Parents Be Cautious

[francie57]

We were at Disney last week and witnessed something very troubling at the Magic Kingdom. We were on Main Street waiting for a Photopass picture when the family before us was having their childs picture. Out of no where come a Phillipine guy and takes the child's picture. The child's mom was confused but they walked away. My son then witnessed the guy sending the picture to someone from his phone. The guy stared down my son when he realized my son was watching. Come to find out there were 6 guys and a women in the group. athey kept lookong around and knew we were watching them. I walked up to the Photopass photographer and told him what was going on. At the same time my husband also approached another employee and told him what was going on. The group realized what we were doing and scattered, but not before taking a picture of a boy in a stroller as his parents walked up Main Street.

Please be cautious if someone just suddenly takes your childs picture without asking. Who knows what they are doing with the pictures. A cop we know said there are numerouse things they can be doing such as superimposing the faces on childrens bodies for child porn or there is a real danger of human trafficking.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Or you could have misunderstood what was even happening.
I'm sure I have pics of random little kids that I did not get permission to have.
This is especially true for characters I've seen interacting with kids.
I don't care about the kids. I just wanted to snap a pic of Alice.

 

[LSUmiss]

How do you know he was “Phillipene”? And I have also accidentally taken other kids’ pics.

 

[Nancyg56]

Whenever you are in a public place with your kids there is a possibility that their picture will be taken. I have tried to get pictures of characters before a family or a child approaches them, and generally, my attempt has been an epic fail, and I end up with some fraction of a stranger's child in the shot. I am not sure what that family was up to and I am betting you are not either, however how parents safeguard their kids should be no different in WDW than it is in any public place. Pictures may or may not happen anywhere you go.

 

[mom2rtk]

We were at Disney last week and witnessed something very troubling at the Magic Kingdom. We were on Main Street waiting for a Photopass picture when the family before us was having their childs picture. Out of no where come a Phillipine guy and takes the child's picture. The child's mom was confused but they walked away. My son then witnessed the guy sending the picture to someone from his phone. The guy stared down my son when he realized my son was watching. Come to find out there were 6 guys and a women in the group. athey kept lookong around and knew we were watching them. I walked up to the Photopass photographer and told him what was going on. At the same time my husband also approached another employee and told him what was going on. The group realized what we were doing and scattered, but not before taking a picture of a boy in a stroller as his parents walked up Main Street.

Please be cautious if someone just suddenly takes your childs picture without asking. Who knows what they are doing with the pictures. A cop we know said there are numerouse things they can be doing such as superimposing the faces on childrens bodies for child porn or there is a real danger of human trafficking.

Children's faces are readily available all over the internet. Why would someone pay admission and try to sneak a photo in a Disney park?

 

[halfpintpeggy]

there is a real danger of human trafficking.

Yes, there is & hopefully everyone will be vigilant. Thanks for speaking up when you witnessed something which seemed out of the ordinary to you at that time. See something, say something.

 

[Nayan]

Yes, there is & hopefully everyone will be vigilant. Thanks for speaking up when you witnessed something which seemed out of the ordinary to you at that time. See something, say something.

Someone taking a pic of a character and getting others people children in the picture happens. Someone taking a pic of children that are not theirs needs to be brought to the attention of a CM stat! While we like to think Disney is a safe place, it's really not and people need to be ever vigilant. I've told this story many times, but it bears repeating: At ASM we witnessed a guy hiding behind the bushes at the pool taking pics of little kids playing. He was clearly NOT with the family and we alerted a CM of this. We were checking out so we didn't see what happened to the guy but the cops arrived pretty quick.

Be aware of your surroundings and like the PP said, if you see something say something!

 

[marcyleecorgan]

There are tons of professional photographers in Disney who pay BIG BUCKS to take pictures there. I am sure they occasionally take photos with people in them.

I have TONS of strangers in my photos because there are always at least 20,000 people who want to experience the same Park that you do.

Although this might be a real concern at any other place, Disney is not really prime time territory for this kind of behavior. It's too expensive to pay the ticket price for a photo when you can go to any playground and get photos of random children for free

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd you're in public - expect people to take photos of you while at Disney!

 

[NYCgrrl]

Silly thread that could be dangerous to anyone targeted.

 

[DisneyOma]

Someone taking a pic of a character and getting others people children in the picture happens. Someone taking a pic of children that are not theirs needs to be brought to the attention of a CM stat! While we like to think Disney is a safe place, it's really not and people need to be ever vigilant. I've told this story many times, but it bears repeating: At ASM we witnessed a guy hiding behind the bushes at the pool taking pics of little kids playing. He was clearly NOT with the family and we alerted a CM of this. We were checking out so we didn't see what happened to the guy but the cops arrived pretty quick.

Be aware of your surroundings and like the PP said, if you see something say something!

Except there's nothing illegal about taking pictures in public, so not much the cops can do.

 

[MikeOhio]

Someone taking a pic of a character and getting others people children in the picture happens. Someone taking a pic of children that are not theirs needs to be brought to the attention of a CM stat! While we like to think Disney is a safe place, it's really not and people need to be ever vigilant. I've told this story many times, but it bears repeating: At ASM we witnessed a guy hiding behind the bushes at the pool taking pics of little kids playing. He was clearly NOT with the family and we alerted a CM of this. We were checking out so we didn't see what happened to the guy but the cops arrived pretty quick.

Be aware of your surroundings and like the PP said, if you see something say something!

Cops would not have done anything in this situation. It’s perfectly legal for anyone to take pictures of kids out in pulblic.

 

[LYSE]

Tourist from some cultures have a weird (to us) draw to taking pictures of strangers and anything (and anyone) they think is cute, if you watch tour groups you'll notice them taking pictures of other people with and without permission... kinda like street photography except much more obvious.

We've had a tour group take pictures of our dogs.

 

[daisy2013]

Every time my mother travels abroad she takes pictures of local children. I have told her to stop but she says she always asks the tour guide and they are fine with it ::eye roll::
In a public place you will end up in photos of other people. My guess is the guy was taking a photo of the character and not the kid and then sent it to a friend or family. There are so many more likely reasons why someone would take a photo like that other than child trafficking

 

[OhDannyBoy]

It's never a bad idea to be vigilant and you feel uneasy, saying something to a CM will not hurt anything.

I know pictures of random people happen. But if you take my child's photo without permission, I'm going to be confrontational with you or at very least let you know that I see you.