A newly published Disney patent filing describes software that spots the strangers in your photo, separates them from the people you meant to shoot and removes them on its own.
Anyone who’s tried to get a clean shot in front of a castle knows the problem. There’s always someone in the background.
Disney may have a fix in the works. A Disney patent filing called “Crowd Removal and Automatic Focus for Images” was published this week, WDW News Today reported on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
The idea is simple to explain, even if the tech isn’t. The system would figure out who belongs in your photo, figure out who doesn’t and take the extras out automatically.
Chip and Company used a crowded Cinderella Castle photo as its example, which feels about right. WDW News Today linked to the filing on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s website.
How would Disney’s crowd removal technology work?
In a few steps. Here’s how the filing’s abstract describes it, according to WDW News Today:
The system takes a photo with one or more subjects and one or more obstructions
It splits the image into segments, with the subjects and the obstructions in separate pieces
It gets depth information for each segment
It uses that depth information to figure out which segments are the real focus
Then it changes the image based on those focal segments
In plain English, the people closest to the camera and in focus are probably the ones you meant to photograph. Everyone else is fair game.
Depth information is the same kind of data phones use for portrait mode, where the background gets blurred behind the person in front. Disney’s filing would use it to decide who stays, not just what to blur.
The filing mostly covers finding and removing the obstructions, not exactly how the empty spots get filled in. It does say those areas “may be backfilled or otherwise modified,” WDW News Today noted.
What’s different about Disney’s version?
The automatic part. Right now, the filing says, tools like this usually make the user mark which subjects to keep and which ones to erase, WDW News Today reported.
Disney’s approach would have the computer make that call on its own. That’s a big deal if you’re editing hundreds of photos instead of one.
Will Disney PhotoPass erase crowds?
Maybe someday, but nobody’s promising that. WDW News Today’s writer said the technology “could be extremely beneficial” for PhotoPass at the Disney parks, but that’s the outlet’s guess. The filing itself doesn’t mention theme parks.
PhotoPass is Disney’s photo service in the parks, where Disney photographers snap pictures at landmarks and on some rides. A tool that cleans up the background on its own would fit that pretty naturally.
Still, a published patent doesn’t mean a product is coming. Companies file patents on lots of ideas that never ship, and WDW News Today noted that publication “does not mean we will necessarily see this technology any time soon.”
Can phones already remove people from photos?
Yes, and that’s part of what makes this interesting. Google’s Magic Eraser, Samsung’s Object Eraser and Apple’s Clean Up tool can all remove unwanted people or objects from a picture.
Most of those still ask you to tap or circle what you want gone, at least some of the time. Disney’s filing describes deciding for you, using depth information to tell the main subjects from the background.
Why does Disney care about photos?
Because photos are a huge part of a Disney trip. Guests line up for castle shots, character photos and ride photos, and Disney sells PhotoPass downloads as part of the experience.
Crowds are also a fact of life at the parks, especially around the castles. Anything that makes a busy-day photo look like an empty-park photo has obvious appeal.
What other Disney patents have made news?
Like most big companies, Disney patents a lot of ideas, and fans like to dig through the filings for hints about what’s next. Plenty of patents never turn into anything guests can see.
For now, this one is just a description of an idea. If it ever shows up in the Disney app or on your PhotoPass downloads, you probably won’t hear about it in a press release first. You’ll just notice the stranger in the Hawaiian shirt is gone.
Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.
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Hat Tips:
WDW News Today (Oct. 14, 2026), the patent filing, its abstract and caveats
Chip and Company, Chris B (Oct. 14, 2026), the Cinderella Castle example
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