of the Star Wars continuity is. There are so many stories throughout so many comics, role-playing game write-ups, novels, short stories, video games, movies, cartoons, and so much media that some may consider it impossible to keep track of. However, there is actually one man whose job it is to do just that.

His name is Leland Chee, and his official title is “Keeper of the Holocron.”^[6] He has been at it for decades now, and even with the EU no longer official canon, they still want someone to keep track of the old continuity as well as the new timeline, so he still has a job. It is an incredibly staggering task, but he has managed to keep a comprehensive timeline updated over the years, with levels of “canon” for every single story for decades. However, this was all just one more reason that Disney felt they needed to tell people to just enjoy the old stories and stop worrying so much about actual continuity in a fictional universe. While Disney still has its own new continuity now, it is a much less crowded galaxy to work in with the old EU now being legends.

4 The Next 30-Odd Years After Return Of The Jedi Have Basically No Breathing Room

Another big problem facing Disney wasn’t just the big three but that even if they did want to cast them in a story, they had already been written into a corner. The period in the 30 years or so after Return of the Jedi has been by far the most popular era to write stories for in Star Wars, so that period is incredibly congested.^[7] Nearly every single moment is filled thick with story, and there really isn’t much of anything you can do to fit anything significantly new in anymore.

The fans wanted new movies in the period after Return of the Jedi, but that period is glutted with stories, and many of them are, quite frankly, terrible. A clean slate allows the writers a chance to simply write a good story and allows for new, young fans to get into Star Wars without needing to go read several dozen to a couple hundred books to get up to speed with everything that is going on in the universe.

3 Changing Anything From One Medium To Another Often Just Disappoints Fans

When Harry Potter was transferred to the big screen, some fans really liked it, and some were incredibly disappointed. Some of the later movies, especially, have been criticized as feeling rushed, and many feel in hindsight that it wasn’t just movie seven that should have had two parts to properly tell the story. However, while it is understandable that Harry Potter and its prodigious length made it especially difficult, it is always hard to translate a book into film. Books are told in an entirely different way, where everything is told to people. On the other hand, movies are a medium where everything is shown to people.

This is why the powers that be are likely reluctant to use book stories from the Star Wars expanded universe for new Star Wars movies. One medium often doesn’t translate well to the other, so it really makes more sense, if you can, to just write an original story rather than trying to translate a preexisting one from a book to a movie. It also creates an air of expectation that can be hard to live up to. If you say you are taking heavy inspiration from a particular book, certain fans will get upset the more you deviate from the source material,^[8] and that disappointment can lead to long-term lost revenue streams.

2 It’s Hard To Have Suspense When People Know The Story Already

Probably the biggest reason of all, though, one which many fans do not tend to think as much about, that Disney decided to go ahead and throw out the EU is because they want to be able to surprise people. The truth is that if you go with story lines that most people already know and don’t deviate from them much, there really isn’t going to be that much surprise, just you bringing a previously told story to the big screen.^[9] While there are plenty of people who will enjoy it, it just won’t spread through word of mouth as much or fuel as much excitement for the next movie.

If you already pretty much know what is going to happen, there really isn’t anything at all to speculate about or talk about, so there is little discussion surrounding the film. This means little to no hype and hardly anyone but the really big fans going to see the movie. The writers know that if you really want a large, general audience, you need a new story that will give people something to talk about for sometimes years to come while they wait for the next installment. For this reason, using preexisting EU stories simply weren’t practical, so Disney decided to go in a different direction.

1 They Can Still Use Characters Or Elements From The EU As They See Fit

The final reason Disney got rid of the EU is because while they did need it gone, it is never really gone if they do need any of it. The EU still has a wealth of existing planets, characters, aliens, organizations, technologies, and all sorts of other things to draw on. While all previous story lines may be axed, they can borrow if they want and bring out fan favorites all the same. For example, due to the way they were written, without even knowing how the prequel trilogy would go down, the first Star Wars expanded universe trilogy by Timothy Zahn will never be adapted into film.

However, the character Grand Admiral Thrawn, a blue alien who uses his knowledge of art to analyze his opponents, is a fan favorite, and Disney has already brought him into the official canon in all new stories.^[10] The truth is that the EU wasn’t truly destroyed; it was just marginalized so that Disney could make sense of the entire mess. All of the old content is still there and can and will be drawn on as needed, but there is simply no benefit to continuing the old continuity system—sometimes you need to start fresh.

The legend of Pocahontas and explorer John Smith is cherished as one of the most touching love stories in American history. The problem is that none of it is true. The real story of Pocahontas is a story of massacres, rapes, and genocides, full of some of the darkest moments in American history.

10 Pocahontas’s Father Committed Genocide

When John Smith first arrived in America, he landed at Chesapeake Bay. However, the Chesapeake tribe, who had given the bay its name, was nowhere to be found. Instead, Smith met Pocahontas’s father, Chief Powhatan.

Powhatan led a confederacy of 30 tribes and 15,000 people that spanned across the area of modern Virginia. He was an extremely powerful man who was capable of terrible things.

A year before Smith had arrived, Powhatan’s priests had prophesied that a nation would arise from Chesapeake Bay that would “dissolve and give end to his empire.” At that time, only a small tribe of 300 to 400 peaceful people lived around Chesapeake Bay.

Powhatan assumed that the prophecy was a warning about them. So he and his 30 tribes rounded up every man, woman, and child in the Chesapeake tribe and systematically murdered them.

9 Pocahontas And John Smith Weren’t In Love

When Pocahontas met John Smith, she was 11 years old and John Smith was 28. There was no romance between them. That was a fictional tale that grew from a story Smith told about Pocahontas saving his life.

Powhatan was worried about the Europeans encroaching on his territory. So his brother, Opechancanough, captured Smith and brought him to the chief. There, Powhatan put Smith’s head on a block and prepared to beat his brains in. Smith was saved when Pocahontas threw herself into harm’s way and pleaded with her father to let Smith go.

The story was later rewritten into a romance, but it was nothing more than sympathy. Some historians have even suggested that Smith may have made up the story to take advantage of Pocahontas’s popularity with the English.

8 John Smith And Powhatan Threatened To Kill Each Other

Smith arrived with a group of English gentlemen who weren’t used to working—and some who flat-out refused to do so. The English settlers literally wouldn’t plant a crop to save their own lives. As hard as Smith tried to get them to work, the group started to starve.

Smith’s only option was to barter with Powhatan, but Powhatan refused. He pretended he didn’t have any food to share, hoping to starve Smith and his men out of the country. In the end, Smith got Powhatan to cooperate by threatening his life.

“The weapons I have can keep me from want: yet steal, or wrong you, I will not,” Smith told Powhatan, “unless you force me.”

Powhatan didn’t take the threat lightly. He planned a surprise attack to kill Smith in retaliation and only gave up the plan because Pocahontas warned the settlers before Powhatan could strike.

7 John Ratcliffe Was Flayed And Burned Alive

In the Disney film Pocahontas, John Ratcliffe is depicted as a greedy villain. But the real Ratcliffe was a well-liked, generous man. After Smith was injured in an accidental explosion and had to return to England, Ratcliffe was given command—and he paid a terrible cost for the responsibility.

With Smith gone, Powhatan stopped sharing crops with the settlers, once again hoping to starve them out. The settlers blamed Ratcliffe and accused him of keeping a secret hoard of food for himself.

When Ratcliffe finally convinced Powhatan to share his corn, Ratcliffe thought he’d saved his people. Instead, he and the men who went to pick up the corn were ambushed by tribal warriors. The warriors killed every man except for Ratcliffe, who was stripped naked, tied to a tree, and slowly burned and flayed alive.

6 Pocahontas Was Kidnapped And Raped

The settlers and the tribes broke into an all-out war. People died and did terrible things on both sides—until Pocahontas was kidnapped.

A European called Captain Argall captured Pocahontas, hoping that he could trade the chief’s daughter for prisoners and weapons. Argall killed her husband, Kocoum, and tried to slaughter her baby son, who only survived because another woman hid him. Pocahontas was brutally raped and then dragged to Europe and forcibly trained in European culture and religion.

Powhatan gave into Argall’s demands. Powhatan released the prisoners and returned the stolen weapons, hoping to see his daughter alive again. But Argall didn’t honor his part of the deal. Pocahontas was kept in Europe and never told that her father had agreed to the trade.

5 Pocahontas Gave Birth To Her Rapist’s Child

In Europe, Pocahontas realized that she was pregnant. In time, she gave birth to a child who was half-white. According to some accounts, this happened before she ever met her European husband, John Rolfe, meaning that Pocahontas’s son was conceived in a rape.

She married John Rolfe in the hopes that it would make peace between their people. But their marriage caused a scandal because a princess had married a commoner. Powhatan had been crowned by England and written about as an emperor, so the English viewed Pocahontas as royalty.

Rolfe risked the scandal, though, because he thought Pocahontas could help his business. Rolfe had already made a small fortune planting Trinidadian tobacco in Virginia, which would soon become the colony’s most valuable export. He hoped that marrying Pocahontas would get Powhatan to help him grow his crops.

4 The Settlers Told Pocahontas That John Smith Had Died

Pocahontas had heard that John Smith was injured in a gunpowder accident, but she wasn’t told that he had returned to England. Instead, the settlers told Pocahontas that Smith was dead.

When she unexpectedly spotted Smith in England, she broke into tears. The reunion was emotional for Pocahontas, but Smith was cold and formal. In America, she had called Smith “father” as a term of endearment. In England, he spoke to her as though she were a stranger he’d only heard about in the news.

“Lady,” Smith explained, “I dare not allow that title, for you are a king’s daughter.”

“You were not afraid to come into my father’s country and cause fear in him and in all his people,” she replied. “Fear you here that I should call you father?”

3 Pocahontas Died At 21

In America, Powhatan and the settlers had an uneasy truce. While Pocahontas was in Europe, the war was called off. Powhatan wouldn’t risk the death of his favorite daughter.

When word came that Pocahontas and her new husband were coming to Virginia, Powhatan was elated. He thought he would finally see his little girl again and meet his grandson. But Powhatan never did.

As soon as their ship left the dock, Pocahontas became sick. She had no immunity against the diseases of Europe. Like many of her people, contact with the Europeans had left her stricken with a deadly illness. John Rolfe had the ship sent back to England, where Pocahontas died.

Powhatan still held out hope that he’d meet his grandson. But Pocahontas’s boy was left in England, and Rolfe traveled to Virginia without him. Powhatan died within the year without meeting his grandson.

2 Pocahontas’s Uncle Led The Jamestown Massacre

With Powhatan dead, his brother, Opechancanough, was put in charge of the 30 tribes. Rolfe’s tobacco trade was booming, and his success attracted settlers from all over Europe. White men were rushing into the country in droves, spreading their colonies and their diseases across the land.

Opechancanough no longer had any reason to keep the peace. He took a harder stance than Powhatan and plotted to get rid of the English colonists altogether.

Opechancanough and his men entered Jamestown unarmed, pretending that they wanted to sell a few goods. Once they were in, though, they grabbed every tool and weapon available and slaughtered every person they could find, sparing neither women nor children.

One-quarter of the settlement’s population died in the attack. It was a horrific massacre, and it meant the end of the fragile peace between Pocahontas’s and John Smith’s people.

1 Pocahontas’s People Were Almost Entirely Exterminated

After the Jamestown Massacre, open war began again. Opechancanough opened up a new era of cruelty in battle tactics, and the settlers repaid him with the same cruelty he showed them.

The English lured 200 Native Americans to a supposed peace talk. There, the settlers poisoned their guests and then chased down and scalped the few who survived. Even Pocahontas’s son was sent to kill his own Native American people.

In the end, Opechancanough was captured and paraded through Jamestown before a jeering crowd. The rest of his people were killed off, either by the settlers or their diseases. The few natives who survived were sent into slavery.

The prophecy of Powhatan’s priests had come true. Due to his brutality, his empire was wiped off the map, his daughter was raped and stolen away from him, and his grandson raised up arms against his own people.

You know the happiest place on earth, but what about the creepiest place on earth? Even though Disney parks are known for bringing magic and good cheer to everyone that enters, they have their fair share of unsettling, creepy, and downright scary features. From ventriloquist dummies to human remains on rides (that’s right, plural) these are some creepy things you’ll only find in Disney parks.

Top 10 Ways To Get Banned From A Disney Or Universal Theme Park

10 Caesar the Ventriloquist Dummy

This prop you’ll find in the queue of Tower of Terror in Disney World’s Hollywood Studios may be even scarier than the ride itself. Caesar comes from an episode of The Twilight Zone titled “Caesar and Me” where he manipulates his owner into making questionable decisions. While Caesar isn’t a part of the ride itself, you’ll find him waiting for you at the exit of the ride. Cast Members at The Tower of Terror claim they must say hello and good night to Caesar every day or he will cause mischief around the attraction. Tower of Terror has plenty of nods to the original Twilight Zone series, but Caesar is by far the creepiest.^[1]

9 Visiting Hell in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Disneyland is…a lot. It’s dark, loud, dizzying, and intense, and to top off the bizarre storyline, Mr. Toad (and you as the rider) end up in Hell. Yes, Disney Imagineers actually put Hell in a children’s ride. The temperature heats up to set the scene and riders are greeted with a demon, devils, and a giant dragon that breathes fire. It’s a bizarre moment and feels pretty unsettling compared to the rest of the park. Given the ride’s consistently long lines and nauseating effects, it’s probably only worth a single experience.^[2]

8 Human Ashes at Haunted Mansion

Disney parks attract people celebrating many occasions including weddings, birthdays, and…funerals? Apparently so. Disney has been forced to officially ban the spreading of ashes in their parks because it happens so often (FYI, you’ll be kicked out of the park if you’re caught). Guests have scattered ashes on rides from Pirates of the Caribbean to It’s a Small World, but the Haunted Mansion seems to be a fan favorite. “The Haunted Mansion probably has so much human ashes in it that it’s not even funny,” one Disneyland custodian told the Wall Street Journal. While the idea of spreading your loved one’s ashes in a place that meant a lot to them is sweet, maybe don’t do it at such a public place. It actually has its own violation code (HEPA cleanup) and requires a special vacuum to be used.^[3]

7 Boardwalk Inn Nanny Chairs

Disney World’s Boardwalk Inn is a Deluxe Resort themed for places like turn-of-the-century Atlantic City and Coney Island. In the late 1800s when boardwalk attractions like carousels were becoming popular, the chariot-style benches for parents to sit on while their children rode the wooden horses didn’t exist. Instead, parents sat on Nanny Chairs. These chairs weren’t required to be creepy, but the replicas at the Boardwalk Inn decided their Nanny Chairs needed arms, legs, and faces. You really need to see them in person to get the full “why would anyone do that” effect. They’re almost a weird as the giant clown statue in the pool area that holds an uncanny resemblance to Pennywise. Can we all agree that most stuff from the 1800s was weird and doesn’t have a place in modern society?^[4]

6 Real Skeletons in Pirates of the Caribbean

When Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride first opened in 1967, the Imagineers decided it needed a more realistic feel. Apparently the fake skeletons at the time seemed too fake and unrealistic. Their solution? Procure real skeletal remains from the UCLA Medical Center and add them to the set. While this certainly gave the chilling effect Disney was looking for, the technology to create realistic skeletons eventually improved and the real bones were sent back to their countries of origin to have a proper burial. However, there are plenty of rumors out there that insist some real human remains still sit inside the ride. Try to imagine that the next time you’re floating down the bayou and it will add an entirely new feel to the attraction.^[5]

10 Disney Characters With Controversial Histories

5 The Stretching Room in the Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion ride (found at Disneyland and Disney World) understandably gets several spots on this list. While the ride itself has its fair share of creepy moments, the pre-show in the Stretching Room is undoubtedly the most frightening. Guests cram into an octagonal room where they are welcomed by a Ghost Host and greeted with four paintings that hang above on the walls. Each painting seems relatively normal (a bearded gentleman holding a piece of paper, a young woman holding a parasol, an old woman holding a rose, and a man in a bowler hat) until the room seemingly stretches upward and reveals grisly hidden context to the rest of the paintings. The bearded gentleman is revealed to be standing on a lit pile of dynamite, the young woman is balanced on a tightrope above a snapping alligator, the old woman is sitting on the tombstone of a man killed with an ax, and the man in the bowler hat is on the shoulders of two other men sinking into a pit of quicksand. To top it off, the Ghost Host laughs and tells the crowd they can always escape the mansion “his way” before a loud clap of thunder is heard and a man hanging from a noose is revealed in the rafters above. A portrait of that man is seen later in the ride where he is shown holding an ax with the noose still around his neck, implying that he cut himself down after he died. Pretty creepy stuff for a children’s ride.^[6]

4 Abandoned Parks

Anything that’s been abandoned is a little creepy to begin with, but abandoned Disney parks have a particularly eerie quality to them since they contradict to starkly with the colorful, crowded, cheerful parks currently open. Disney actually has two abandoned parks to its name: Discovery Island and River Country. Discovery Island, which sits in Bay Lake on Disney World property, was initially opened in 1974 under the name Treasure Island as a premier tourist destination/bird sanctuary only reachable by boat. It was renamed Discovery Island in 1978 and served its purpose until 1999 when it was closed for various reasons, including bacteria found in the water and roaming alligators. The animals in the sanctuary were moved to Animal Kingdom Park and the island has been banned to tourists ever since. River Country, opened in 1976, was Disney World’s first water park and was instantly a popular tourist attraction. Unfortunately, the park had its part in several deadly incidents that ultimately led to its closure. In 1980 a young boy died from an amoeba he contracted after visiting River Country, but there was no enough evidence to prove Disney was at fault as he could have contracted it somewhere else. Two years later a child drowned coming off a waterslide, and seven years after that another boy drowned in the park. The park continued to operate until 2001 when it closed for maintenance and never reopened. Disney official announced the park’s closure in 2005, and it continues to be waterlogged and moss-covered to this day.^[7]

3 Pirate George

Another one for Pirates of the Caribbean, but this time we’re focusing on the ride in Disney World. According to popular Disney legend, while being built in the 1970s, a welder named George who was working on the ride died in a tragic accident. His cause of death is a legend in itself since no one seems to know exactly how it happened, but those who believe it happened say George’s ghost haunts the ride to this day. Throughout the years Cast Members working on the ride claim to seen everything from ghostly apparitions on security footage to props being moved with no explanation. According to tradition, Cast Members must say “good morning” and “good night” to George every day to ensure things will run smoothly and George won’t wreak too much havoc. Luckily he isn’t a malicious ghost and most of his spooky actions are pretty harmless, albeit creepy.^[8]

2 Snow White’s Scary Adventures

Remember the one scene in Snow White where she runs through the woods and feels like monsters are closing in on her? Picture the feelings you had during that scene made into a ride, and you get Snow White’s Scary Adventures. This Disneyland attraction is legitimately one of the creepiest few minutes you’ll spend in the park, without the happy ending Disney is known for. The ride starts out relatively pleasant but quickly becomes dark and cold with an ominous soundtrack playing in the background. You’ll also see the queen turn into the old hag right in front of your face, which is a guaranteed “jump out of your seat” moment. Top it off with some dungeon skeletons and simulated lightning before the ride comes to an abrupt end. Luckily, it’s currently closed for refurbishment to give it a more upbeat feel.^[9]

1 Haunted Mansion Cast Members

The Haunted Mansion is easily the creepiest attraction in the Disney parks, which is why it gets three spots on this list. The last honor goes out to the Cast Members’ amazing ability to get in character when they’re working this ride. While many Cast Members in the Disney parks are known for being over-the-top friendly and cheerful, Haunted Mansion’s staff give a more appropriate feel of somberness and gloom. If you ever feel eyes on you while waiting in line for the ride, you might turn around and see a Cast Member staring at the back of your head. Don’t worry—if you have a question or problem, they’ll be glad to help! Just don’t expect any jokes or smiles from their end.^[10]

10 Ways Disney Parks Hide Things Right In Front Of You

About The Author: Anne Taylor is a freelance writer and theme park blogger. She loves to talk about all things Disney and Universal Studios, and her helpful articles can be found on tayloredtripsblog.com. You can also find her on Instagram at @tayloredtripsblog.

Walt Disney Studios is considered the king of animation, but they are hardly the only studio churning out animated movies. Across the pond, you’ll find Studio Ghibli and many other powerhouses in the industry, some of which have created animated classics far better than some of what Disney has produced over the years.

The best aspect of animation is that it isn’t a genre, as it can be about literally anything, so determining which films are the best is no easy task. To land on this list, a movie has to be technically well done, have a compelling story with interesting characters, and instill a sense of awe through the visual medium.

Like all movie lists, this one is entirely subjective to the writer, so shout out your favorite non-Disney animated films in the comments.

10 Fan Films That Are Better Than Most Hollywood Movies

10 The Secret of NIMH (1982)

The Secret of NIMH may not be a Disney movie, but it wouldn’t exist were it not for the House of Mouse. Back in the early ‘80s, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman left Disney with 14 other animators to form their own studio, and the first film project they took on was an adaptation of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H. The film is much darker than the works of Disney at the time. It deals with mass extermination, drugs, predation, deadly pneumonia, death, magic, and hyper-intelligent rats who agree to help a field mouse move her home to save her son’s life.

The tone may be dark, but the movie is incredibly well-made. The use of backlight animation techniques offered an eery visage for some of the more interesting and frightening characters in a way that established a level of danger and awe in the audience. It’s one of those movies that stays with you your entire life until you show it to your children. Shortly after its release, The Secret of NIMH was honored with the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film, though it lost the coveted Best Fantasy Film that year to The Dark Crystal.^[1]

9 When the Wind Blows (1986)

Animated films often deal with mature issues, but they rarely cover nuclear war and the end of all things. When the Wind Blows is a British film based on a graphic novel of the same name, and it uses a unique means of storytelling by combining two different animation techniques to tell the story. The characters are all hand-drawn in a traditional cell animation style, while the world around them is made up of real objects, which are animated via stop-motion animation. While this may seem odd at first, it establishes an effect of realism on the animated characters, making them relatable to the audience.

The film deals with a fear many people had in the 1980s, which was the threat of nuclear war. The two characters, Hilda and James Bloggs are a couple, who lived through World War II, and having lived through that nightmare, they have memories of a time leading up to war, and it is upon them once more. As the war looms on the horizon, they follow the government’s advice to “Keep calm and carry on,” but when the war does come, they succumb to radiation sickness, which does little to hamper their resolve in the face of the end of the world.^[2]

8 Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

If you’re familiar with the works of Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli, you know that every film the studio produced could top a list of best animated films. After all, the studio has been churning out hits since its first film, Castle in the Sky. While there are plenty of greats to choose from, the best of all Studio Ghibli’s films is the second one made by the studio. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the best animated films ever made, but it’s also one of the saddest movies ever produced. The film follows the story of a young boy and his little sister who barely survive the fire-bombing of Tokyo during World War II.

As the story progresses, the two struggle to survive as war orphans in a country fighting to save itself from the rest of the world, and it’s one of the most harrowing tales ever filmed. It’s one of those movies you can’t finish watching with dry eyes, as the heartwrenching tale will bring the most hardened sociopath to tears. The animation was done superbly, which isn’t a surprise given Takahata’s skills as a director, but the real reason the film landed on this list is simply due to the fact that it’s a phenomenal film.^[3]

7 The Iron Giant (1999)

When The Iron Giant was released in 1999, it was something of an outlier in the world of animated films, and it did two things well: it bombed completely and utterly, and it entertained the masses (who caught it on video after it left theaters). It is often considered to be a modern animated classic and has a massive cult following. The movie did underperform at the box office, but that wasn’t due to critics panning it; Warner Bros. didn’t market it well, and that led to a critically acclaimed movie bombing at the box office.

The film follows a little boy who finds a giant robot he forms a close bond with. It’s much like the plot of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, but with more lasers and giant robots playing with a kid in a junkyard. There was a ton of talent involved in making the film, which included a great voice cast with Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, and many more. Additionally, the animation style was masterfully done, as it blended traditional cell animation with computer-generated imagery in a seamless combination of the two forms.^[4]

6 The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

Typically, music is used in an animated film in much the same way it’s used in a musical. That’s especially true for most Disney movies, but while music is important, it’s rarely used as the primary means of storytelling. The French animated film, The Triplets of Belleville doesn’t follow this format, and while there is some dialogue sprinkled throughout, the majority of the storytelling is done through the highly stylized art and through song. This makes The Triplets of Belleville a unique standout in the world of animation, and it’s incredibly fun to watch.

The film is about an elderly woman named Madame Souza, who embarks on a quest to save her grandson from the French mafia. As she embarks on her journey to the city of Belleville to find her grandson, Champion, she takes along his dog, Bruno, and the titular triplets, all of whom are accomplished singers she met along the way. The movie is surreal in its storytelling, yet this doesn’t take away from its charm the story, settings, and characters display, scene after scene. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature the year it was released but lost to Finding Nemo.^[5]

10 Things Your Ancestors Did Better Than You

5 Persepolis (2007)

Persepolis is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Marjane Satrapi. The film and book are an autobiographical representation of Satrapi’s life growing up in Iran against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. Her life is complicated by the fact that her family is liberal and not Fundamentalists, but also because she’s a woman, and her life became incredibly complicated and wrought with misogyny once the Islamic Fundamentalists took over her home country. As the story progresses, she moves to Vienna to mature and find her way in life.

Eventually, she returns to Iran but is forced to flee her home country when it becomes clear her life is on the line. Despite the turmoil of her life, she remains a proud Iranian woman, and the story reflects this through the animation style, which depicted past events in black & white, while present moments were presented in color. The illustration style was also interesting due to the somewhat two-dimensional look of the characters, and overall, it’s visually quite stunning. This movie is somewhat difficult to watch, as the subject matter is antithetical to the social constructs a Western audience is familiar with, but that only helps to make it an incredibly compelling film.^[6]

4 Wizards (1977)

Ralph Bakshi is something of a controversial animator due to the various projects he’s worked on over the years. He made Coonskin and Fritz the Cat, which is the first animated film to be rated XXX when it was released. Those projects aside, the man is a brilliant storyteller, and the way he perfected the use of rotoscoping as a technique in his films have made them stand apart from the competition. American Pop from 1981 is one of his best stories, but the best movie Bakshi ever made — as far as the fans are concerned — is 1977’s Wizards.

Wizards is a cult classic about two magical brothers, who represent good and evil in a world long lost to mankind. The setting takes place millions of years after mankind killed the world and mutated into monsters. Avatar, the good wizard, has all that is good and virtuous on his side while his brother, Blackwolf, commands a legion of orcs, goblins, and other monsters outfitted with Nazi imagery that clearly established the divide between both sides in the war. Bakshi has called the movie an allegorical story about the creation of Israel after the Holocaust amidst the backdrop of a potential resurgence of fascism.^[7]

3 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

The most recent addition to this list is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and despite being a superhero movie released when they are mainstream money-makers, it’s not on here for that reason. Sony could have made this film into a live-action extravaganza, but instead, it was done via animation, and what beautiful animation it is. The film took its visual cues from comics published nearly 60 years before it was made, and this was done to follow the director’s desire to make it feel like the viewer “walked inside a comic book.”

Computers were used to build the animation of the characters and move them from scene to scene, but artists went back into every single frame of the film, and hand drew dots and line work, which made it look like it truly was a comic book come alive. The result was a film that is best described by the concept of “every frame a painting.” Every shot had a style and texture to it that set it apart from every animated film that came before it, and while it does have an amazing story, which makes it a vastly entertaining movie to watch, it’s on here solely due to the visual artistry that went into making it.^[8]

2 The LEGO Movie (2014)

When it was first announced that a fully-rendered CGI LEGO film was being made into a major motion picture, few could have imagined the movie would go on to become a massive hit adults and kids loved, but that’s what happened. In terms of the story, the movie is played out like a satire, and it’s brilliantly written. The characters hearken back to just about everyone’s childhood in one way or another, and that helps to instill a sense of nostalgia in everything that happens in much the same way Toy Story managed nearly 20 years prior.

When it comes to the animation done to make this movie a reality, the best way to describe it might be to call it painstakingly accurate to the smallest detail. The detail put into making this film LEGO accurate cannot be stressed enough, as every single plastic piece in the film is a real LEGO you can purchase IRL, but you’d have to buy a total of 15,080,330 to recreate everything seen in the movie. Not only that, but the animators also added fingerprints and scratches to the pieces, which can only be seen when the light hits them perfectly, making the textures and lighting a fantastic achievement in moviemaking.^[9]

1 The Last Unicorn (1982)

Another pioneer in early ‘80s animation was Ranking/Bass Productions, which put together a number of hits, including Flight of Dragons and The Hobbit. While those two moves are incredibly well-made, the best the studio ever made was 1982’s The Last Unicorn. Sadly, there are tons of adults who never saw this film due to a limited VHS release and the fact that it appears, on the surface, to be a children’s film. While a kid can certainly sit down to watch The Last Unicorn, there’s a good chance it will scare the crap out of them, as the themes are more aligned with an audience that is more mature.

The film follows the quest of the only known unicorn, who sets out from her enchanted forest to find out what happened to the rest of the world’s unicorns. She is seen as a white mare by most, but the magically attuned see her for what she is, and this leads to all sorts of dangerous adventures. In addition to the customarily beautiful animation the studio consistently put out, the film features a beautiful soundtrack, consisting entirely of original songs written and performed by the band America, which ensures you will be humming the titular tune for weeks after enjoying this amazing film.^[10]

Top 10 Movies Better Than The Best

Disney attracts hundreds of millions of guests to their world-famous resorts each year, and they rarely close the doors to one of their parks. They are one of the few places around the world that is open 365 days per year to guests, but there have been a handful of events that have sucked the magic right out of the parks. Here are ten rare instances where Disney was forced to close their doors.

Top 10 Ways To Get Banned From A Disney Or Universal Theme Park

10 September 11th, Disneyland & Disney World, 2001

Every American will always remember the terrible attacks to their nation on September 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives that day, and 25,000 more were injured. A sudden urge of panic swept across the U.S. after the attacks, and nobody could plan for what might happen next. Disney made the quick decision to close their parks in Florida and California in concern that the resorts were on the terrorists’ target list.

Disney employees said they were told about what happened and that the park would be closing. An announcement was made over the public address system at the parks saying, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, the park is now closed.” The restaurants, snack bars, attractions, and shops shut down forcing the guests into the streets. The employees were then guided to lead the guests towards the nearest exits, and they were advised to not tell guests the reasoning unless they asked. The parks opened as normal the next morning.^[1]

9 Hurricane Frances, Disney World, 2004

Less than a month after Hurricane Charley hit Florida, Hurricane Frances caused more destruction for the state. Frances caused damage to Florida’s citrus crop, closed several schools, airports, and businesses, and cancelled college football games. Frances ultimately caused 50 deaths and more than $10 billion in damages.

Disney World resorts in Orlando were forced to close their doors Saturday and Sunday and open back Monday with a limited schedule. Closing for an entire weekend is costly for a place like Disney, and Frances even occurred during Labor Day weekend. This would normally be one of their busiest weekends of the year, but instead the resort missed out on valuable tourism dollars. Disney World fully opened back on Tuesday and only saw minimal damage.^[2]

8 Yippies Protest, Disneyland, 1970

The Youth International Party was a radical counter-culture free speech and anti-war group, which were better known as the Yippies for short. In 1970, the group planned a takeover of Disneyland and handed out leaflets for the event. The Anaheim police prepared for the group by undergoing riot training, and every city in the county sent police to help inside the park that day. Disneyland employees were given certain tasks for the day, and managers periodically walked around telling groups of Yippies to be respectful of other guests in the park.

The day was mostly calm besides a couple of incidents, and Disneyland employees began to relax after realizing they may have overestimated the threat to the park. Around 5 p.m., a couple of groups of Yippies headed towards Tom Sawyer’s Island where they invaded Fort Wilderness. After causing trouble in the park, Disneyland announced to their guests that the park would be closing. The police then began pushing the loud group down main street towards the exit. Heated words were exchanged, an American flag was pulled down, and several Yippies were arrested. Disney experienced some minor property damage, but the outcome was not as crazy as they expected.^[3]

7 Hurricane Matthew, Disney World, 2016

In 2016, Walt Disney World closed it’s four major theme parks, Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom due to Hurricane Matthew battering the Atlantic Coast. Disney also closed Disney Springs, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, miniature golf courses, and their two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. They all closed Thursday night and did not reopen until Saturday morning.

It is a rare occurrence that Disney closes a park, but Hurricane Matthew had already devastated Haiti and other areas before making landfall in Florida with winds of more than 100 mph. Matthew ripped through the Caribbean killing hundreds of people, mostly in Haiti. Florida saw 12 deaths from the strong hurricane and more than $2 billion in damages.^[4]

6 Hurricane Charley, Disney World, 2004

The arrival of Hurricane Charley on Florida’s coast caused several area theme parks to close their doors early for the day, including Walt Disney World. Disney’s Animal Kingdom never even opened for the day. This marked only the third time that Disney World had closed the park to the public, and they quickly reopened their doors the next day.

Hurricane Charley was the first of four separate hurricanes to strike Florida in 2004. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United states since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Florida was heavily impacted by the hurricane with nine direct fatalities, 20 indirect fatalities, and several injuries.

Property damage in Florida from Hurricane Charley exceeded $5 billion. Disney World saw minor damage from the hurricane, and crews worked through the night in order to have the park ready for guests to enjoy a magical vacations with their friends and family.^[5]

10 Disney Characters With Controversial Histories

5 Earthquake, Tokyo Disney, 2011

In March of 2011, a devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan causing damage to the Northern part of the country. When the earthquake first happened, guests of Tokyo Disney and Tokyo DisneySea were told to shelter in place at the park. All guests were evacuated from buildings and were given shelter in the park’s restaurants.

Tokyo Disney ended up closing for five weeks due to a power shortage that was caused by issues at Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. The first day that the theme park opened back up, 10,000 guests were lined up early to be the first in the park. They still closed early at 6 p.m. to conserve power, and DisneySea still remained closed for a short time.^[6]

4 Terrorist Attacks, Disneyland Paris, 2015

Terrorists attacks across Paris took the lives of more than 130 people on November 13, 2015. Suicide bombers struck outside of a football match, several mass shootings took place at restaurants, and shooters carried out an attack at a concert. Ultimately more than 400 people were injured from the terrorist attacks.

Disneyland Paris closed following the attacks. They initially closed due to security concerns and to show some solidarity. Two parks at Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park, remained closed from November 14th to November 17th as part of a national three-day mourning period. The theme parks reopened on November 18th with normal business hours.^[7]

3 Pres. John F. Kennedy Assassination, Disneyland, 1963

America lost its 35th President on November 22, 1963. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while riding in a presidential motorcade with his wife Jackie Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and Nellie Connally. Kennedy was shot that day by Lee Harvey Oswald from a nearby building. Disneyland in California closed the park the following day in observance of national mourning. Kennedy is known to have visited Disneyland one time as a Senator in 1959.^[8]

2 Hurricane Irma, Disney World, 2017

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane and passed just West of Orlando. Florida saw more than 80 deaths related to the hurricane and billions of dollars in damages. Disney World didn’t take a major hit from the hurricane, but the parks did close for a couple of days.

The park didn’t lose power, but high wind and rain hit the park causing several trees to fall. Some buildings at the resort also reported leaks following the storm, and several transformers exploded near Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The parking areas at Disney World served as a staging area for utility crews working to restore power to the area. All four parks at Disney World and Disney Springs reopened to the public the following Tuesday.^[9]

1 COVID-19, All Parks, 2020

The world was surprised by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, that has now turned into a pandemic. As of June 2020, more than 7 million people have contracted the virus and more than 400,000 people have died worldwide as the numbers continue to rise. Several countries enforced some type of stay-at-home laws causing most of the world to quarantine at home.

Disney was forced to shut the doors to their parks all around the world. Tokyo Disneyland closed at the end of February, Disney World and Disneyland Paris closed on March 15, and Disneyland closed on March 16. Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort closed earlier in the year, but Shanghai Disney has partially reopened and is opening different areas of the park in phases. The other Disney parks are working on plans to reopen the resorts in phases with limited guests and workers.^[10]

Top 10 Animated Films Better Than A Disney Movie

About The Author: “I’m just another bearded guy trying to write my way through life.” www.MDavidScott.com

Disney just can’t catch a break in the news these days, constantly dealing with different PR disasters of their own making like the controversies surrounding their live action remake of Mulan, high profile actors speaking out against them for alleged racial biases, and even opening up their theme parks as a pandemic rips through the country. With their still relatively new streaming service finding its legs in the market, Disney appears to be trying to be extra careful to avoid controversy by offering censored and cut down versions of their films and shows. Here are ten such cases of Disney’s censorship on their new streaming platform Disney Plus.

10 Common Things That Were Once Banned

10 Splash Is Hearing No Butts About It

Starting off with probably the most well known instance of censorship on the streaming platform so far is the 1984 film Splash starring Tom Hanks and his light hearted adventures with a mermaid. In the original version of the film, there is a very brief scene where the actress Daryl Hannah is seen running naked into the ocean, her butt visible to the camera. In 1984 times, this earned the film a PG rating likely due to the fact there was no PG-13 rating that could even be applied to it yet.^[1]

In 2020 times, Disney wasn’t going to let a little cheek slide. Instead of leaving the movie as it was, Disney opted to use special effects to add about an extra foot of hair down the length of her back to cover her posterior. Not the biggest deal in the world, but it’s so poorly done, it looks like the actress has just a solid mass of dreadlocked hair covering her bottom like she pooped into it and never attempted to clean it.

9 An Entire Episode Of The Simpsons Removed

Most people can agree, anything after season 10 of the Simpsons never really happened. Season 30? Don’t be silly. While we can all look back on those first ten seasons of the Simpsons with nostalgic enjoyment, there’s one episode you just won’t find on Disney Plus, or just about any streaming platform for that matter. The episode in question is the season 3 premiere, Stark Raving Dad with a guest starring role from the king of pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Despite the controversies in Michael’s life while he was alive, the episode didn’t start getting any real heat until after an HBO documentary called Leaving Neverland about two men who claimed Michael sexually abused them as children released and set the internet ablaze with discussion. With the new allegations brought to light, the showrunners decided it would be best to remove the episode from availability online, stating they were against book burning, but felt because it was their product, they were allowed to remove things they didn’t like.^[2]

8 Toy Story 2 Joke Hits Too Close To Home

It’s truly amazing how much can change in just a decade or two. Originally released in 1999, Toy Story 2 featured a blooper reel of sorts at the end of the film of joke scenes made by the animators. One such scene was the Stinky Pete toy taking two barbies aside and telling them he could get them a part in Toy Story 3 before noticing he was on camera and ushering the girls away in a panic. An obvious allusion to the casting couch of Hollywood where many young stars were taken advantage of sexually by executives.

While it’s likely the joke was removed because it isn’t exactly acceptable in today’s society to make sex exploitation jokes in a kid’s movie, there’s actually a double whammy at play. John Lasseter, the man behind Toy Story 2 and a vast majority of Disney’s animated films in the 2000’s ended up leaving the company after real life allegations of sexual harassment were levied against him. Wouldn’t want something like that looming over your streaming service in any shape or form.^[3]

7 Lilo And Stitch Teaching Kids Bad Lessons

Surprisingly the bad lessons being taught to kids by Lilo and Stitch has absolutely nothing to do with bringing a wild rabid animal into your home and leaving it alone with your kids. The bad lesson in question is actually quite subtle if you’re not paying attention. In a scene where Lilo is being chased by her sister Nani after a bad meeting with child protective services, Lilo closes herself off in a washer to hide from her sister.

Of all the places she could have hidden the animators chose one that was actually a real danger to children watching who might get the same idea. To rectify this, the film was updated to have the washer become a cupboard, and the door she hid behind became a pizza box. It’s a weird visual choice, but clearly done to prevent any issues of claims that kids learned the idea from using their streaming service.^[4]

6 Gravity Falls Gets A Hat Censored

Not all forms of censorship will make sense to us and our American sensibilities. Take the Disney cartoon Gravity Falls for instance. A cartoon wildly popular for its use of hidden puzzles and secret symbolism scattered throughout its episodes, it seemed odd that when it came to Disney Plus, one of the most prominent symbols throughout the whole series was missing in the first season; the logo on one of the main character’s hats. To make matters weirder, the symbol was visible in the screenshots to each episode, but not in the episodes itself.

The creator of the series even chimed in on social media confused by the seemingly senseless change to the show, but there may be an explanation as to why it was edited out at least. While it hasn’t been officially explained as of writing, the show had the symbols removed in some foreign countries because of its similarities to the Nation of Islam flag, and somehow this censored foreign version found itself in the American release.^[5]

10 Politically Incorrect Vintage Cartoons

5 Santa’s Workshop Removes Scene With Stereotypes

We may look back fondly on the cartoons of the old days when we view them with rose tinted glasses of nostalgia, but a fair few of them would not hold up to the standards of today when it comes to bigotry. Usually for these older cartoons a warning will display before it plays to let viewers know that the cartoon is from a bygone era and the company didn’t stand by what was shown, but felt it important to keep it as it first appeared.^[6]

Despite showing the warning, The Santa’s Workshop cartoon from the 1930’s didn’t exactly follow it. What they did instead was cut out a scene of a stereotypical doll of a black character with large lips and exaggerated mannerisms. Most people probably wouldn’t miss this scene from the movie, but the thing that makes it notable is that shortly after the scene plays out a group of equally controversial caricatures of Asian dolls come in bowing over and over again to vaguely ethnic music.

4 Lion King Loses Its Famous “SEX” Easter Egg

Okay okay, most of us know that the infamous Easter egg in the Lion King movie didn’t actually spell out the word sex in the stars like most internet forums would have you believe in the 90’s. It actually spelled out SFX as a nod to the special effects team behind the movie. It was just our dirty minds and low quality VHS copies of the movie playing tricks on us and making us see different.

While we all know the truth now in the age of high definition and super giant TV’s, Disney wasn’t going to take any risks of the rumor persisting, instead opting to remove the letters entirely from the version of the film on their streaming service.^[7]

3 Please Don’t Bludgeon People With Rocks, Kids

In a similar vein as the Lilo and Stitch censorship, this has less to do with children possibly hurting themselves and more to do with hurting others. In the original version of the 2D animated movie the Emperor’s New Groove, one of the main characters gets upset at another character and whips a fairly large rock at them, hitting them in the back of the head. The scene is light hearted and it isn’t done in malice, but a lot of bad can come from kids throwing rocks.

In the Disney Plus version of the film, the rock has been replaced with an acorn. A certainly less lethal alternative than a stone to the back of the head, but as one reddit user pointed out, they allegedly didn’t replace the audio in the scene so it still sounds like someone getting clonked with a rock. Just don’t throw things, kids.^[8]

2 Goofy Is Too Sexy For Disney

Oh how we wish this was a joke title, but it isn’t. The 1995 Goofy Movie available on Disney Plus has been edited to reduce the sexuality of certain scenes. The two most obvious examples being when Goofy’s son Max hugs Roxanne, his love interest in the film, his face presses into her chest. For the Disney Plus version, his face is safely leaning away from her body. The second more obvious edit is when Goofy walks into a room and accidentally sees an obese woman in her underwear getting dressed.

For the Disney Plus version of the film, the woman has been digitally given long underwear to cover her body. This is a real loss for all of those Goofy fetishists on the internet, which is a real thing you are now forced to know exists.^[9]

1 Alleged Slurs Removed From That’s So Raven

Imagine how lawless children’s television was in the 2000’s that we’re only just now realizing a hit Disney show might have hit the air with one of its main characters using multiple slurs against another of the show’s characters. We say “might have” because there’s no official word on what is being said in the show, but going by clips posted online, it’s pretty hard to deny.

During a scene where multiple characters are yelling and arguing with each other, it sounds like the main character either calls her friend a “rude nigga” or a “fruity nigga” twice before the argument stops. While it is unknown if that’s what was actually officially said, the scene was edited in the Disney Plus version to show the characters from behind and the audio replaced with just indistinct yelling.

10 Family Films Banned For Stupid Reasons

Ah, Disney. We all know it, we grew up with it, we all love it, and we all watch in horror as it monopolizes entertainment by gradually consuming every studio and franchise we’ve ever loved. Disney is everywhere and even scarier- it’s all connected. Like one big, tangled web that has slowly covered every bit of our lives. At this point, it’s best if we all stop struggling and let the spider… wow, this intro got out of hand. Easter eggs are fun! It’s always a blast to see creators give nods to their other projects and peers, and Disney is especially full of these little winks. Here are 10 of the best easter eggs hidden in Disney films.

10 Hawaii Loves “Mulan”

In “Lilo & Stitch,” two easter eggs make it clear that Mulan is a movie in this universe, and Hawaii loves it. In one scene, Lilo and Stitch enter the room of Lilo’s sister Nani. On Nani’s wall is a poster of “Mulan.” Not a fake, alternate-universe poster, but the actual Earth-you’re-on-right-now theatrical release poster. So even in this world of Disney, Disney exists. And at least Nani is a fan.

But Nani is not alone. When Lilo and Nani are out driving, we get to see some local businesses. Most of them are nondescript, but one stands out: Mulan Wok. The sign is even written in a font used in the movie. In this universe, “Mulan” is even popular enough to inspire cash-in, knock-off restaurants. How do we know it’s a ripoff? An officially licensed Disney product would have one thousand percent more branding. A huge neon Mushu would spit flames into the air, metaphorically screaming,” Disney wins at everything!”

9 Beast’s Talking Tea Set is Trashed

In “Tarzan,” there is a scene where the gorilla Terk and friends trash the explorers’ camp. Over the smooth scat and beatboxing of both Phil Collins and N*SYNC (no, really), the animals play with and/or utterly destroy a plethora of tools and equipment- globes, telescopes, dishes, chemist’s tools, and even the dear old Union Jack. The whole scene is like the cast of Stomp went to a rage room. But in the middle of that jazzy, swinging ditty, one set of items stands out.

Terk drums on a tea set that is clearly the fine, frilly set owned by Beast of “Beauty & the Beast” fame, complete with Mrs. Potts and Chip, identifiable by his cup’s rim, which has a… chip. The scary thing is that particular tea set were all members of Beast’s staff who were cursed to live as talking drink-ware. At the end of Beast’s story, the whole staff turned back into humans when Beast became a handsome bro again. Considering “Tarzan” takes place after “Beauty & the Beast,” we can only assume the staff has been re-cursed. When will handsome princes stop insulting secret enchantresses? It’s a tale as old as time.

8 Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder in “Frozen”

Some Easter eggs are simple and cute. Some imply a deep interconnectedness and launch connected universes. This easter egg is both. When Arendelle opens its doors for the first time in forever to celebrate Elsa’s coronation, “Tangled” stars Rapunzel and Flynn Rider can be spotted in the crowd of visiting dignitaries. It’s quick and cute and simple, and there’s nothing else to it.

Except there is a ton more to it. The bullet points are: Anna and Elsa’s parents’ ship sank on the way to Flynn and Rapunzel’s wedding. Ariel loots their ship for thingamabobs and sings about feet. The couple lands in Africa and gives birth to Tarzan. That makes him a Disney prince. It’s all connected. Or it’s all crazy. I want to be part of a world where things can be both.

7 Genie is a Street Peddler

“Aladdin” opens with a really weird scene if you think about it. Yeah, “Arabian Nights” is playing, and that song rocks, but also the scene is just following some nameless street vendor as he talks directly to the camera and tries to sell it/us a hookah. Go watch it; it’s nuts. But this scene hides a secret that, before some last-minute editing, was pretty crucial.

See, the peddler only has four fingers per hand like Genie, wears blue with a red belt à la Genie, and is voiced by Robin Williams like Genie. I bet you can finish this on your own. In the original script, the peddler was Genie in disguise, and he uses the peddler’s guise to tell us the story of Aladdin. In a scene which was cut before the final version, the peddler reappears at the end of the movie, reveals himself to be Genie, and- we can only assume- improvs for twenty minutes about Madonna and Jack Nicholson.

6 Mickey is a Powerline Fan

“A Goofy Movie” is great, and you know it. I didn’t cry when Bambi’s mom died, but I sure as heck did when Max stormed out of Lester’s Possum Park and said to Goofy, “call me when the trip is over.” It’s an excellent story and one that notably only features Disney’s dog-people. Not the dog-style dogs from “Lady & the Tramp,” “101 Dalmatians,” “Oliver & Company,” etc., only the humanoid dog-monsters from which Goofy was spawned.

That’s why it’s notable when Max and Goofy get to the Powerline concert, and in the crowd, you can spot a very obvious mouse. His name is Mickey Mouse. Even in the post-human dog-monster hellscape in which “A Goofy Movie” is set, Mickey has enough name recognition to get into a sold-out concert. We have to assume the mice have their own territory, and thanks to “Duck Tales,” we know the ducks do, too. But Mickey is so famous he can cross the borders established by the Dog-Duck-Mouse Accords of 3027 and go where he pleases.

5 “A Bug’s Life” is Both Real and a Story?

“Toy Story” is especially egg-laden, but a couple “A Bug’s Life” mentions stand out because of the existential nightmare they imply. In “Toy Story 2,” Mrs. Potato head reads a children’s book to some baby toys. That book is “A Bug’s Life”; it shows a frame and actual dialogue from the movie. So in the “Toy Story” universe, “A Bug’s Life” is a story. Presumably a movie like the one in our world, which was made into a children’s book.

Except in that same movie, Heimlich and Flik hang out on a branch, talking, existing as real people in the real “Toy Story” world. Buzz passes by them, proving their real, tangible existence. Weirder, on the branch, they discuss filming “A Bug’s Life 2,” meaning they are certainly actors who filmed “A Bug’s Life.” So in the “Toy Story” universe, not only are toys secretly alive, but bugs have their own movie industry—that humans and toys also enjoy watching? Or do regular human film crews use tiny cameras to film bug actors? Do people not squash bugs anymore because now they know that all bugs are sentient, feeling beings? Or worse, do humans still kill bugs even though they know the bugs have the capacity to talk and make hit films? Do toys know about bug sentience? Do bugs know about toy sentience? Wait. Was that whole incident with the grasshoppers not real?!

4 Scar is a Nice, Warm Jacket

Man, Scar had it tough. Okay, he killed Mufasa and ate the Pride Lands dry, but… wait, no, that’s pretty bad. Still, everything before and after that is pretty rough. He grew up unloved, second best, shunned, and had his eyeball cut. Then after that whole murder business, he was beaten, dethroned, burned, and eaten alive to hyenas. And it doesn’t stop there.

After Scar’s death, some industrious human managed to find him, skin him, turn him into a cloak, transport him up to Greece, and gift him to the country’s greatest hero. That’s right, Hercules ends up in possession of Scar’s skin. He wears it while posing for a triumphant and heroic portrait, in what has to be a major insult to Scar’s ghost. Incorporeal and floating above that scene, Scar had to have asked the world, ‘How much more must I pay?!’

3 Hans: The Immortal Jerk

If you’ve seen “Frozen,” you know that Hans is a jerk. Everything about him is jerky, and even I—the guy who just empathized with Mufasa’s murderer—can’t find a single thing to like about this human popped collar. You won’t be happy, then, to find out that he survives the Frozen franchise. In fact, he’s immortal and unstoppable. At the end of “Frozen,” Hans’s dastardly plans are foiled and he’s is taken away to prison. In “Frozen Fever,” we see him living out his punishment, spending his days shoveling horse manure. But that’s not the true end for this human “Entourage” episode.

In “Big Hero 6,” a wanted photo for Hans can be seen in the San Fransokyo police department. In addition, Baymax at one point flies past a statue of Hans, which the robot’s database identifies as “Prince Hans.” This human cellphone holster is still alive, still a prince, and still eluding legal justice. Sorry, Anna. Hopefully, he finally dies in the Human-Dog-Duck-Mouse War of 3026.

2 Mickey & Co. are Gods

I know, I already mentioned that Mickey Mouse knows no borders. But those are just political boundaries. He also exists beyond the constraints of time, space, and death. Yeah, you heard me. Through phenomenal cosmic powers, which we can assume he learned while apprenticed to a sorcerer, Mickey manages to take himself, Donald, and Goofy to King Triton’s kingdom, Atlantica. A neat trick, considering “The Little Mermaid” takes place a century or two before Mickey was born, and Atlantica is entirely underwater. The mouse is so powerful that time, space, and air are meaningless concepts to him. This easter egg proves that he is beyond us all now. His visits to our movies take only a fraction of his consciousness, while the bulk of his brain creates and maintains universes. And clearly, his favorite universe is…

1 Cars are the Biggest Pixar Fans

…The “Cars” universe. It is the single scariest genocidal dystopian nightmare ever put on film. Clearly, humans used to exist in the “Cars” universe, but all mysteriously vanished. It’s not hard to guess how, seeing as their killers still use human-built roads and buildings to go about their sickening robot-Frankenstein lives. What’s worse is that, even though they wiped the humans out, the Cars have a deep love for human culture, especially Disney. There’s no single easter egg to list here because the Cars have covered every square inch of themselves and their surroundings with Disney references.

There are car versions of Mike and Sulley, tires named after Buzz Lightyear, car versions of Merida from Brave and her family, but what is truly disgraceful to human civilization’s memory is that the Cars create twisted car parodies of human movies, just to assert their dominance. There’s “A Bug’s Life” starring a VW Bug, the Incredimobiles, and worst of all because it took no thought whatsoever, Toy Car Story. I’m offended as both an extinct human and as a writer.

 has shown no shortage of interest in the darker side of Disney, but few realize how many real-life tragedies have occurred behind the scenes at the happiest place on earth.  The below list goes to show that even the House of Mouse is not immune to accidents, overdoses, disease, and death.

After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made Walt Disney a wealthy man, he had a new home built for his parents.  Unfortunately, the furnace was poorly installed, and in November 1938, a gas leak killed his mother, Flora Disney, by carbon monoxide poisoning.  The tragedy deeply affected Disney, and death and separation have certainly been strongly featured in his later films.

In March 1968, a couple of boys playing in an abandoned tenement building in New York City found the corpse of a junkie surrounded by religious pamphlets and empty beer bottles.  The thirty-one-year-old man had perished from a heart attack brought on by years of drug use.  There was no identification on the body, and the man was subsequently buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

Nineteen months later, the man’s mother contacted the FBI and Disney Studios in a desperate bid to find her son.  A fingerprint match was made which confirmed the tragedy; the body belonged to Bobby Driscoll, best known as the voice of Peter Pan.

On February 11, 2004, thirty-eight-year-old Javier Cruz was gearing up for an appearance in the daily afternoon parade in Disney’s Frontierland.  Cruz, who was dressed as the dog Pluto, apparently caught his foot and tripped in front of a Beauty and the Beast float.  Unable to move out of the way in time, the father of two was struck and killed.  Workers were forced to lift the float off of Javier’s corpse with a forklift, and OSHA fined the park US$6,500 for a serious violation of employee safety.

2009 was a particularly rough year for Disney World.  During one particularly brutal seven-week-long stretch during the summer, three different employees lost their lives—culminating in the death of thirty-year-old Anislav Varbanov.  Varbanov was a performer in the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” who injured his head while rehearsing a tumble. The show had seen troubles in the past, with multiple injuries caused by malfunctioning equipment.

On July 8, 1974, an incredibly gruesome accident occurred at Disneyland’s America Sings attraction, a rotating stage show.  Deborah Stone was an eighteen-year-old hostess responsible for greeting new audiences.  She’d taken the job to help pay for her upcoming education at Iowa State University.

After ushering in a new group of people, Stone wandered too near the moving theater wall was and crushed against the stationary portion of the stage.  Her screams were heard, but before the moving wall could be halted, the young woman was dead.  The attraction was closed for two days following Ms. Stone’s death, and safety precautions were implemented to prevent further incidents.

In October 2010, a fifty-three-year-old cleaner subcontracted to Disneyland Paris was working on a boat in the It’s a Small World attraction when the ride was accidentally turned on.  The man was dragged beneath the boat, where he suffered grievous injuries.  Though airlifted to a local hospital, the man died shortly afterwards.

The Big Thunder Railroad, a kind of “runaway train” roller coaster, is located at three different Disney parks—and throughout the years it has been one of the more dangerous rides.  On September 5, 2003, an improperly maintained train car derailed at Disneyland, striking the top of a tunnel and then landing on top of another car.  Twenty-two-year-old Marcelo Torres died of blunt force trauma and internal bleeding. Ten others were injured.  Torres’s family reached a substantial out-of-court settlement with Disney in 2005.

Disney played this one a little shadily.  On September 22, 2000, four-year-old Brandon Zucker tumbled beneath the taxi cab at Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin Ride.  In accordance with company policy, Disney security was alerted before paramedics, and it was ten minutes before the child was freed.  Brandon had no pulse, and though he was resuscitated, he suffered irreversible brain damage.

Facing a legal and public relations disaster, Disney changed their regulations regarding contacting emergency personnel on October 7, 2000, claiming meanwhile that it had nothing to do with the Zucker incident.  An out-of-court settlement (which did not require Disney to assume blame for the incident) paid for Brandon’s medical expenses, but he never recovered.  He never spoke or walked again, and he died on January 26, 2009, aged just thirteen.

Matthew Garber starred in three Disney films, including The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome-Mobile—but he was best-known for playing Michael Banks in Mary Poppins.  Garber quit acting in the late sixties.  In 1976, he contracted hepatitis while in India.  His father sent for him, but before he could make it home to London, the disease spread to his pancreas.  The family denied that drug use had been to blame, claiming Matthew had probably eaten bad meat.  He died on June 13, 1977, just twenty-one-years-old.

Disney was a heavy smoker all his life, so there was nothing particularly tragic or unexpected about his death in 1966, at the age of sixty-five, from lung cancer.  But Disney would leave the world with one last mystery.  After he’d lost the ability to speak, he communicated by writing notes on a pad of paper.  The last two words he wrote were “Kurt Russell,” the name of a young actor who had just begun working with Disney Studios, appearing in the film Follow Me, Boys!.

The significance of the words has never been determined; Russell himself claims to have no idea what Walt Disney wanted.  Some recent evidence claims that he may have written something else afterwards, but Russell himself has asserted that his name was indeed Disney’s final communication.

Disney was cremated, his ashes interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.  To this day, rumors endure that Disney was cryogenically frozen after his death—a fact that members of his family have adamantly denied.  His daughter Diane asserted that he’d probably never even heard of the procedure.  The first known cryonically preserved person was Dr. James Bedford, who was frozen on Jan 12, 1967, about a month after Walt Disney had died.

Mike Devlin is an aspiring novelist.  The last time he visited Disney World, his grandma died.  She wasn’t there, but still . . . pretty messed up.

When it comes to theme parks, they don’t come any bigger or more prestigious than the ones owned by Disney and Universal. Both companies have properties around the world. In 2019 alone, over 200 million people visited either a Disney or Universal resort!

But here’s a question: How do you get permanently banned from one of their theme parks? Let’s look at 10 examples. That way, you can learn from other people’s mistakes . . . we hope.

10 Bizarre Theme Parks From Around the World

10 Filming Backstage

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, covers approximately 27,000 acres of land. In 2013, vlogger Adam the Woo was banned from the entire property.

The reason?

Disney is incredibly protective of its brand. They pride themselves on their appearance. People are welcome to take photographs and videos of anything that’s “onstage” (which are things intended to be seen by the public).

However, they take exception if people capture images of things that are designated to be “backstage.” Disney felt that several of Adam the Woo’s videos showed places deemed to be “backstage,” so they banned him for life.

Speaking in a vlog just after being banned, Adam said: “I’ve done some kind of unusual things that Disney did not agree with . . . but nothing in my opinion that would be labeled as wrong.”

Luckily, the story does have a happy ending. After fans petitioned for the ban to be lifted and lawyers challenged the initial banning decision, Adam was allowed to return in 2015.^[1]

9 Misadventure

In addition to its amazing theme parks, Walt Disney World is home to two water parks: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. But did you know that there was once a third?

River Country water park was located close to Discovery Island, a large patch of land that sat in the middle of a lake not far from The Magic Kingdom. River Country closed in 2001. The nearby Discovery Island was abandoned in 1999.

But this didn’t stop photographer Shane Perez from swimming the short distance across the alligator-infested water to the overgrown island in 2009. He even documented the whole escapade on his personal blog!^[2]

When Disney became aware of his activities, Perez received a lifetime ban from Walt Disney World. Oops!

8 Using Flags, Signs, Or Banners

Theme parks around the world take safety very seriously, none more so than Disney. In 2018, a man named Dion Cini was permanently banned from all Walt Disney World properties for repeatedly waving large signs while riding various attractions. He flashed a sign saying “Trump 2020” on Splash Mountain and another saying “Keep America Great” on Expedition Everest.^[3]

These types of items could injure other guests. Despite repeated warnings, however, Cini refused to stop waving his signs. Disney commented that the banning was not a political issue. Rather, it had to do with Cini’s unwillingness to follow the rules.

7 Being Drunk And Disorderly

Many people love a good drink every now and then, but some individuals overdo it. Take Disney enthusiast Ellen McMillion, for example. At 53 years old, she was given a lifelong ban from all Disney World properties for being drunk and disorderly at one of the theme parks.

When confronted by police at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for slapping a taxi driver in the parking lot, McMillion began swearing loudly, demanding a cigarette, and kicking the officers.^[4] In addition to a hangover, she ended up with a lifetime ban from Disney. Speaking to Fox News about the incident, a Disney spokesperson said, “We don’t tolerate unsafe behavior.”

6 Fighting

We’re going to hop over to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, for this mishap. Two families were banned from the Disneyland theme park for engaging in a fistfight at Toontown in front of many families and their kids.

The altercation erupted when one man spat in another man’s face outside Goofy’s Playhouse. Before long, fists were thrown. According to some reports, one woman may have been left unconscious for a short time.

Smartphone footage of the ugly brawl made its way onto the Internet. The two families involved were quickly ejected from the park and ordered never to return.^[5]

10 Strange Facts About Disney Parks

5 Assaulting The Employees

No one likes waiting in long lines while the burning sun is beating down on you. But it’s all part of a trip to Disney. You know that there are going to be queues! Luckily, a FastPass allows you to make a reservation and return at a set time.

However, in 2019, one unnamed woman tried to get into the Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios via the FastPass entrance. When she was told that there was no reservation for her, she began shouting and swearing at the cast member before punching her in the face.^[6]

Security was called. Although the poor cast member decided against pressing charges, the unnamed woman did receive a lifetime ban from Disney as a result of the assault.

4 Making Inappropriate Comments

As mentioned earlier, no one likes to wait, especially at Disney. But when it happens, it’s best that you don’t start making inappropriate jokes. Disney fan David Swindler found that out the hard way in 2015.

As he grew increasingly impatient with the “slow” employees working at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Swindler remarked that he could have built a meth lab in his room in the time it took for him to be served. This inappropriate comment resulted in his hotel room being raided by the police in the middle of the night and his family being ejected from the property.

Commenting on the subject to local news channel WFTV, Swindler said, “Quite frankly, I’m a little miffed at the people who overreacted to this that work for Disney. Hopefully, somebody in the higher-up system will go, ‘This is not what Disney is about.’ ”^[7]

Luckily, only David Swindler received a permanent ban. His family is free to return.

3 Underage Drinking

Universal Orlando is considered to be more of an adult-oriented or grown-up theme park destination. Every year, the resorts host Halloween Horror Nights, an interactive and terrifying night of scares. This draws in big crowds that like to have a good time and maybe even a few drinks.

However, just like Disney, Universal is strict when enforcing the rules about consuming alcohol. Over the years, Universal security has ejected hundreds of people from the park for consuming alcohol when they are underage. But this is more than just a stern warning and a slap on the wrists for those who are caught. They will likely receive a permanent ban from all Universal properties, too.^[8]

2 Being Racist

A group of four tourists attending Universal Orlando’s Passholder Appreciation Day were permanently kicked out of the park in 2019 for making racist gestures while riding the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster. The group was photographed on the thrill ride while giving Nazi salutes and holding up white supremacy signs.

The image made its way onto the Internet before eventually coming to the attention of Universal executives. The culprits were quickly tracked down and issued lifelong bans from the Universal Orlando resort.

In a statement after the incident, Universal said, “Hate has no place here—and we have no tolerance for any display of hatred within our destination. [ . . . ] Any guest using hate speech or displaying hate symbols will be immediately removed from our destination and not allowed to return.”^[9]

1 Trespassing

Not only did vlogger Adam the Woo find himself banned from Walt Disney World in 2013, but in 2017, he also received an indefinite ban from Universal Orlando. Adam filmed several videos in 2012 in which he ventured into abandoned and closed-off buildings (including the Nickelodeon Studios) located on the Universal property.^[10]

He was collared during the opening celebrations of the Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon ride and escorted from the property by security. While the ban still stands in Florida, Adam the Woo is free to visit Universal Studios Hollywood in his home state of California.

10 Ways Disney Parks Hide Things Right In Front Of You

About The Author: Josh is a freelance writer from Barnsley in the UK!