Walt Disney pass away on December 15 , 1966 , at the age of 65 . Though he kept his substance abuse away from the eyes of the children at his commons , Disney was a lifelong , three - plurality - a - day stag party . The habit catch up with him on November 2 , 1966 , when an Adam - ray revealed a tumor on his leftover lung . On November 11 , surgeons removed Walt ’s left lung and break him the spoilt news that the tumour had metastasise . Though they gave him six months to two years to live , Walt lasted just 34 days , succumbing to lung cancer on December 15 .
Contrary to popular belief , Disney was cremated two Clarence Day later — not fixed . After decennium of speculation , his family in conclusion resolve they were tired of the rumor mill . In 2012 , Disney ’s daughter , Diane Disney Miller , told theDaily Mailthat part of the rationality the Disneys opened the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco was to combat some of the preposterous rumors about her father ’s lifespan , including the Walt - cicle tall story . “ Other little Thomas Kyd would say to my kids , ‘ Your grandfather is frozen , is n’t he ? ’ And I could n’t let that resist , ” Disney Miller enounce .
That lilliputian myth probably got get going in 1972 , when Bob Nelson , then the president of the Cryonics Society of California , give an audience to theLos Angeles Times . Though what he specifically said was that Walt wasnotcryogenically quick-frozen , even going so far as to say , “ They had him cremate . I in person have view his ashes , ” what people in all likelihood remembered from the article was his financial statement that Waltwantedto be frozen .
He establish this theory on the fact that Walt Disney Studios called Nelson prior to Disney ’s decease and asked elaborate questions about the process , the facility , the stave , and their account . “ The Sojourner Truth is , Walt missed out , ” Nelson pronounce . “ He never specified it in writing , and when he died the household did n’t go for it . … Two weeks later we froze the first man . If Disney had been the first it would have made headline around the world and been a real snap in the arm for cryonics . ”
So , mystery solved . Walt isnoton ice ; he ’s at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale , California , buried with his married woman , daughter , and Word - in - law .
