There are two people from The Walt Disney Company in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. One is Walt Disney and the other is current Imagineer Lanny Smoot. Lanny has more patents than anyone in the history of Disney with over 100. But Lanny’s path to Imagineering started with one spark of inspiration. One of his earliest memories is when his father brought home a battery, an electric bell, and a light bulb which he wired together so that the bell would ring and the bulb would light up. That special moment, combined with the support of his parents, led him to excel despite not knowing anyone else who had the passion for engineering that he had.
He went on to attend Brooklyn Technical High School where he was selected as a Bell Labs Engineering Scholar, which granted him a full scholarship to Columbia University, summer work at Bell Labs and a guarantee of full-time employment with the company after graduation. He began his career at Bell Labs in 1978. While there, he invented some of the first fiber-optic transmission technologies that were used in the Bell Telephone system. He went on to create other new innovations such as the first high-quality large-screen video teleconferencing system called the “VideoWindow.” Another invention was the Electronic Panning Camera which allowed an unlimited number of users control their individual views of a remotely televised site. It was this invention that led to bringing Lenny into the Disney fold.
He was approached by Disney representatives in 1998 who were interested in his camera, and he was recruited to manage the company’s research group on Long Island. When that group relocated to California, Lanny followed. He has been developing new technologies ever since. One of his proudest achievements was his work on EPCOT’s “Where’s the Fire?” which was at Innoventions from 2004 to 2014. Lanny was proud of using his entertainment technology to also teach families on how to be safer.
Lanny’s work went far beyond EPCOT and across the globe from interactive koi ponds at the Crystal Lotus Restaurant in Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel to Fortress Explorations at Tokyo DisneySea. His inventions even go beyond land with interactive, multi-paneled floor surfaces in the Oceaneers Lab aboard the Disney Cruise Line. For Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Lanny and his team developed the retractable lightsaber that wowed guests while also creating the interactive lightsaber training experience.
His latest invention is the HoloTile system which has numerous applications from interactive experiences, attraction development, and live shows. Despite being the recipient of three Thea Awards from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), being named a TEA Master in 2020, and being a part of the 2024 class of inductees into the National Inventor Hall of Fame, Lanny is not done dreaming up new inventions. If you have ever been to a Disney theme park around the globe, odds are that you experienced a Lanny Smoot invention. With 106 patents under his belt, we look forward to experiencing whatever he can dream up next.