Exploring Disney Research Labs' 'Holotile Floor' with National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee Lanny Smoot

Jan 18, 2024 in "Walt Disney Imagineering"

Posted: Thursday January 18, 2024 8:34am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Lanny Smoot, the Disney Research Fellow and Imagineer behind some of Disney Park's greatest special effects, is being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Lanny is the first Disney Imagineer to receive this prestigious recognition and only the second individual from The Walt Disney Company to be inducted — the first being Walt Disney, honored posthumously for the multiplane camera.

Walt Disney Imagineering headquarters

Lanny has made significant contributions to Disney's theme parks, attractions, and entertainment experiences with over 100 lifetime patents. Born in 1955 in Brooklyn, New York, Smoot's curiosity in science and engineering began in childhood, spurred by his parents' support. After attending Brooklyn Technical High School and Columbia University on a scholarship from Bell Labs, he began his career at Bell Labs, contributing to fiber-optic transmission technologies and video teleconferencing systems.

Joining Disney in 1998, Smoot became their most inventive mind, developing interactive attractions like the "Where's the Fire?" at EPCOT and the interactive lightsaber experience at "Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser." Larry also made the floating Madame Leota a reality at the Haunted Mansion. Recognized with three Thea Awards and as a Disney Research Fellow, Smoot was the first at Disney to earn 100 patents. He advocates for diversity in innovation and encourages the exploration of natural talents among future innovators.

In this video released by Walt Disney Imagineering, we get to look inside the Disney Research labs and see some of Lanny's work, including the amazing "Holotile Floor."

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

DCBakerMay 11, 2024

If you'd like to learn a little more about Lanny Smoot, CBS aired a new interview with him today.

BrianApr 26, 2024

BrianApr 04, 2024

ThelazerJan 20, 2024

All the need do is set those experiences up as a "lighting lane" type access, while your already at the park you just add on $299 Light sabor training, take a quick immersive shuttle over, have a 20 min experience and be back in the park. Problem solved and it would sell out slots all day long.

JoeCamelJan 20, 2024

I'll believe that when I can buy an extendable light sabre and use it as one

MagicHappens1971Jan 20, 2024

Say what you want about Starcruiser, but things like the Lightsaber training and many other functions of the experience were incredible. The problem is that a lot of these experiences are not (practically) scalable. And that’s (one of many reasons) why they got “locked” behind a paywall.

_calebJan 20, 2024

In the video, I noticed a segment where there's a wooden crate moving across the holotile and someone in the foreground is waving their hand as if to use the Force to move it! Loads of people around here insist WDI has lost it ("Disney forgot how to innovate"), but Lanny's work, and stuff we've seen from WDI's stuntronics/robotics divisions prove that any struggles at the parks are a management issue, not a creative one.

Disgruntled WaltJan 19, 2024

An office.

MisterPenguinJan 19, 2024

All future walk-through attractions will be just one small room.

JoeCamelJan 19, 2024

Obviously this is for a MJ moonwalkthrough attraction.......

James AlucobondJan 19, 2024

I could see this being interesting in an Encanto attraction. There are a lot of similarities between the motion it produces and how Casita works, and you could use it with objects instead of guests.

DisneyCaneJan 19, 2024

I can also see it used as a tool for filming. People can walk without actually going anywhere. It can save on studio space for certain scenes. I doubt a guest would walk on it but I guess it could be turned into a ride system where you have a wheel-less ride vehicle that rides on it. I leave it to people with much more creativity than I have to figure out the ride it would be used for.

Tha RealestJan 19, 2024

Given how much of WDW’s clientele have walking issues and the liability issues, I could see this sort of insertion being viewed as ableist.

PurduevianJan 19, 2024

I doubt a guest will ever step on this type of floor, but it could make for some really interesting performances. Kind of like the Rey treadmill from Star cruiser, if they ever do another Star Wars stunt show it could be a very cool effect.