Disney PhotoPass tested a Magic Shot in front of the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom late last week that turns guests into carved stone busts, and the finished photos appear to rely on generative AI. Guests who received the images posted them on Facebook and X in recent days, and a good share of the response has been negative. Disney has not commented on the test, has not confirmed how the images are made, and has not said whether the shot will return.
I have no words…
— Themountainking (@Themountainkin1) September 28, 2026
The test ran late last week and may have continued through the weekend. It is not clear whether it is still being offered.
What The Photos Look Like
In the shot, guests pose in front of the Mansion’s iron fence. The delivered photo replaces them with stone busts sitting on ivy-covered pedestals, with a blue-lit nighttime Haunted Mansion behind the fence. Each bust keeps the guest’s face, hair, glasses, facial hair, shirt and expression, rendered as gray sculpted stone. The look echoes the Dread Family busts in the attraction’s interactive queue, the same building whose refreshed facade came out from behind its scrim this summer.
The fully delivered images carry a vertical strip along one edge reading “Limited Edition 2026,” and at least one version adds a “2026” plaque to the front of the pedestal.
How It Differs From Past Magic Shots
Magic Shots have been a PhotoPass staple for years. Photographers frame a pose, and the finished photo adds a character or effect, such as Tinker Bell hovering in a guest’s hands. Those additions are captured in-camera or layered on afterward as a digital effect. The guest in the photo stays the guest.
The Haunted Mansion test is different. Instead of adding something around the person, the image recreates the person as a sculpture. Guests and fans on social media read that as generative AI, and the apparent use of the technology appears to be new for PhotoPass. Nothing in the delivered images identifies the tool used, and Disney has not confirmed the technical details.
The Reaction, And Disney’s Silence
Much of the pushback centers on that apparent AI use. Guests who are fine with a superimposed character objected to having their own likeness regenerated. Drew Smith, quoting the two photos above, wrote on X: “This is awful. Disney needs to end this “test” immediately.”
Disney has not said how long the test ran or whether the Haunted Mansion bust shot will come back, for the Halloween season or otherwise. We will update this story if Disney responds or if the shot reappears at Magic Kingdom.
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