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Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, shut down operations Wednesday night due to Hurricane Milton and the tornadoes that sprung up before the storm even made landfall. But if you’re seeing photos of the theme park completely flooded in water, Disney fans can rest easy. Those photos are completely fake. But Russian state media, TikTok, and X are helping them spread.
Russian state media outlet RIA made a post on Telegram early Thursday with three images that appear to show Disney World submerged. “Social media users post photos of Disneyland in Florida flooding as a result of Hurricane Milton,” the RIA account said according to an English language translation.
How do we know these images are fake? For starters, the buildings aren’t right at all. If you compare, for instance, what it looks like on either side of Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom, you don’t see those buildings that appear in the fake image.
Fake AI image (left) and a real photo showing a crowd of people at the Cinderella Castle in Walt Disney World. Real photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images But you don’t even need to know what the real Cinderella’s Caste looks like to know it’s fake. Just zoom in on the turrets of the building itself. They’re not rendered completely, and some appear at very odd angles that make it clear these are AI-generated images.
The images quickly made their way back to X, the site formerly known as Twitter before it was purchased by Elon Musk. And it’s impossible to overstate just how awful that platform has become. From Holocaust denial tweets that are getting millions of views to breaking news tweets that show AI images of children crying, the whole place is bubbling over with garbage.
The fake images of Disney World were shared by right-wing influencer Mario Nawfal, a frequent purveyor of misinformation who’s often retweeted by Musk himself. As just one recent example, Nawfal contributed to a Jimmy Carter death hoax in July that was shared by other idiots like Laura Loomer and Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. Nawfal’s tweet helped spread the fake Disney photos even further on X before he finally deleted them.
There were also videos shared on TikTok showing incredibly over-the-top images of destruction at Disney World, like this one shared by user @joysparkleshine. The video appears to have been originally created as a joke by an account called MouseTrapNews but is getting reposted and stripped of all context, taken seriously by a certain segment of the population.
Some comments on the video include “I’m screaming the only place that made me feel like a kid again” and “Good… maybe they will now show all the underground tunnels under Disney next. Those that know… KNOW!!”
That last comment is a reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory which asserts that children are being trafficked by powerful political figures and people like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks. Incredibly, they believe that Donald Trump is going to save those kids. Yes, that Donald Trump.
Some AI images of the hurricane that were created as a joke even started showing up in various Russian news outlets. Like the one below showing Pluto in a life-jacket carrying a child through floodwaters. The image appears to have been earnestly shared by Rubryka.com, which credits the image to Bretral Florida Tourism Oversight District, an X account devoted to jokes about theme parks.
Image: Twitter Another joke image shared by that account, Bretral Florida Tourism Oversight District, showed a photo of a boat stuck on a large mountain rock, which anyone who knows Disney World will recognize as a permanent fixture at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park.
The sun is starting to rise in Florida.
Jesus Christ. #hurricanemilton pic.twitter.com/EQwQOEgqnU
— Scott Walker (@scottwalker88) October 10, 2024
Other accounts on X were sharing the QAnon theories, insisting that the destruction of Disney World might finally reveal the truth about child trafficking.
“Look at Mickey’s arms,” one particularly bizarre tweet with an image of a Mickey Mouse clock reads. “Could they be showing a date? October 9th. The day the storm hit Disney World. There are no coincidences. The Military are clearing out the tunnels underneath. Used for human trafficking of children and other horrible crimes.”
Look at Mickey’s arms. Could they be showing a date? October 9th. The day the storm hit Disney World.
There are no coincidences.
The Military are clearing out the tunnels underneath. Used for human trafficking of children and other horrible crimes.
«Hurricane Milton hits Walt… pic.twitter.com/Z7rZH2uVbb
— Bendleruschka (@bendleruschka) October 10, 2024
Milton made landfall as a Category 3, which caused thousands of canceled flights, battered homes and businesses with punishing winds, and killed at least nine people, according to NBC News, though that number is expected to grow as Floridians assess the damage.
Disney posted an update on its website Thursday explaining that everything would be opening back up on Friday.
“We’re grateful Walt Disney World Resort weathered the storm, and we are currently assessing the impacts to our property to prepare for reopening the theme parks, Disney Springs, and possibly other areas on Friday, October 11. Our hearts are with our fellow Floridians who were impacted by this storm,” the website reads.
But whatever you do, don’t believe everything you read on social media without double-checking with some trusted sources. It’s a ridiculous environment for disinformation right now. And that will likely continue to be our reality for the foreseeable future.
