18 Dark Disneyland Secrets Employees Have Kept Quiet

Disneyland and its sister parks are widely known to be some of the happiest places on Earth. When you visit one of these epic parks, dreamed up by none other than Walt Disney himself, you are meant to be overtaken by the thrill of being in such an enchanted place! And (for the most part) people are. There’s amazing food everywhere you look (seriously, the snacks are on point), rides that are super fun for the whole family, experiences that will help you relive your childhood, and just a genuinely happy feeling in the air that you can’t ignore. It’s exhausting, sure, and expensive, unfortunately, but you’re also pretty much guaranteed a wonderful day. But it’s not all fun in the sun: Disneyland secrets are as plentiful as they are hidden.

Of course, Disney doesn’t want any of its delicately crafted illusions broken. That’s why what goes on behind the scenes at the theme parks is often kept a big secret. Disneyland and Disney World might seem to be places of innocence and laughter, but the parks apparently have their share of dark secrets…you just may not know about them. Or maybe you’ve heard some of the Disney myths, but you don’t know whether to believe them or not.

Fortunately, a lot of Disney employees have taken to the internet to spill the details about the darkest Disneyland secrets that the parks would rather keep quiet. Here are some of the most surprising claims that employees have made about the darkest Disneyland secrets.

1. People have been known to scatter the ashes of their loved ones in the Haunted Mansion.

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Did you think all of the scary props in the Haunted Mansion were fake?

Well, maybe most of them are, but the notorious mansion still holds a really creepy secret within its walls. Apparently, a lot of people like to scatter the ashes of their loved ones inside the attraction. No, seriously — and the Wall Street Journal confirmed it. It’s known to happen at least once a month and employees even have a secret code for when it happens: “HEPA cleanup.” “HEPA” refers to the special kind of vacuum filter they need to use to be able to suck up super-fine particles, like human ashes. Still, one Disney custodian told the WSJ, “The Haunted Mansion probably has so much human ashes in it that it’s not even funny.” Yikes!

2. Security is always watching your every move.

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Don’t be fooled into thinking you have any sort of privacy while you’re visiting Disneyland or Disney World.

Apparently (and understandably), security is literally always watching you. Reddit user jswan28 explained: “I know some people who work [as] undercover security at Disneyland. I’ve seen them when they’re working and they look like the biggest dork tourists you could possibly imagine (big hats, zinc on nose, silly character shirts tucked into ill fitting shorts, hiking boots, etc.), so they fit right in. One of them told me that it’s almost impossible to be anywhere in the park without being within sight of someone from security, uniformed or not. I know that’s not an exact number, but it’s a good idea of how many there are.”

3. Real skeletons may have been used as props in a popular attraction.

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This is one of those Disneyland secrets that is slightly terrifying (by that we obviously mean very terrifying).

Apparently, there might be remnants of real, actual skeletons in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. When the attraction was built, they didn’t feel that the bones looked real enough, so they asked the UCLA Medical Center to borrow some real bones. Since then, most of them have been replaced with fakes, but a few real ones may still be in there.

4. There really is a Disney jail.

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There have been a lot of myths going around about the existence of a “Disney jail.”

So, is it true? One Reddit user, alfhelm_EOL, who claims to have worked at Disney World, said, “They have a holding place. And on Disney property there is a police station.” So, yes, if you do something wrong, you could end up in Disney jail! According to Ranker, doing things like stripping out of your clothes and shoplifting could earn you a spot in the Disney clink…and maybe tossing human ashes around the park could, too?

5. A lot of visitors try to have sex while they’re at the park.

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Disney World is a place for kids and families, but apparently some adults like to use it as a place to get it on as well. Former security worker and Reddit user MickeyG42 said, “People have sex there all the time. ALL THE TIME. On rides, in the parking structure. When they get caught they get escorted out…unless they are underage then we legally have to call parents. That one is fun.”

6. Some of the rides use dramatic effects to make them seem more intense than they are.

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Disney parks really know how to make your experience amazing…

…Even if it means more things are being faked than you ever realized. One thing the parks allegedly do is use dramatic effects to make rides seem crazier than they are. If you walk past the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, you’ll hear a lot of screaming that sounds very real. Some of the screams are real, but some are apparently fake and just being played through speakers to entice you to go in there. And the boats on Splash Mountain don’t actually make as big of a splash as they seem to be — there are cannons at the end of the drop that make huge splashes.

7. There’s probably a secret tunnel system underneath the park.

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Okay, well, this isn’t as big of a secret anymore, but the rumors are true: there is an entire tunnel system underground. It’s not as spooky as it sounds, though: it’s for employees to get around without ruining any of the magic of the park experience for visitors. Reddit user alfhelm_EOL, a former employee, confirmed this by saying, “Under Magic Kingdom there are tons of underground tunnels! I could pop up almost anywhere in the park I wanted! Epcot has a tunnel underneath as well!”

8. The wait times shown usually aren’t accurate – on purpose.

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And for a good reason, too!

Before you freak out about how long the wait is for a ride, consider the fact that it’s probably not actually that long. Disney uses this little trick where they overestimate the wait times so that you think you waited less than you were supposed to. This keeps you happier.

9. There may be a lot of sexual harassment going on behind the scenes.

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Not all the people at Disney World may be as innocent as the park would make us think.

Many employees, usually female face characters (like those who walk around dressed as a Disney princess) say they have experienced sexual harassment by park visitors. One such person is Reddit user Little-Bones, who wrote, “I was a Tinker Bell performer for [Walt Disney World] about three years ago and I can’t count how many times people asked me what was under my dress or tried to grope me. I would always shame them to my photo-pass, attendant, their family, & the people in line by loudly exclaiming, ‘You want to know what’s under my dress? Well there’s pixie dust of course!’ or ‘This man is a pirate! He’s trying to reach the pixie dust that I keep under my dress!’ and they’d walk away in shame like the creepy a**holes they are.”

Since the face characters are never allowed to fall out of character, there isn’t much they can do about the harassment. Pretty scary stuff.

10. Employees have to follow really strict rules about their appearance.

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Dressing as a Disney character at one of the parks sounds like a really fun job, and many would agree that it is. But it’s also one that comes with a whole lot of pressure. Former Disney princesses at the parks have told Buzzfeed that they had to do their own makeup a very specific way and were studied before going out into the park. The princesses were always being reevaluated, and things like weight gain could be a big issue. Other princesses told Insider that you have to be a specific height in order to get the role, and you always have to look perfectly on point in the park no matter what.

11. Many employees say that they have felt body shamed on the job.

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One of the strict rules Disney allegedly has for their princesses is that they have to maintain a specific weight, which can get toxic for the employees. One former princess told Cosmopolitan, “Some of the princesses did cleanses to stay fit; a lot the girls were naturally thin. We’d go to the gym after work or do workout videos together during our breaks. The fur characters are running around all day so they can eat [stuff] like funnel cakes. The refrigerator in our break room was literally Lean Cuisines and those sugar-free Jell-Os with 10 calories.”

12. Employees are rumored to remove people who die so no one dies in Disney World.

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This claim is kind of intense.

In order to avoid having to say that someone died at a Disney park, employees will allegedly be told to remove a dead body from the property before declaring them dead. When a Reddit user asked, “Is it true that when someone dies on a ride they basically cart them off of property before pronouncing them ‘dead’ so they don’t have to say they died at Disney?” Reddit user and former employee alfhelm_EOL said, “There is a big reason for that. People don’t want their happy memories tarnished…it can actually really help a family to have a place where they can go back to where their child or loved one was having fun before they passed.” That explanation makes sense, but it’s pretty morbid if true.

13. There’s a lot of drama going on between characters behind the scenes.

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Again, not everything in the Disney parks is as wonderful as it seems!

There is actually a ton of drama going on between the characters while they’re not out on the park with visitors.

Reddit user ihaveanotheridentity, who used to work as Goofy at Disney, said, “Some of the break rooms are like the high-school cafeteria where the ‘cool’ princesses (Elsa and Anna) sit on one side and make eyes at the ‘old’ characters (Snow and Poppins). It’s really childish. Other face performers think they’re on Broadway and demand respect and they hate not getting it.”

14. Employees supposedly aren’t allowed to complain about their jobs publicly.

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One reason there are so many Disneyland secrets is because employees aren’t allowed to publicly complain about their jobs. That’s why most of the information that is found on the internet is from anonymous employees! They could apparently get fired if they get caught speaking negatively about their jobs, and even if they hint that they play face characters at one of the parks on social media.

15. The American flags in the park are not real.

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If you walk down Main Street, you’ll notice lots of American flags hanging up.

But a closer look reveals that they’re not actually real.

Each flag is missing a stripe or a star, and that’s on purpose. Disney does this so that they don’t have to follow standard American flag regulations, like flying them half-mast at certain times.

16. There are cats roaming all over the park at night.

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If you manage to sneak into Disney World at night after the park is closed (which we do not recommend!), you’ll notice there are a ton of cats.

One Reddit user said:

“I knew someone who worked at Disney World in Orlando and [they] said they release cats at night after the parks close to control the rodent population. They collect the cats at the end of the night and keep them in the underground series of offices and pathways they use to make navigating the parks easier.” Kind of creepy!

17. Actors have to stay in character — no matter what.

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Have you ever wondered if the furry characters in suits get super hot, especially in Disney World?

Of course they do! But they have to ignore the heat and stay in character no matter what.

One Reddit user said, “A scuba instructor I had once told me that before accepting a job as ‘water Goofy’ on a Disney cruise (Goofy who hangs out in the pool), he had to agree that, in the event that he started drowning, he [has] to be carried away before lifeguards remove his costume (so as not to upset the children, of course). CPR wouldn’t be performed on scene.” As far as Disneyland secrets go, that’s intense!

18. The costumes might actually cause injuries.

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Former character employees told Mental Floss that they have been basically beaten up by visitors and little kids, but that’s not all the wear and tear they’ve dealt with. According to the site, the fur costumes can weigh as much as 47 pounds and in 2005, they were blamed for at least 282 injuries. Still, they have to remain in character through it all!