He ran the show in 2022 and 2024. He’s now Disney’s CEO, Thomas Mazloum runs Experiences, and Neil Patrick Harris is hosting Saturday night. The format changed with the org chart.

For two D23 cycles, the parks panel was Josh D’Amaro with a microphone.

Saturday it’s Neil Patrick Harris, working from a Carousel of Progress theme, with D’Amaro appearing as Disney’s CEO rather than running the room.

Horizons: A Carousel of Progress runs Saturday, August 15 at 7 p.m. Pacific from the Honda Center, streaming on Disney+.

What changed at the top of Disney Experiences

Two moves, both this spring.

D’Amaro became CEO in March 2026, succeeding Bob Iger. Thomas Mazloum took over as chairman of Disney Experiences, effective March 18, 2026.

Mazloum is confirmed to appear Saturday alongside D’Amaro and a group of Imagineers. It’s his first Horizons in the chair.

Why handing the show to a celebrity host matters

It turns a keynote into a production.

The D’Amaro version of this presentation was an executive walking an audience through a slate, with energy borrowed from a rock concert. Putting a professional host in front of it makes the show an independent piece of programming rather than a corporate address.

That could mean a tighter, better-paced two hours. It could also mean fewer moments where the person announcing something is the person who greenlit it.

Disney has spent two weeks lowering expectations

Which is the other half of Saturday’s setup.

Disney Tourist Blog flagged the messaging shift ahead of the event, noting that Disney has been steering fans toward progress updates on announced projects rather than promising a slate of new reveals.

The 2024 version of this panel produced close to 50 individual announcements. Setting a lower bar in advance is a reasonable move after a year like that, and it also means anything genuinely new lands harder.

The pavilion argues the opposite

Imagineering built its largest pavilion in company history for this event.

More than 150 Imagineers staff it across the weekend. Its Center Stage, modeled on the 1967 Tomorrowland Terrace stage, hosts over 30 presentations. Models for projects in Florida, California, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai are all on the floor.

That is not the footprint of a company with nothing to say. It’s the footprint of a company with a great deal under construction and not much new to announce, which are different problems.

Saturday sorts out which one this is.

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:

Tech Times (August 13, 2026), the leadership timeline including Mazloum’s March 18 effective date and the analysis of the format shift from corporate keynote to produced show
Disney Tourist Blog (August 2026), the observation that Disney has been tempering expectations ahead of the parks panel
Disney Parks Blog (August 13, 2026), the Imagineering: Horizons pavilion details including the 150 Imagineers, the Center Stage design, and the presentation count
Wandering In Disney (August 2026), the comparison to the scale of the 2024 announcements
Theme Park Insider (August 2026), the Horizons stream time and the confirmed on-stage lineup

Horizons is the first Disney D23 parks panel…