Disney Is Streaming Its D23 Parks Showcase Live on Disney+ Saturday, and No Badge Is Required

Every couple of years Disney fills an arena in Anaheim, points a spotlight at its Imagineers, and starts announcing the theme park projects that will shape the next decade. And every couple of years, watching from home has meant taking whatever route Disney offers. In 2024 that route was Fortnite, and it was a narrow one. D23 said fans could watch a special segment of the showcase inside the game, while WDW News Today reported that the full panel was expected to stream only for Disney Cast Members.

Not this time. Disney announced Monday that Horizons: A Carousel of Progress, the Disney Experiences showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, will stream live on Disney+ beginning at 7 p.m. PT on Saturday, August 15. For Florida fans that is 10 p.m. Eastern, on a weekend night, from the couch.

Official key art for the showcase, which Disney also brands as the D23 Disney Experiences Showcase. Image: Disney.

Thousands in the room, everyone else at home

The showcase still happens in front of a live crowd at the Honda Center. Disney says the size of the room is not the point: "While thousands of fans will fill the Honda Center, the format is designed to feel surprisingly intimate."

Neil Patrick Harris hosts. Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum joins him, along with nine Walt Disney Imagineering leaders. WDWMagic, which published the full D23 streaming schedule Monday, notes that "no additional steps are required beyond a standard Disney+ subscription."

Four Walt Disney World Imagineers are on the bill

Disney published the entire roster with portraits and short bios, and four of the nine carry Walt Disney World in their titles. That is a heavy Florida presence on one stage:

• Michael Hundgen, Portfolio Executive Creative Producer, Walt Disney World
• Caroline May, Executive Creative Director, Walt Disney World
• Chris Beatty, Portfolio Executive Creative Director, Walt Disney World
• Jason Grandt, Executive Creative Director, Walt Disney World

Rounding out the lineup: Bruce Vaughn, President and Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Imagineering; Ali Rubinstein, Senior Vice President, Global Creative & Development Studios; Emily "Emo" O'Brien, Portfolio Executive Creative Producer for Disneyland Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort; Claire Weiss, Portfolio Executive Creative Director for Disney Cruise Line; and Brent Strong, Executive Creative Director.

Michael Hundgen, Portfolio Executive Creative Producer for Walt Disney World, is one of four Imagineers on the Horizons stage who carry Walt Disney World in their titles. Image: Disney.

Hundgen's bio is the one park fans will like. Disney traces his career back to one childhood run-in with the Country Bear Jamboree, which it says set off a lasting interest in the parks and in Imagineering. The write-up closes with a line about the showcase name: "As a lifelong EPCOT fan, being part of a showcase inspired by Horizons feels especially meaningful."

What Disney is actually promising

The announcement spells out the assignment: "Fans can expect project updates, first looks, new artwork and renderings, behind-the-scenes stories, creative insights, and a closer look at how some of Disney Experiences' most ambitious projects are progressing."

Note the emphasis. Disney is pitching this one as a progress report on the 2024 slate, though it is still promising first looks and new artwork. Disney puts it plainly: "Now, many of those projects are no longer concepts on a screen. They're being designed, engineered, built, tested, and brought to life by teams across the globe."

The sign-off is about as on the nose as Disney gets: "So, mark your calendar and get ready to go behind the construction walls, because the next chapter of Disney Experiences isn't just being imagined. It's being built."

A red balloon in Disney's own photos

The most interesting thing in Disney's post is a detail Disney did not point out. The portrait Disney published of Jason Grandt was taken in front of the Piston Peak National Park construction site at Magic Kingdom, and up in the sky behind him, above the construction wall, there is a small red balloon. Cinderella Castle sits in the distance on the left.

WDW News Today spotted it and reported Monday that "Disney has conducted height tests for Piston Peak National Park at Magic Kingdom, a photo from Disney Parks Blog revealed." A red balloon test is a standard construction technique: float a marker at the planned height of a structure, photograph it from a range of angles, and see how much of it intrudes on views it should not.

Jason Grandt's official portrait, with the red balloon visible in the sky at upper left and Cinderella Castle beyond the construction wall. Image: Disney.

WDWNT is careful not to overstate what the balloon marks, writing that it was "likely raised to the height of a planned Piston Peak structure" and possibly one of the piston shaped mountains. Disney has not commented on the test.

Sightlines have been the running question for the Cars project since it was announced. WDWNT notes that Walt Disney Imagineering promised to weigh them, and said the new architecture would stay out of the views from Main Street, U.S.A. and other parts of the park. WDWNT reports that Imagineers have compared the concealment approach to Mount Prometheus at Tokyo DisneySea, which reads as a rolling green hillside rather than a volcano when viewed from the Cape Cod area of American Waterfront, and that the view from Liberty Square is planned to be rock work and a large waterfall.

WDWNT says it expects Piston Peak National Park to come up during Saturday's showcase. Disney has not confirmed what is on the rundown.

About that title

"Horizons: A Carousel of Progress" is a double reference, and both halves point at attractions guests cannot currently experience. Horizons was the EPCOT pavilion about the future that closed for good on January 9, 1999. Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress played its final performance of the long running current show on July 5 this year before closing for a reimagining targeted at 2027. Disney has branded its parks showcase Horizons since 2024, so the fresh half this year is the subtitle. Naming the show about what comes next after two attractions defined by looking forward is a very Disney move.

The rest of the D23 stream schedule

Per WDWMagic, six D23 events stream on Disney+ across the three days. Pacific times first, Eastern in parentheses:

• Friday, August 14, 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET): Walt Disney Animation Studios: Beauty and the Beast 35th Anniversary Celebration
• Saturday, August 15, 3:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. ET): Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Season 3 Panel with Cast
• Saturday, August 15, 6:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. ET): Disney Rewind Encore Concert
• Saturday, August 15, 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET): Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase
• Sunday, August 16, 10:15 a.m. PT (1:15 p.m. ET): Disney Worldbuilders: Panel with Leslie Iwerks
• Sunday, August 16, 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET): 2026 Disney Legends Award Ceremony

Disney adds that subscribers can unlock "Disney+ Perks, offers, and experiences" across the weekend, and that fans attending D23 in person can step inside the Disney+ Hulu Experience, which has photo opportunities, a 4D theater experience, and limited edition merchandise.

Construction walls have been up around Tropical Americas, Piston Peak, Monstropolis and Villains Land for months now. Saturday at 10 p.m. Eastern is Disney's own look behind them, at least on a screen.

Sources

• Disney Parks Blog, "LIVE ON DISNEY+! What to Expect at 'Horizons: A Carousel of Progress'"
• WDWMagic, "D23 2026 Live Stream Schedule: Every Event Streaming on Disney+"
• WDW News Today, "Disney Conducts Height Tests in Piston Peak National Park at Magic Kingdom"
• WDW News Today, "Disney Parks D23 Announcements Likely Still Won't Be Live-Streamed Despite Confusing Fortnite Event"

Image credits: All images Disney, via Disney Parks Blog.