On April 9, 2024, Mouse Trap News published an article (archived here) positing that funerals could be held at Walt Disney World for $15,000. The article began:
Have Your Funeral at Disney World for $15,000
You can now have your funeral at Disney World for only $15,000. The funeral will take place in front of the Disney ride of your choice.
In fact, The service includes putting the corpse on the ride with the funeral attendees for one last ride together. This is a way to make the funeral service more memorable and more fun.
For an additional $2,000 per character, you can have your favorite Disney character attend the service. The actual burial or cremation will happen off property and Disney will use Mickey and Minnie herses to transport the bodies.
The claim also was posted on the Mouse Trap News TikTok account (archived here), where it racked up more than 150,000 views and 8,000 likes, as of this writing. "This would put the fun in funeral," one commenter wrote.
However, this article was not a factual recounting of any real-life events. Mouse Trap News describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:
Mouse Trap News is the world's best satire site. We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff. From Disney Park announcements to Disney Hotel and resort news to made-up Disney partnerships, you can be assured that anything you read here is not true, real, or accurate, but it is fun.
Other sites have spread this rumor, including a satirical website, magicalpassings.com (archived here), entirely dedicated to advertising supposed Disney funerals.
For years, Disney World has struggled prevent visitors from spreading the cremated remains of their loved ones. According to a 2018 Wall Street Journal article (archived here), "it happens about once a month." The practice is strictly prohibited.
We've previously debunked other claims originating with Mouse Trap News, such as that Disney was removing Trump from the Hall of Presidents ride, and that Disney was eliminating all lines from its rides.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.