"Here's a bit of trivia for you. The very first time I went to Disneyland I was transported to another place within moments of being arrested," he said as he got on the stage to accept the honour.
"I was brought to a surprisingly friendly processing center, given a strict warning, and returned to, if memory serves, one very disappointed group chaperone. I've been sitting on that shame for a while and I'm just going to release it here tonight," added the actor.
As the fans gathered together to attend the ceremony laughed, Downey Jr said: "I would like to make amends to whoever had to detain me for smoking pot in a gondola without a license."
"And I don't want to further confuse the issue by insinuating that pot smoking licenses for the gondola are in any way obtainable," he added.
After making everyone laugh, Downey Jr got serious, and thanked everyone he has worked with over the past at Disney and his fans for appreciating his performance.
Downey is among this year's class of inductees, along with the likes of Jon Favreau, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler, Kenny Ortega, Barnette Ricci, Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer, Ming-Na Wen, Hans Zimmer and more. The ceremony was held at the Anaheim Convention Center.
( With inputs from IANS )