Everything You Need to Know About Disney+

If you’re a Disney fan, subscribing to Disney Plus is a no-brainer. There are many shows and movies to fall in love with, from old classics to new releases. And even if you’re not the biggest Disney fan, there’s a ton of other great content to stream on Disney+.

With so many different streaming services out there, it’s hard to know where to put your money. In the old days of cable, you’d pay a flat fee and get all (or a lot of) the channels. But now, you have to pick and choose based on your favorite content.

Disney is a humongous brand, and there’s a lot of info to cover when it comes to the content offered in Disney+, pricing and bundles, and how the streaming service came to fruition. Here’s everything you need to know to determine if Disney+ is worth your hard-earned moolah.

Disney Plus: A Brief History

Unlike other streaming services, like Paramount+, Disney+ has a pretty simple history. Owned by The Walt Disney Company (aka the big kahuna), Disney+ launched on November 12, 2019. As soon as it opened, Disney+ was a success.

There was already so much great content under Disney’s umbrella, and with the promise of future content, subscribing to Disney+ was a no-brainer for many people. As in 10 million subscribers on the first day.

To date, Disney+ has almost 130 million subscribers, and it’s only been about two and a half years since its launch. For a new streaming service, that seems insane, but it’s Disney. There are people out there who would buy a trashcan just because Disney stuck a logo on it. (And believe me, I’m not dogging on Disney fans—I was one of those first 10 million subscribers on day one.)

How Much Does It Cost?

Since the streaming service started, it’s already gone up in price once. It started at $6.99 per month, but now you’ll have to pay $7.99 per month if you want to stream all the princess and superhero movies you want. Of course, you can also pay annually if you want to save a little bit of money; that price is $79.99 per year.

Disney+ is a wildly popular streaming service, and there’s a ton of exclusive content that makes it easy for the company to bump that price up even higher. If the company can bump the price, it will. Although there’s no clear indication right now of when a price hike could happen or how much the price will increase, it will happen in the future. Disney has mentioned that the service will offer a cheaper ad-supported plan later this year, so down the road, you can save a few bucks if you don’t mind ads.

If you’re interested in Hulu or the ESPN+ service in addition to Disney+, there’s a nifty bundle for you that’ll save you money overall. Depending on which version of Hulu you want, the price for this bundle can range. If you’re cool with limited ads on Hulu, the bundle will cost you $13.99 per month. If you want ad-free Hulu, the bundle costs $19.99 per month.

There are also bundles available for Hulu + Live TV, but you’ll have to purchase those through Hulu’s website instead of the Disney+ website. For Disney+, Hulu + Live TV (limited ads), and ESPN+, you’re looking at $69.99 per month. If you want to get rid of Hulu’s ads (at least on the non – Live TV content), it’ll cost you $75.99 per month.

What Content Is Available?

Disney+ has a lot to offer when it comes to content. Across the brands of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and National Geographic, there’s a lot of content to binge. Whether you’re looking for something educational on animals from National Geographic, stream a Disney classic, or chill out with a superhero movie from Marvel, Disney+ has you covered.

TV Shows

There are plenty of TV shows to go around on Disney+. Whether you’re looking for an old Disney Channel favorite to stream, a new hit series from Marvel, or something cute from Disney Junior for your kid, you’ll find it here. This is certainly not an extensive list, but here are the most popular TV shows you can binge on Disney+ now:

• The Mandalorian (Marvel)
• The Muppet Show (Syndication)
• Even Stevens (Disney Channel)
• The Book of Boba Fett (Marvel)
• Once Upon a Time (ABC)
• Gravity Falls (Disney Channel)
• The World According to Jeff Goldblum (Disney+)
• Wanda Vision (Marvel)
• Lizzie McGuire (Disney Channel)
• Boy Meets World (ABC)
• Kim Possible (Disney Channel)
• The Simpsons (Fox)
• What If…? (Marvel)
• Hannah Montana (Disney Channel)

Movies

There are certainly a lot of movies to choose from on Disney+, even just from the Disney branded films. From classics like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Aladdin to brand new Disney movies like Free Guy or Turning Red, you’ll have movies to stream for days.

Then, there are many other great movies from Disney’s other acquired brands. From Marvel, you’ve got pretty much all the films in the Avenger universe, like Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther. Then, you’ve got Inside Out, Onward, Coco, and Up! from Pixar and even fun, informative movies from National Geographic like Betty White Goes Wild!, Free Solo, and Giants of the Deep Blue. And, of course, all the Star Wars content you could ever want.

Plus, for some new movies under Disney’s umbrella that are set to premiere in theaters, you can purchase Premier Access to stream it from the comfort of your own home on the day (or sometimes right at midnight). It’s unclear how much longer Disney plans to offer this, as it seems like it was just a placeholder for theater premiers during the pandemic. Of course, Premier Access isn’t cheap, but after paying a one-time fee of $29.99, you can watch that movie as many times as you want as long as you’re a Disney+ subscriber. If you think about how much you’d typically spend at a theater for four or five movie tickets, popcorn, sodas, and/or candy, $30 is a steal.

While there is fantastic movie after fantastic movie on Disney+, we obviously can’t list them all here. These are a few of the most popular movies you can stream on Disney+ right now:

• Star Wars: Episodes I – IX (Star Wars)
• Encanto (Disney)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel)
• Turning Red (Pixar)
• Frozen (Disney)
• Luca (Pixar)
• Moana (Disney)
• Soul (Pixar)
• Solo (Star Wars)
• Raya and the Last Dragon (Disney)
• Black Widow (Marvel)
• Finding Nemo (Pixar)
• 101 Dalmations (Disney)
• Captain Marvel (Marvel)
• Brave (Pixar)
• Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
• Avengers Infinity War (Marvel)
• Cinderella (Disney)
• Toy Story (Pixar)

Which Devices Can You Watch Disney Plus On?

If you’re streaming content from Disney+, you’re probably doing so on your TV or smartphone (Android/iOS). The service is so widespread that you can stream it on pretty much any platform. Here’s a breakdown of all the devices you can use with Disney+:

• Web browser
• iPhone and iPad
• Android Phone and Tablet
• Apple TV
• Android TV
• Chromecast
• Amazon FireTV
• Roku
• Vizio TV
• LG TV
• Samsung TV
• Xfinity Flex
• Xbox
• PlayStation

Where Is the Service Available?

Disney+ is available in over 50 different countries or regions across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. While there are multiple countries Disney+ is not currently in, the company has plans to launch in more areas, and you can always check the website for updates.

Disney+ is also pretty language-friendly, with about 15 different languages to choose from in the app and web browser interface. Here’s every available language listed on the website right now:

• Chinese (Simplified, Traditional, and Hong Kong)
• Danish
• Dutch
• English (UK and US)
• Finnish
• French (Canada and France)
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Norwegian
• Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal)
• Spanish (Latin America and Spain)
• Swedish

A lot of the content on Disney+ is the same among countries and regions, but there might be a few titles that aren’t available to stream in certain markets. If you plan to travel abroad, you can download any content you want to view just in case.

How Does It Compare to Other Streaming Services?

Although all streaming services will differ in the countries they’re available in and the devices you can stream on, the two most significant categories we want to compare here are pricing and the content offered. These are the two main factors people will consider when deciding which streaming services deserve their money.

We went over pricing in depth earlier, but here’s a refresher for context. Right now, Disney+ only has one payment tier (unless you want to bundle Disney+ with other services). You have two ways to pay, but it’s for the same plan: $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. To compare, this is what pricing looks like for other popular streaming services:

• Netflix: For the Basic plan, it’s $9.99 per month. However, most people usually spring for the Standard plan ($15.49 per month) or Premium plan ($19.99 per month).
• Hulu: If you’re okay with limited ads, you’ll pay $6.99 per month; otherwise, you can pay $12.99 per month for no ads.
• Paramount+: Paramount’s Essential plan (with ads) is $4.99 per month, and the Premium plan (you’ll only see ads for Paramount+ content) is $9.99 per month.
• HBO Max: If you don’t want to see ads during your content binges, HBO Max will cost you $14.99 per month. If you’re okay with seeing ads, it’ll cost you $9.99 per month.
• Apple TV Plus: This is one of the most affordable streaming services out there at $4.99 per month, but you here’s the catch: the service only offers Apple TV originals.

Although you could probably guess this, Disney+ is the best streaming service you can get if you can’t get enough Disney content. Whether you’re into classic movies, popular Disney Channel shows, or the plethora of new Disney movies that are constantly being released, Disney+ is the place to be.

Since Disney has acquired multiple companies over the past few decades, Disney+ is a haven for Star Wars fans or content from National Geographic, Pixar, and Marvel. As if there wasn’t already enough content under the Disney brand, the extra gems that have been added from these four brands make Disney+ a well-rounded streaming service. There could also be additional acquisitions in the future that give Disney+ even more content gems.