This Imagineer Is Only the 2nd Person at Disney To Be Awarded This Honor — The First Was Walt Himself

One Disney Imagineer just received an honor that has only ever been awarded to one other person at The Walt Disney Company, and that other person was Walt Disney himself.

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Lanny Smoot is the mastermind behind several incredible special effects at the Disney theme parks, and now he has officially been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame!

At a ceremony held at Walt Disney Imagineering’s campus in Glendale, California, the National Inventors Hall of Fame announced the 2024 inductees, including Imagineer and Disney Research Fellow Lanny Smoot. Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences, said, “As Disney’s most prolific inventor, Lanny continues to amaze all of us with his artistic ingenuity, technical expertise, and endless imagination.”

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Walt Disney is the only other person from the company to receive this honor. Disney was honored posthumously for his work on the multiplane camera.

Smoot has created incredible effects that you’ll spot in the theme parks, like making Madame Leota float in the Haunted Mansion attraction. He also was the creator of the extendable lightsaber used by Disney Entertainment and the Magic Playfloor you can find on Disney cruise ships.

Madame Leota

Smoot chose one patent to list for his induction: His work on “Where’s the Fire?” at Innoventions, which was previously located in EPCOT. Disney said that “this interactive exhibit aimed to educate guests on fire safety and the importance of fire prevention through engaging challenges. Guests were able to ‘shine’ a special flashlight device on the walls of a house and through the magic of Lanny’s technology, they were able to spot fire dangers and learn to prevent these from happening in the future.”

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Smoot commented on his induction: “As a life-long inventor, I am excited, delighted, and humbled to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. To be included alongside my childhood hero, Thomas Edison, and my lifelong role model, Jim West — the inventor of the electret microphone, is both exciting and humbling. And as someone who’s had the privilege of working at The Walt Disney Company, it’s especially meaningful to know that Walt Disney himself is also an inductee.”

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In total, Smoot has over a hundred patents to his name, with 74 of them being created while he’s been with Disney. He’s not finished inventing, yet! Right now, he’s working on something called the HoloTile Floor, which is going to be “the world’s first, and only, multi-person, omni-directional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor, where any number of people can have a shared virtual reality experience, walk an unlimited distance in any direction, but never collide or walk off its surface.”

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Disney is hoping that this floor has VR and gaming applications, and they might use them in the theme parks as well! In addition, it could be used on a stage, where performers could dance and move in new ways or stage sets and props could be reconfigured easily.

©Disney

Get a look at this new invention here:

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Which of Lanny Smoot’s inventions do you think is the most impressive? Let us know in the comments!