Light Lab

Science experiment-themed beverage location

EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, Walt Disney World Resort

© Disney

How do you turn technology into something guests can experience?

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Light Lab transformed the idea of an innovation space into an immersive guest experience—using light, technology, color, and interactive moments to create an environment that felt playful, futuristic, and distinctly Disney.

The opportunity was to create a space where guests could explore the possibilities of light and technology rather than simply encounter them as supporting elements.

The experience brought together storytelling, environmental design, interactive technology, graphics, and experiential moments to create a space designed for curiosity and discovery.

Light wasn’t simply something guests looked at.

It became part of the experience.

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Technology can easily become invisible infrastructure.

The challenge with Light Lab was to make the technology itself visible, approachable, and engaging—creating an environment where guests could understand and interact with ideas that might otherwise feel abstract.

That meant considering the experience from both a storytelling and spatial perspective:

CONCEPT
What story does the environment tell about innovation and experimentation?

LIGHT
How can light become a storytelling and design element rather than simply illumination?

INTERACTION
How can guests actively participate rather than simply observe?

VISUAL IDENTITY
How can graphics, color, and environmental elements create a distinctive sense of place?

GUEST JOURNEY
How can each discovery build curiosity about what comes next?

The goal wasn’t simply to create a high-tech space.

It was to make technology feel magical, understandable, and fun.

MY ROLE

DESIGNING FROM THE PLAN

Light Lab was developed within an existing space that offered a relatively blank slate for the new experience, giving the creative and design teams an opportunity to rethink how guests would move through and interact with the environment.

I walked the space with the design and architecture teams, using the physical environment alongside plans and layouts to understand its opportunities and constraints. A particularly important consideration was the space’s unique ramped entrance, which shaped how we approached guest arrival, circulation, and the transition into the experience.

I considered how the physical layout could support the story and interactive elements, including where guests would pause, explore, interact, and move from one experience to the next. The goal was to use the existing architecture as a foundation while creating an environment that felt intentionally designed for Light Lab.

Working alongside the design and architecture teams, I helped connect the physical space, guest flow, interactive experiences, and creative story, using both the plans and on-site experience to inform the design decisions.

CREATING THE STORY & GUEST EXPERIENCE

As the Story Lead for Light Lab, I helped develop the narrative and guest experience for this interactive Epcot experience centered on light, technology, and experimentation.

I helped shape the story behind the experience and determine how guests would encounter and interact with it. Rather than treating the space as simply a collection of visual installations, I considered how the individual experiences could work together to create a cohesive journey and give guests a reason to explore, experiment, and engage.

I also worked directly with Food & Beverage partners to test and develop glowing food and beverage offerings, helping extend the Light Lab concept beyond the physical installations and into what guests could taste and experience. These experiments became another storytelling touchpoint, connecting the theme of light and experimentation to the food and beverage experience.

I worked across creative, design, and operational teams to develop the story, guest-facing messaging, interactive experiences, and experiential touchpoints, considering how guests would move through the space and what they would discover along the way.

The goal was to make the story feel embedded throughout the experience—so guests weren’t simply learning about light and technology, but experiencing the concept through interaction, experimentation, food, and play.

RESULT

Light Lab became an immersive environment where technology, light, storytelling, and guest interaction worked together to create a distinctive experience.

The space encouraged guests to explore and discover, turning concepts that could have remained abstract into tangible moments within the environment.

The result demonstrates how experiential storytelling can connect physical design and emerging technology—using narrative to give interactive experiences context and purpose.

For me, Light Lab represents an important part of the creative process: taking something invisible or abstract and finding a way to make people experience it.

The technology creates the possibility.
The environment makes it tangible.
The guest makes the discovery.