“My mother loved Disneyland” — Whoopi Goldberg reveals she scattered her mother’s ashes at the theme park

Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg opened up about scattering her late mother's ashes in Disneyland. During a Wednesday, July 10, appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the 68-year-old revealed that she honored her late mother's love for Disneyland by spreading her ashes in the theme park. The comedian and actor told the host Seth Meyers,

"My mother loved Disneyland, and so we took her to Disneyland."

Whoopi recalled that her mother loved the Small World ride at Disneyland and so she would scoop up her ashes at the location and pretend to sneeze, thus spreading it around the area. She also did it at the area in the park next to the flowers where it said "Disneyland".

---

Whoopi Goldberg recalled fake sneezing to spread her mother's ashes in Disneyland

Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg told Seth Meyers a humorous story about her spreading her late mother's ashes in Disneyland during her latest appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. While talking about her recent memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, and her late mother, Meyers asked Goldberg about her doing something special with her mom's ashes.

The View co-host agreed and immediately prefaced her story by requesting the audience not to do this. The actress recalled her mother's love for Disneyland and how The World's Fair was in New York when she was a kid, which was her introduction to the Small World and how her mother loved the ride.

Hence, while on the Small World ride at Disneyland, Whoopi Goldberg would periodically "scoop some of her up," and then fake a giant sneeze, which she demonstrated to Meyers, hence spreading the ashes through the ride. Goldberg joked,

"And I'd say, 'My god, this cold is getting worse and worse.'"

Whoopi Goldberg further recalled doing the same thing on the flower beds at the park's entrance where it said "Disneyland." However, she did not sneak off the park after doing so as the actress responsibly told the park that she did it. She told Meyers,

"I wanted to make sure, actually, that I hadn't done something that was dangerous 'cause it hadn't occurred to me. But there's a reason they don't want ashes just floatin' around."

The comedian and actress joked about smoking her ashes but noted that she did not think her mother would have cared for her to smoke her ashes, but her brother "maybe". Whoopi Goldberg is not the first person to spread a loved one's ashes in the theme park.

In a Wall Street Journal report from 2018, several theme park custodians told the publication that they scooped up ashes from the premises about once a month. During such situations, custodians called for a 'HEPA cleanup', which resulted in the ashes getting cleaned up by an ultrafine vacuum cleaner (HEPA).

One spot was more prone to ashes than any other one: Haunted Mansion. One custodian claimed that the mansion probably had "so much human ashes" inside it was "not even funny". During an interview with The Los Angeles Times in 2007, one park official revealed that from time to time, many guests ask permission to scatter ashes but the answer was always a straight "no".

Whoopi Goldberg was originally born to Emma Harris Johnson and Robert James Johnson as Caryn Elaine Johnson on November 13, 1955, in Manhattan, New York. She was raised by her mother as a single parent. In a December 2023 episode of The View, the actress recalled her and her brother Clyde wanting to go to Disneyland and her mother wanted to take them but couldn't afford it.

Emma Harris Johnson passed away because of a stroke on August 29, 2010. The actress talks about her late mother and brother in her memoir Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, which was recently released in May 2024.