Viral article used AI to create photo of Disney World's Cinderella Castle on fire

The photo that tricked people into believing that Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World in Florida burned down was generated using artificial intelligence by a satirical site called Mouse Trap News, the outlet told USA TODAY on Friday.

Cinderella Castle didn't burn down, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are not renting Disney World for a day, and the park's ticket prices will not triple by 2025. Those are all stories made up by Mouse Trap News, which bills itself as the "moused trusted name in Disney news" and fully declares that it publishes "real Disney news that is 100% fake."

Its latest viral post claimed on Feb. 24 that the famous castle burned to to the ground and suggested it would be replaced with something "more iconic," like a Spirit Halloween, Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated of the Disney Channel cartoon "Phineas and Ferb," or Elsa’s Castle from "Frozen."

"(Firefighters) did everything they could to save the castle and prevent as much damage as possible," reads the Mouse Trap article. "However, the castle ended up burning to the ground and is unsalvageable."

In reality, Cinderella Castle is standing tall and unburned in Orlando, Florida.

How did Mouse Trap do it?

Mouse Trap News told USA TODAY on Friday that the photo of the castle on fire was generated by AI. It features the castle's old gray and blue color scheme, which was changed in 2020 for Cinderella's 70th anniversary, according to to Disney Parks Blog, to a peach and blue color theme.

At the bottom of the story, the website says the story is "very real Disney news" that's "totally made-up."

The outlet also posted a video of the "fire" on TikTok, and it had more than 25 million views by Friday evening. The comment section gave voice to just how believable the post seemed.

"Bruh I believed it for a second until I read the comments. AI is scary bro," one user wrote. Another commented: "AI generated footage alone is getting difficult to tell, but intercutting it with real footage makes it 10x harder."

If Disney news seems outrageous, it might be a Mouse Trap

Everything that comes from Mouse Trap is in no way true, said a Mouse Trap founder who identified himself by the pen name Michael Morrow, a reference to Tom Morrow from Tomorrow Land's people mover.

The founder said he thinks that people don't stop to see where the news is coming from partially because because the headlines are so outrageous.

"They see the hook, they get latched in, they share it after 10 seconds and then, you know, it spreads like wildfire," he said.

Despite its website and social media accounts stating it publishes satirical articles, media outlets and influencers have repeatedly sourced its articles as breaking news.

Jimmy Fallon, SNL jumped to conclusions

In 2022, Jimmy Fallon reported that Disney filed patent for a roller coaster that jumps off the tracks. Disney didn't do that, it was just another one of Mouse Trap's articles.

"This is a fascinating case study on how news spreads," reads Mouse Trap's comment under the TikTok it posted of Fallon's opening monologue.

The folks from Mouse Trap news were shocked to see him speaking about it.

"It was just absolutely insane to see a picture that we created on our website on Jimmy Fallon and him just talking about this story that we completely made up," the founder told USA TODAY. "It was like, it was unreal to see that it made it that far."

In the video, a TV plays a clip of Jimmy Fallon's opening monologue about the roller coaster. "It's the only ride with a sign that says 'you must be this tall to die,'" Fallon said on his show.

USA TODAY could not find a clip of the monologue aside of Mouse Trap's TikTok.

Weekend Update on "Saturday Night Live" isn't immune to the website's satire, either. It did a skit on a new maternity ward that was going to open in the Magic Kingdom so guests can give birth at the park, another fake news story started by Mouse Trap's articles.

Mouse Trap also used to help teach how to spot satire

Mouse Trap News has also been used as an example on how to spot misinformation.

The PBS series Be MediaWise used Mouse Trap's post saying that Disney was asking Florida's government to allow it to serve alcohol to anyone 18 years or older as an example in its lesson on "how to spot satire before sharing it as misinformation."

"Don't just take some random TikToker's word for something," says host Ian Fox. "Follow the links they hopefully share to see the evidence for yourself."

Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture. You can follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz.