Disney’s D23 parks panel will stream live on Disney+ for the first time
How to watch D23’s parks panel live on Disney+
Horizons: A Carousel of Progress, D23’s big theme-park reveal show, streams live on Disney+ Saturday, August 15 at 7 p.m. PT, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. It’s the first time the parks panel has been livestreamed, so fans don’t need a ticket to catch the news.
For the first time ever, you won’t need a D23 ticket to watch Disney reveal what’s coming to its parks.
Disney announced that its marquee theme-park panel, Horizons: A Carousel of Progress, will stream live on Disney+ this Saturday, August 15, at 7 p.m. PT. Actor and noted Figment superfan Neil Patrick Harris hosts, live from the Honda Center in Anaheim.
This is the show where Disney drops its biggest parks news, and it’s never been livestreamed before. For the millions of fans who can’t get to D23, that’s a genuinely big deal.
What Horizons: A Carousel of Progress will cover
The panel is Disney’s every-other-year state of the union for its parks and cruises.
It covers the whole Disney Experiences portfolio, which means Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and the international resorts. Disney says to expect project updates, first looks, new artwork and renderings, behind-the-scenes stories, and a closer look at how its most ambitious projects are coming along.
Rather than one big keynote, this year’s show is built as a series of conversations with the Imagineers and creative leaders actually building the projects, with some live performances mixed in. Disney Experiences chairman Thomas Mazloum and Imagineering’s Bruce Vaughn are among those appearing.
Why the last one of these matters for what’s coming
To understand why fans care this much, look at what the last D23 parks panel announced.
The 2024 version is where Disney revealed a wave of huge projects: Villains Land and a Monsters Inc. roller coaster for Walt Disney World, plus new Avengers and Avatar additions at Disneyland. At the time, those were just concept art on a screen.
Disney’s whole framing for this year is that those projects have graduated from concepts to construction. As the company put it, many of them are “no longer concepts on a screen” and are now being designed, engineered, built, and tested. So Horizons is less “here’s a brand-new dream” and more “here’s how the dreams we showed you are actually coming together.”
One name in the presenter lineup hints at the headliner: Caroline May, the executive creative director leading Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, is featured. Fans tracking Villains Land, the Tropical Americas project, or the next Disney Cruise Line ships have Saturday circled.
Disney is tempering expectations a little
Here’s the honest caveat, because Disney basically said it out loud.
The framing this year, “a carousel of progress,” is doing some expectation-management. By leaning on the idea that this is a progress update on already-announced projects, Disney is quietly signaling not to expect a 2024-sized avalanche of brand-new reveals. Progress updates are exciting, but they’re a different animal from first-time announcements.
There’s also a practical warning worth passing along: the parks panel livestream has a notorious history of internet and streaming issues. If you’re tuning in Saturday, don’t be shocked if the feed hiccups at the worst possible moment. It happens basically every time.
How to watch the D23 parks panel
The details are simple, which is the point of putting it on Disney+.
Horizons streams live for all Disney+ subscribers on Saturday, August 15, at 7 p.m. PT, which is 10 p.m. ET. You just need a Disney+ subscription, no D23 badge required.
It’s also not the only D23 panel streaming. Disney is putting several on Disney+ across August 14-16, including a Percy Jackson season 3 panel, the Disney Worldbuilders panel, and the Disney Legends Awards ceremony.
So set a reminder, maybe make some popcorn, and settle in. Disney’s about to show its hand on the next few years of its parks, and for the first time, everyone gets a seat at the table. Just keep the WiFi close, in case the stream gets ideas.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
WDW News Today (August 10, 2026), the Disney+ livestream confirmation, the full D23 streaming schedule, the Neil Patrick Harris hosting detail, and the Imagineer presenter lineup including Caroline May
Laughing Place (August 10, 2026), the Disney Parks Blog announcement and the first-time-livestreamed detail
Gizmodo (August 10, 2026), the 2024 panel’s Villains Land, Monsters Inc., Avengers, and Avatar reveals and the Honda Center venue
Disney Tourist Blog (August 10, 2026), the expectation-tempering framing and the panel’s history of streaming issues
Orlando Sentinel (August 10, 2026), the report that surfaced this coverage