I think Mickey and the handler misinterpreted the situation, and the OP being the mom knew why her son was crying. Sometimes kids cry because they're scared of Mickey but he was crying because Mickey was refusing to autograph. A way to salvage the situation would have been to put away the cameras and say we don't want a picture, we only want autographs. But if the PhotoPass photographer was there, you might not have been able to do that. Leaving was fine if there was no way to salvage the encounter! You always know your own kids best.