Editing Walt Disney (section)

==Illness, death and aftermath==
[[File:Walt Disney Grave.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=A gravestone inscribed 'Walter Elias Disney', 'Lillian Bounds Disney', 'Robert B. Brown', Sharon Disney Brown Lund ashes scattered in paradise'|Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale]]
Disney had been a [[Chain smoking|heavy smoker]] since World War&nbsp;I. He did not use cigarettes with [[cigarette filter|filters]] and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with [[lung cancer]] and was treated with [[cobalt therapy]]. On November 30, he felt unwell and was taken by ambulance from his home to [[Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center|St. Joseph Hospital]] where, on December 15, at age 65, he died of [[circulatory collapse]] caused by the cancer.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=626–31}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-walt-disney-19661216-story.html|title=Wizard of Fantasy Walt Disney Dies|language=en-US|first=Harry|last=Trimborn|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 16, 1966|access-date=November 3, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The death of Walt Disney — folk hero|first=Alistair|last=Cooke|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/dec/16/from-the-archive-walt-disney-dies-1966|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=December 16, 2011|access-date=November 3, 2024|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/12/16/archives/walt-disney-65-dies-on-coast-founded-an-empire-on-a-mouse-walt.html|title=Walt Disney, 65, Dies on Coast|language=en|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 16, 1966}}</ref> His remains were cremated two days later and his ashes interred at the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in [[Glendale, California]].{{sfn|Mosley|1990|p=298}}{{efn|A long-standing [[urban legend]] maintains that Disney was [[Cryonics|cryonically frozen]].{{sfn|Eliot|1995|p=268}} Disney's daughter Diane later stated, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen."<ref name="WFP: Frozen" /><ref name="Snopes: Frozen" />}}

The release of ''The Jungle Book'' and ''The Happiest Millionaire'' in 1967 raised the total number of feature films that Disney had been involved in to 81.<ref name="D23: WD" /> When ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' was released in 1968, it earned Disney an Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category, awarded posthumously.{{sfn|Dobson|2009|p=220}} After Disney's death, his studios continued to produce live-action films prolifically while the quality of their animated films was allowed to languish. In the late 1980s, this trend was reversed in what ''[[The New York Times]]'' describes as the "[[Disney Renaissance]]" that began with ''[[The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|The Little Mermaid]]'' (1989).<ref name="USA Today" /> Disney's studios continue to produce successful film, television and stage entertainment.<ref name="WDS: History" />

Disney's plans for the futuristic city of EPCOT did not come to fruition. After Disney's death, his brother Roy deferred his retirement to take full control of the Disney companies. He changed the focus of the project from a town to an attraction.<ref name="Esquire: EPCOT" /> At the inauguration in 1971, Roy dedicated Walt Disney World to his brother.<ref name="DWR: WH" />{{efn|Roy died two months later, in December 1971.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=357–58}}}} Walt Disney World expanded with the opening of [[Epcot Center]] in 1982; Walt Disney's vision of a functional city was replaced by a park more akin to a permanent [[world's fair]].<ref name="ATT: EPCOT" /> In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum, designed by Disney's daughter Diane and her son Walter E. D. Miller, opened in the [[Presidio of San Francisco]].<ref name="WDFM: About" /> Thousands of artifacts from Disney's life and career are on display, including numerous awards that he received.<ref name="NYT: WDFM" /> In 2014, the Disney theme parks around the world hosted approximately 134&nbsp;million visitors.<ref name="NYDNOctober2015"/>