Answering Your Questions about Disney+
Disney+ will celebrate a milestone soon. It’ll turn four months old next week. Shortly afterward, Disney’s most important product will debut in new countries around the world. MickeyBlog realizes that you still have a lot of questions about the service. So, we’ll try to answer the biggies today. Here’s everything you need to know about Disney+.
What Is Disney+ and How Much Does It Cost?
Okay, let’s start with the easy stuff. Disney+ is an over-the-top streaming service. That’s a bunch of technical jargon that boils down to a simple response. It’s a streaming app that enables you to watch high-quality movies and television series.
For a modest cost of $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year (which works out to $5.83 monthly), you gain access to the service. For that price, you unlock the legendary Disney Vault, the place where the company has secured its animated classics.
Until recently, these titles were only available to the public for a limited time. Then, they’d return to the vault. With a Disney+ subscription, you can watch them whenever you want.
Of course, the service includes much more. Disney+ is one of the main reasons why the company bought most of Fox’s assets. Disney has populated Hulu and Disney+ with these movies and TV shows.
The primary example is The Simpsons, which has dominated Disney+ viewing thus far. It’s consistently one of the most-watched programs, which is understandable since all 30 seasons are available on the service.
Why Disney+ over Netflix?
First of all, why must you choose? Disney+ costs the same price as a quarter-pounder combo. Even the tightest budgets should include enough wiggle room that you can add Disney+. It’s a quality of life thing in that you’ll gain a lot more daily satisfaction by watching Disney content.
However, I’ve written extensively in the cord-cutting industry, and I know that some people only carry one service at a time. Presuming that you’re one of them, you may wonder whether Disney+ surpasses Netflix in content.
I struggle to answer that question, as I believe the answer varies wildly. Netflix introduces new movies and television series each week. The signal-to-noise ratio isn’t the best, but the company undeniably invests in content.
Disney’s more discriminating thus far. Sure, Disney+ has offered some jaw-dropping exclusives like The Mandalorian and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. However, the service has primarily relied on the massive back catalog of Disney classics.
MickeyBlog suggests a batch of show and television series every 10 days or so. Our staff’s eclectic tastes demonstrate that Disney+ features an extensive content library. Only you can decide whether it provides better value than Netflix.
What I will say with confidence is that Disney+ is worth $5.83 a month. For a trivial amount of money, you’ll never lack for entertainment options.
How Can I Watch Disney+?
You’ve got a smartphone, right? If so, download the app and watch. Would you prefer to watch Disney+ on a television instead? Okay, Boomer, welcome to my world.
Most major electronic devices with streaming app technology can operate Disney+. However, I’m saying most instead of all. The product’s still new enough that some developers haven’t added the app yet. However, the service is more readily than initially projected.
For a while, Disney and Amazon weren’t playing friendly. Then, days before the service launched, Amazon relented and added support on the Amazon Fire and Firestick. So, you can use Disney+ as long as you have any of:
- Smart TV
- Roku
- Roku Streaming Stick
- Smartphone
- Computer Desktop/Laptop
- Smart Tablet
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Nintendo has announced streaming support on the Switch. However, at the time of publication, it’s still not available. That’s a bit troubling since Nintendo promised back in early November of 2019.
Photo: AndroidCentral.com
How Many People Subscribe?
Analysts had projected that 10 million people would sign up for Disney+ in year one. At the end of January of 2020, Disney did a victory lap of sorts in confirming subscriber numbers.
28.6 million people currently subscribe to Disney+. Yes, that’s almost triple the initial forecasts, which shows just how much value people find in the service. In fact, former CEO Robert Iger recently mentioned that Disney+ is nearing the company’s five-year goal for subscribers!
epa07994621 US actress Gina Carano arrives at the premiere of the Disney Plus web television series ‘The Mandalorian’ at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA, 13 November 2019. EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA
When Will Disney+ Be Available in Europe?
We’re only talking a matter of weeks now! Disney+ had scheduled to debut on March 31st. Then, the service proved so effective in other markets that company officials pushed the launch up a week.
Starting on March 24th, much of Europe can enjoy Disney+. The next slate of countries includes:
- Austria
- England
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Spain
- Switzerland
The price is slightly different abroad, at least once exchange rates get factored in. The published cost is £5.99/€6.99 per month or £59.99/€69.99 annually. So, that’s about $7.70-$7.80 or $77-$78 in US dollars. Ergo, it’s slightly more. Of course, it’s a small price to pay to watch The Mandalorian interact with The Child.
Does Disney+ Have Exclusive Content?
I previously mentioned The Mandalorian and the High School Musical series. Those are the tip of the iceberg for planned Disney+ content. Disney has also released another season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Similarly, a recent Freeform series, Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings, is now exclusive to Disney+.
Disney has also created some children’s programming. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made and Diary of a Future President are already available. Meanwhile, a couple of potential theatrical releases also became Disney+ exclusives.
Togo The Untold True Story and Noelle star Willem Dafoe and Anna Kendrick, respectively. And a live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp has become a big hit. Of course, I’m partial to The Imagineering Story.
Later this year, the service will kick into overdrive. At that point, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will anchor Disney+. The first series will extend the Captain America story through Steve Rogers’ best friends, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Can I Watch Disney+ Offline?
Absolutely! Disney has enabled downloads on the service. So, you can select the programs that you want to watch while you’re offline. Download to your favorite device and take Disney+ with you where you’re going!
Disney+ | Chesnot/Getty Images
I’ve tested this service extensively and can confirm that it works well. I would rank it ahead of Vudu but slightly behind Netflix thus far. Then again, those services have operated for many years now, while Disney+ is still only a few months old. So, the fact that Disney’s already beating Vudu strikes me as remarkable.
To a larger point, Disney+ is the only major over-the-top (OTT) vendor in its category to do something. Disney allows the download of anything in its library. Other services entitle the user to watch specific titles offline. With Disney+, as long as it’s on the service, it’s downloadable!
Photo: TheWrap.com
Can Family Members Share Disney+?
I’ve got two answers for this. Both of them are yes, but one comes with an asterisk. Disney absolutely expects family members in the same home to share Disney+ service.
In fact, Disney+ enables profiles for up to seven users. It’ll also allow up to four simultaneous streams, meaning that you can have something different playing in every room of your house. As far as OTT apps go, seven user profiles are incredibly generous, while four simultaneous streams are pretty good, too.
Photo: Shuttershock
Now, that’s a simple answer to the question. What people may be asking is whether it’s okay to share passwords. That’s a touchy ethical subject. Some forward-thinking executives, like the people running HBO, happily encourage users to share their passwords. The idea is that people are more likely to pay for the service once they know that it’s worth the money.
Other media companies – and I sadly mean most of them – are more draconian on the topic. They view password-sharers as dirty rotten thieves, the kind that deserves lengthy prison sentences. Thankfully, nobody’s really prosecuting that crime since it’s pretty ridiculous.
Photo: Hip2Save.com
Disney executives kinda stepped in it a bit with Disney+. They announced that they were totally fine with password sharing. Then, a bunch of outsiders pressured Disney to reconsider its position. These people thought that it was a bad look for the foremost movie studio to act soft on piracy.
Since then, Disney’s offered a more guarded message. For now, the company’s okay with password-sharing, as long as users know that there’s a limit. Abusers of Disney’s goodwill could find their accounts frozen.
Photo: Shuttershock
Realistically, that’s a non-factor, though. The countermeasure is already in place. The four-stream limit means that nobody can act greedy with Disney+, as it should be.
