Disney, with theme parks, movies, channels and merchandise, took things even further when their own streaming service launched on Nov. 12.
Content for Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic fans alike is available on the platform now with much more to come.
With original series such as “The World According to Jeff Goldblum,” and “The Mandalorian,” Disney+ aims to gather all walks of life to its streaming service.
People seem to be divided over purchasing the streaming service or not, and I’m here to let you know what your options are when deciding.
The basic subscription to Disney+ is $6.99 per month which allows you to stream the service on a variety of devices from game consoles to phones.
There is also a subscription you may purchase to bundle streaming services Hulu and ESPN+ alongside Disney+ available for $12.99 per month if you’re looking to get a little more bang for your buck.
Now that you know what your purchase options are, let’s take a look at how the platform operates.
Disney+ organizes its content in a fascinating way. The site is a bit harder to navigate than streaming services like Netflix. Similar to Netflix, original series and movies produced by the platform can be found on the home page.
A difference seen here is that Netflix lets consumers breathe a bit before they shove their own content down your throat. Disney+ however puts their content at the very top of the home page so that you see their own content before anything else.
The site also only has 20 categories of content recommended on their homepage which seem to serve self promotion of films mostly produced by Disney with a couple of the other production companies mixed in. To compare, Netflix has more than 30 categories of content on their homepage.
A ‘continue watching’ category is missing from the homepage of Disney+, which causes users to have to search for the movie or show they were just watching if they are returning to the site.
It’s not all bad though, as the service organizes content into comprehensive categories as users can find movies that have been broken ‘out of the vault’ such as “The Jungle Book,” and “The Lion King.”
You’ll also be able to find Disney princess movies under another tab when you hit the search button alongside their sequels.
For those that find themselves wanting some older content, Disney has created a category titled ‘Through the Decades.’ This content is organized into decades ranging from the 1920s and 1930s to the 2010s.
For anyone looking to jam out to songs from Disney Channel Original Movies like “Camp Rock,” and “The Cheetah Girls,” look no further than the Disney Channel Original Movies tab.
Classic 2000s series such as “Hannah Montana,” and “Wizards of Waverly Place,” led freshman marine biology major Piper Marmion to subscribe to the service.
“[I purchased] Disney+ just so I could watch Disney movies and Hannah Montana especially,” said Marmion.
Miranda Morrison, a freshman anthropology major, is among those who have decided not to purchase the streaming service in solidarity with Netflix.
“I could live without it,” Morrison said. “I never really watched Disney that much, so it didn’t really feel like anything I had to do.”
With everything available on the platform, let’s take a minute to talk about what isn’t.
Films from the “Star Wars” series: “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and “The Last Jedi,” have yet to be uploaded to the platform, but all other “Star Wars” films are available in addition to several series.
Marvel movies “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” are not on the platform yet, but 16 of 23 films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe are available. These movies can still be streamed on Netflix, but you can look forward to seeing them in the future on the service.
With all of the content being streamed on services like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and other platforms, it brings you to wonder if we’ll ever return to watching regularly programmed television.