Over the last couple of decades there arises every once in a while the idea that the Walt Disney Company should get into some of the businesses that funeral home operators and cemetery operators specialize in.  That’s recently been in the news again.

I first really thought about Disney and Death Care about a decade ago when a small funeral home and cemetery operating company with about 50 locations at the time hired an ex-hospitality industry executive as President and CEO.  It probably didn’t hurt the Disney thought process that the company, Foundation Partners Group (FPG), was headquartered in Orlando, Florida, — the home of DisneyWorld.

That executive, Brad Rex, had the belief that funeral directors “need to focus on storytelling and creating unique, meaningful experiences to celebrate those who have passed” according to this dated press release from FPG.  I don’t think Rex was wrong with that philosophy, but I think it has taken much more than that thought to move the needle on who and why consumers choose as providers for the services that they purchase.

Quite frankly, I think a lot of Rex’s philosophy has been adopted by the American funeral home operators but we have also learned that death care choices and decisions are much more complicated than just learning how to “tell the story”.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Recently Funeral Director Daily has written stories about permanent memorialization and the options for such.  We’ve actually taken the tact that there are a lot of options for permanent memorialization that include cemeteries, but also include other options as well.  One of the facts that has came to light about memorialization “place” is that many people would like to be memorialized in a place that brings them happiness or good memories.  To that end we wrote this story about a University of Nebraska board member who proposed putting a columbarium within the University of Nebraska football stadium.

That leads us to tell you about the Disney-oriented publication “All Ears” and a this recent article that asks why doesn’t Disney offer columbarium space and “The Disney Magic” for celebration services.  One funeral director makes this statement in the All Ears article, “People would pay probably a large sum of money if they put a private niche somewhere on the property, whether it’s Cinderella Castle wall or something. That could be a real moneymaker for them.”

According to this article a lot of people think Disney World is the “Best Place on Earth”. . . . . so some people are asking, “Why not let us spend eternity at the Best Place on Earth”?

I could be wrong, but I don’t think that funeral services and memorial space options will be on the agenda at Disney Corporation board meetings anytime soon. . . .

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