Disney World to stop Photoshopping masks onto visitors who aren’t wearing them

‘In response to guest requests, we tested modifying some ride photos,’ says Disney spokesperson

Disney World will no longer digitally add face masks onto guest’s faces in ride photos, after being caught out by members of a Facebook group.

Disney’s parks in Florida reopened in July with various Covid-19 measures, including forcing guests to wear face masks inside the park, unless eating or swimming.

Guests who took their masks off were initially not eligible to buy the photos taken on the rides, according to USA Today.

However, on 6 December, a Disney World visitor posted photos to the Facebook group, Disney World Junkies, which appeared to show face masks photoshopped onto guests, according to Walt Disney World News.

In the picture, the woman in the back row of Animal Kingdom's Dinosaur ride, appeared to be wearing a black face mask that was too big for her face, which looked like it had been digitally imposed onto the image.

“Got all of our photo pass photos from yesterday except Dinosaur. Just finally got it and you can see Disney has already started digitally adding masks so everyone can still get their photos,” the visitor claimed in the caption of their post.

“The woman behind us apparently wasn't wearing hers,” the visitor added.

On Monday, Disney confirmed that it had digitally altered some ride photos and announced that it would end the practice.

“In response to guest requests, we tested modifying some ride photos,” Disney spokesperson Jacquee Wahler said in a statement on Monday.

“We are no longer doing this and continue to expect guests to wear face coverings except when actively eating or drinking while stationary,” she added.

It is currently unclear whether guests who take their face masks off while on rides will still be able to purchase photos.

Since Disney reopened its parks in Florida at a limited capacity earlier this year, it has required guests to be temperature checked on arrival and has mandated strict social distancing measures.

Although the state is struggling to contain the virus, Disney’s parks in Florida reopened without seeing any major coronavirus outbreaks.

However the state as a whole has struggled, and since the start of the pandemic, Florida has recorded more than 1.13 million coronavirus cases and at least 19,865 deaths.

Last month, Disney announced that it was laying off workers from its theme park in Anaheim, California, as coronavirus measures in the state have kept the site closed since March.

While Disney’s site in Paris announced that it was closing until February after a second lockdown was imposed in France, and its park in Hong Kong closed earlier this month, due to the ongoing pandemic.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 16.2 million people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached 299,455.