Disney+ (pronounced Disney plus) is a new video streaming service that specializes in family entertainment. The service offers both TV shows and movies. Much of the content was specially commissioned for the new service.
Disney+ will be of interest to households with small children or those people who are big fans of Marvel or Star Wars. Other people might struggle to find anything entertaining on the streaming service.
A Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+ bundle that Disney makes available could be a good solution for those looking for a wide range of entertainment. Both the straightforward Disney+ subscription and the combination bundle are pitched at a good price that will attract a lot of subscribers.
Disney+ overview
The service is a property of the Walt Disney Company and shouldn’t be confused with the Disney Channel. The service gets its “Disney plus” name because it combines the output of several entertainment brands owned by Disney. So, it is Disney plus National Geographic, Marvel, the Star Wars franchise, and Pixar.
These four production companies do not represent all of the Walt Disney Company’s entertainment producing assets. In fact, in one instance of these four, the Star Wars movie franchise, only a portion of one of the Company’s production houses, Lucasfilm Ltd, has been put into the pool.
Disney owns a lot of other entertainment assets, such as the ESPN sports broadcaster and the ABC TV channel, which are not part of the Disney+ strategy.
Disney also owns Hulu, which is a rival video streaming service. The other main competitors to Disney+ are Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO Max.
Much of the original content for Disney+ was created as spin-offs from successful movies in the stables of those four contributing studios. For example, The Mandalorian was a headlining original series at the launch of the streaming service. This was a new plot spun out from the Star Wars movie series. An original TV series of short episodes, called Forky Asks A Question was based around a character appearing in the Pixar and Disney movie Toy Story 4.
Not all output from these four production companies is considered suitable for Disney+. For example, much of the output of Marvel Studios is considered to be too violent for the family-oriented streaming service. None of the Deadpool movies will be appearing on Disney+ and many of the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be closely scrutinized before being developed into original series for the streaming service. In some cases, such as The Incredible Hulk, agreements with other studios prevent the content from being available to Disney+.
What shows and movies are on Disney+?
Disney hasn’t stuck to its original mandate of contributing all content to Disney+ from Disney, Pixar, National Geographic, and the Star Wars franchise. It has also added some content from 20th Century Fox Television, which it acquired in 2019 – this is not the Fox channel, but the associated distribution and syndication business.
TV shows on Disney+
- The Simpsons
- The Mandalorian
- High School Musical
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Artemis Fowl
- Diary of a Future President
- Forky Asks a Question
- The World According to Jeff Goldblum
Movies on Disney+
- Avatar
- Hamilton
- Snow White and The Seven Dwarves
- The Little Mermaid
- Onward
- Lion King
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Avengers
- Avengers: Endgame
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Frozen
- Frozen 2
- Toy Story
- Toy Story 2
- Toy Story 3
- Toy Story 4
- The Incredibles
- The Incredibles 2
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Black Panther
- Captain Marvel
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Thor
- Thor: Ragnarok
Forthcoming releases on Disney+
- Muppets Now — Release date: 31 July 2020
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — Release date: August 2020
- Wandavision — Release date: December 2020
- Loki — Release date: Early 2021
- Obi Wan — Release date: Late 2021
- Hawkeye — Release date: Late 2021
Disney+ devices
Disney+ is available in Australia, Austria, Canada, Channel Islands, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The service is not exactly the same in every country. However, a subscriber in one country can still watch the service when traveling abroad, but only in a country where the Disney+ streaming service operates. Viewers get the version of the Disney+ library for the country that they are in, not of the country they signed up in.
The language of the system is set in the profile of the user and defaults to the official language of the country the account was created in.
These devices can receive Disney+.
Smart TVs
- Samsung smart TV
- LG Smart TV
- Vizio smart TV
Streaming platforms and devices
- Web browser
- Google Chromecast
- Roku
- Apple TV
- Android TV box
- Amazon Fire TV Stick
- Amazon Fire TV Cube
- Blu-ray player
Game consoles
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
Mobile devices
- Mobile TV app for iOS (iPhones and iPads)
- Mobile TV app for Android devices and Kindle tablets
Disney+ subscribers can set up seven profiles per account and stream to four devices simultaneously.
Disney+ price
Disney+ costs $6.99 per month when paid month to month. The price works out at $5.83 per month when paid yearly.
Contract conditions
Disney+ requires no contract. However, canceled accounts run to the end of the paid-up period. That makes the yearly subscription plan a bit of a commitment. Those who only pay month by month have no commitment beyond the end of the period that has been paid for.
How to cancel Disney+
To cancel Disney+:
- Log in to your account at the Disney+ website.
- Select your profile. Click on Account.
- Select Billing Details.
- Select Cancel Subscription.
- Select Complete Cancellation to confirm.
Disney+ deals
Disney offers a bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (ESPN Plus) for $12.99 per month, which is about $5 per month cheaper than subscribing to each of the three services separately.
Free trial
Disney+ started up with a seven-day free trial from new members. However, Disney withdrew this in June 2020.
