Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
Controversial AI artwork has finally been removed from one Disney park.
The use of AI in the entertainment industry is endlessly controversial — including at Disney’s theme parks. Just as with music, film, and literature, the fear is that an over reliance on AI not only substitutes for human workers but strips away natural creativity.
Credit: Disney
While we’re still yet to see the full impact AI will have on Disney’s theme parks, it’s clear that Disney has plans to integrate it into its attractions and creations one way or another.
In late 2024, Walt Disney World Resort started trialing a new AI-led system at the food court of All-Star Sports. Parkgoers have also accused Disney of using AI to create a new voiceover for King Arthur Carrousel, as well as to create park-themed merchandise.
Most recently, fans claimed that Disneyland had used AI to create artwork for its new Haunted Mansion gift shop.
Mixed Responses to AI Feature
Having shuttered the queue for several months for a revamp in 2024, Haunted Mansion’s line was given several upgrades while a new gift shop — Madame Leota’s Somewhere Beyond — was built from the ground up. This was finally unveiled over the holidays to mixed responses, to say the least, but regular fans were particularly disappointed by the use of AI in the shop.
Credit: Disney
A piece of artwork displayed in the new Haunted Mansion store portrayed a bride — which, parkgoers noticed, appeared to have been generated by AI and purchased on Redbubble, not designed or created in-house by Walt Disney Imagineering.
“This is distressing/puzzling because just about every Imagineer I know can draw/paint a better portrait of a ghost probably in less time than it took to buy, ship and frame this heap of hackness,” noted @Toddmartens.
Parkgoers have since noticed that Disney has removed the artwork from the shop.
rip not long and will not be forgotten
https://twitter.com/wedenterprise/status/1875365242693472266?s=46&t=S0ixHcvVOaci7vPPIHHwmw
The spot previously occupied by the portrait is now empty in Madame Leota’s. While Disney hasn’t commented on its removal or its connection to the critiques, the timing does seem awfully suspicious.
Other Critiques of Madame Leota’s
AI artwork aside, guests also noted that a bust in the store appeared to have been purchased on Amazon, where it’s currently available for less than $20.
As per Disney, the backstory for Madame Leota’s is that it is located inside the carriage house where the famed fortune-teller used to live. Unfortunately, critics said that the home looked more like a prefabricated garden shed. Yikes.
How do you feel about theme parks using AI?
