What is Disney+? Plans, price, and everything else you should know

Where is the only place to catch all the latest Disney movies and TV shows, along with their cache of animated classics? The answer of course, is Disney+, a content-packed streaming platform that includes close to a century’s worth of Disney shorts and features. Along with the classics you know and love, it’s also got movies and shows from Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Nat Geo, and 21st Century Fox.

How much does Disney+ cost? How do you create an account? And can you watch the Star Wars prequels on the service? We’ll answer all these questions and more in this everything-you-need-to-know Disney+ guide. 

What does Disney+ include?

Disney+ currently hosts hundreds of Disney-related movies and television series. Classic animated features like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio are there, as is modern-day Disney Channel fare like Descendants, vintage live-action features including The Parent Trap and Old Yeller, forgotten oddities like the made-for-TV Fuzzbucket, a huge collection of ’90s Marvel cartoons, almost every Star Wars flick, Pixar movies, and much, much more.

While the service includes most Marvel movies, there are still some MCU films that are harder to come by on Disney+ due to licensing agreements with other streamers, such as Netflix. Titles such as the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies and Edward Norton’s Incredible Hulk come and go from the service, for example. You will, however, find all of the X-Men films, and, happily, the Star Wars universe is all present and accounted for on Disney+.

Disney+’s original productions are where things get exciting. In addition to Star Wars TV shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi (which is set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope and sees Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprising their roles from the prequel films), The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett — Disney+ continues to host a slew of live-action Star Wars series. These include the Rogue One prequel, Star Wars: Andor, in which Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk reprised their roles from that film, and Ahsoka, in which Rosario Dawson continues her starring turn as Anakin Skywalker’s embattled former Padawan.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe series Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, WandaVision, and Hawkeye have already hit big on Disney+, in which big-screen stars like Elizabeth Olsen and Tom Hiddleston reprised their roles that directly affected Marvel’s big-screen adventures, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The latest string of shows introduces new characters like Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Moon Knight to the MCU before they appear in feature films.

You’ll also find the entire Pixar library, including new movie releases like Inside Out 2, Elemental, and Lightyear, as well as the whole gamut of Disney Animation Studios films like Encanto and Raya and the Last Dragon.

Speaking of animation, Disney+ is now home to the entire Simpsons catalog, and after a fix for the aspect ratio was issued, they’re all available in their original glory. The platform does not include the season 3 premiere episode, Stark Raving Dad, however, which features the voice of Michael Jackson.

Where is Disney+ available?

In North America, Disney+ is available in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In Central America, you can watch Disney+ in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. 

European subscribers can watch Disney+ in Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Vatican City. 

South American subscribers can watch Disney+ in Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela, Switzerland, and Uruguay. West Indies countries include Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.

In Africa, you can watch Disney+ in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia. Middle East support includes the countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

South Pacific countries include Australia and New Zealand, and Asian subscribers can watch in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.  

Which devices support Disney+?

Disney+ is available on:

• Computer web browsers
• iOS
• Apple TV (tvOS)
• Google Chromecast
• Android
• Android TV
• Roku
• Cox Contour TV and Stream Player Box
• Xfinity Flex and X1 TV Box
• Xbox, PlayStation
• Select Amazon Fire TV devices
• Smart TVs (LG WebOS, Samsung Tizen, Android TV, Google TV, Vizio SmartCast, Roku TV, Hisense smart TVs)

If you’re an Apple device owner or you have one of the many smart TVs and streaming devices that feature the Apple TV app, you can subscribe to (and watch) Disney+ within that all-in-one streaming interface. Disney+ also supports in-app purchases on Apple devices. The Disney+ website has the full list of supported devices.

How much does Disney+ cost?

Disney+ costs $10 a month if you don’t mind advertising. (There’s no annual option with that scheme.)If you want to get rid of ads, it’ll cost you $16 a month, or $160 a year.

However, Disney+ isn’t Disney’s only streaming service. Following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney also controls Hulu, and it also offers the sports-focused ESPN+.

• Disney Bundle Duo Premium, which includes Disney+ and Hulu without ads for $20 a month.
• Disney Bundle Duo Basic, which includes Disney+ and Hulu (both with ads) for $10 per month.
• Disney Bundle Trio Basic with sports which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (all with ads) for $17 per month.
• Disney Bundle Trio Premium with Disney+, Hulu (both with no ads), and ESPN+ (with ads) for $27 per month.
• Disney Bundle with Disney+, Hulu (with ads), and Max for $17 per month.
• Disney Bundle with Disney+, Hulu (without ads), and Max for $30 per month.

Hulu pricing now comes in as the following:

• Hulu with ads: $10 a month, or $100 a year.
• Hulu without ads: $19 a month, with no annual option.
• Hulu With Live TV is $83 a month with advertising on the on-demand content, and $96 a month without ads.
• Disney+ (with ads) add-on is $2 a month.
• ESPN+ add-on is $11 a month.

And ESPN+ pricing is:

• $11 a month, or $110 a year.

Impressive video and audio quality

Disney+ offers select content in Dolby Vision, Dolby’s dynamic version of HDR that offers evolving content to supported TVs to squeeze the best contrast out of each scene, as well as Dolby Atmos, which provides an immersive, hemispheric soundstage for those with supported hardware.

While Dolby Vision is becoming more common, both Vision and Atmos are still rarities in streaming land, supported by only a few services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+ and available on a limited but growing amount of content. One of the most tantalizing aspects of Disney+’s 4K content  — for Star Wars fans at least — is the availability of its Star Wars films, including the original trilogy (that is, the ’90s special editions) in 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos support. This makes Disney+ the only way to view these films in these formats.

And if that wasn’t enough, 15 of its MCU movies are available in IMAX format, which makes the image 26% taller (if your TV or projector is capable).

For those wondering about family viewing, Disney+ offers four simultaneous streams at once on its service for its basic $8-per-month fee.

What it won’t include

In keeping with Disney’s family-friendly approach to programming, there won’t be any R-rated projects available on Disney+. Any movies or TV series that push the boundaries of Disney’s typical PG-13 audience will be diverted to Hulu, according to various reports. This includes titles like Marvel’s Deadpool.

How do I get Disney+?

Starting a Disney+ subscription is as easy as heading over to the Disney+ website and creating an account. Once you’ve selected a membership, you’ll be able to start streaming movies and shows right away. 

Unfortunately, at this time, Disney+ does not offer a free trial for any of its subscription tiers.