These images appearing to show Walt Disney World flooding during Milton are AI-generated

Three theme parks in Orlando, Florida, including Walt Disney World, closed on Oct. 9 in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. The powerful storm made landfall on Florida’s coast as a Category 3 Wednesday evening, knocking out power to over 3 million people and causing more than a dozen deaths.

Images circulated on social media appeared to show the Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom flooded. Another image depicted a character performer dressed as Pluto rescuing a child. 

VERIFY has been fact-checking footage appearing to be from the storm and we looked into whether these images were real.

THE QUESTION

Are these images of Cinderella Castle flooding and Pluto rescuing a child during Hurricane Milton real?

THE SOURCES

• VERIFY analysis of the images
• Walt Disney World Hurricane Milton updates on social media and its official website
• Associated Press and Disney World photos of Cinderella Castle
• Disney World photo of Pluto

THE ANSWER

No, these images of Cinderella Castle flooding and Pluto rescuing a child during Hurricane Milton aren’t real. They are AI-generated. 

WHAT WE FOUND

These images purportedly showing Cinderella Castle and Pluto rescuing a child at Walt Disney World during Hurricane Milton are not real; they were made with generative artificial intelligence software.

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce new content, such as images, videos, audio and text, based on a prompt. 

When VERIFY fact-checks AI-generated images, we follow a specific process. Here’s what we did to confirm these images were fake: 

First, we checked Walt Disney World’s official social media accounts for credible reports of widespread flooding, like what the images depict. On Oct. 9, Walt Disney World announced it would close early due to the storm and would remain closed on Oct. 10. The park reopened on Oct. 11 after safety assessments and never warned there were areas that had been impacted by flooding. 

We also examined the context in which the images were posted. We found no reputable news reports of flooding in the park, no reports of a little girl being rescued by Pluto and no details on who could have taken the photos, considering the park was closed during the storm.

VERIFY analyzed the images and found visual cues indicating they were AI-generated.

AI tools often struggle with details. AI-generated images commonly have misshapen or distorted features. Numbers, letters, textures and background details are often also distorted or over-stylized in AI content. AI experts call these details “artifacts” – clear indicators the content is AI-generated.

We compared the AI image of Cinderella Castle to real photos from Disney and the Associated Press.

In the Cinderella Castle AI image, the castle’s shape and features don’t match the real one. The door is shaped differently, the balcony is missing, and the turrets and arches are distorted. The AI image also has added trees that aren’t normally there, misplaced blue shading is on the left side of the AI image and it has overly bright lamps. The clock face that’s normally on the front of the castle is also replaced by a shining dot. 

We also compared the AI image of Pluto to one posted on Disney World’s website; similarly, in the AI image of Pluto, there are discrepancies. In the AI image, Pluto has five fingers instead of three, the costume fits too snugly and he has two whiskers instead of three. 

Further, the little girl’s skin is unnaturally smooth and her hands are misshapen. It also appears as though at least one person in the background seems to be missing a shirt and people in the background are walking in different depths of water – the water is at one person’s knees and reaches another person’s ankles. Cinderella Castle in the background doesn’t match the other AI image either, further proving these images were artificially generated.

Have you seen images you’d like the VERIFY team to analyze? Email us at questions@verifythis.com.