As part of the 2025 Disney Accelerator program, Disney recently held the 2025 Disney Accelerator Demo Day today on the iconic Walt Disney Studios lot. During the demo day, four growth-stage companies showcased how they are working with Disney to create immersive experiences and storytelling formats. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at the partnership between Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative branch of the theme parks division, and LIMINAL Space, developer of groundbreaking holographic 3D LED displays.
Imagineering Partner Unveils Mind-Bending Holographic 3D for Use in Theme Parks
LIMINAL Space, a developer of groundbreaking holographic 3D LED displays, shared a live demo of its modular “Ghost Tile” and “Spirit Tile” technologies. The tiles can transform any environment into a state-of-the-art immersive experience where guests can step into a story or world aided only by lightweight polarized glasses.
The problem, as described by LIMINAL Space CEO Nathan Huber, is that current augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) are somewhat isolating experiences. You can’t really interact or see your friends and family as you’re experiencing something cool. Huber says that LIMINAL is able to fix that problem by layering the LIMINAL optics experience on top of a very robust set of LED technology. Huber says that the scalability of the experience can go from one to thousands of people at a single time. Huber envisions a world where digital enhancements will augment our experiences, and LIMINAL allows for that future.
Walt Disney Imagineering is excited about this future and what it can mean for theme park attractions and experiences. Emily “EMO” O’Brien, Portfolio Executive Creative Producer at WDI, says that she brought everyone she could from within different disciplines and geographical locations to see what LIMINAL could do. Critically, O’Brien says that she wants teams to not only think of how to use this technology for future attractions or experiences, but also to enhance existing attractions.
O’Brien says that LIMINAL allows Disney to turn the page to a brand new chapter, and calls the partnership “really, really exciting”.
Jody Gerstner, Executive of Show Systems at WDI, says that LIMINAL will allow guests to experience something immersive without getting tunnel vision. When I think of tunnel vision, I imagine just about any current 3D experience within Walt Disney World attractions.
Gerstner says the combination of high-quality imagery, combined with LIMINAL’s vision filter in its sunglass-like wearable, could be a “big win” in Imagineering’s guest quality formula.
Leslie Evans, Executive Imagineer within R&D, says that the quality of the visuals is bright and crisp. Evans praises the detail delivered through the LED screens, saying that she was able to spot details in the footage that she hadn’t seen before. Evans talked about how painstaking the work of creating visuals can be, and that she wants to ensure that guests are able to see those details that Imagineers put into digital media with high contrast, sharp images.
Ryan Pardeiro, COO of LIMINAL Space, says that the pop-out 3D effect that their screens are able to produce is “much stronger than what people are used to seeing”.
Perhaps the greatest compliment for LIMINAL came from Imagineer Michael Hundgen, Portfolio Creative Producer at WDI. Hundgen said that LIMINAL was thinking about 3D presentation in a “totally unique and mind-bending way”. Hundgen said that as Imagineering continues to try and defy what guests expect from an attraction, combining forces with LIMINAL is pure Disney magic.
At Demo Day, LIMINAL Space showcased its collaboration with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to bring Marvel Studios’ Rocket Racoon to life, combining ILM’s markerless mocap technology with spatial LED displays from LIMINAL Space. The collaboration enabled a high-fidelity, real-time rendering of Rocket to interact with guests live on the Walt Disney Studios Lot.
In addition to this demonstration with ILM, LIMINAL Space is exploring potential applications with Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development and Disney Experiences to create new experiences and enhance existing attractions.
The Disney Accelerator serves as a catalyst for innovative collaborations between groundbreaking companies and Disney teams. Now in its 11th year, the Disney Accelerator program has evolved into a vital engine for creative and technical leadership, engaging visionary founders from around the world to build strategic business initiatives with Disney. Since the program’s inception, more than 60 global companies —including Epic Games, Eleven Labs, Kahoot!, and Attentive — have participated, forging new collaborations and advancing Disney’s commitment to innovation.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Please tell me the dev of this 3D holo tech is obsessed with a children’s card game and white dragons with blue eyes. It would be really cool to duel monsters in 3D.