Here's what Disney Plus, the company's $7-a-month answer to Netflix, looks like when you open it for the first time

Dave Smith

Sep 1, 2019, 17:26 IST

Disney

Disney Plus is the company's answer to Netflix.

Disney Plus, the company's long-awaited subscription streaming service, launches on November 12 for $7 a month.
Disney Plus will offer access to Disney's films and shows, Marvel and Pixar movies, Star Wars, "The Simpsons," National Geographic, and a ton of original programming.
At Disney's D23 Expo earlier this month, we got a look at how Disney Plus will actually look and work on an Apple TV.
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Disney's huge new streaming service, Disney Plus, is almost here.

On November 12, Disney will roll out its Plus service to the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, adding Australia and New Zealand one week later, and more countries later on. It costs $6.99 a month, or $69.99 a year, though Disney is offering a discount that brings the cost down to around $4 a month if you sign up for three years before September 2.

Disney is promising the ability to stream Disney movies and TV shows, Marvel and Pixar movies, shows from National Geographic, the entirety of "The Simpsons," everything Star Wars, plus a bunch of original shows - like the revival of Disney Channel's Lizzie McGwire starring Hilary Duff and the documentary series "The World According to Jeff Goldblum."

But what is it actually going to be like to use Disney Plus? The Streamable, a website that provides in-depth testing for streaming services and phone plans, attended Disney's D23 Expo earlier this month and filmed the company's walkthrough of Disney Plus on an Apple TV, posting the results to YouTube. Thanks to The Streamable and Disney, we have a good idea of what to expect when Disney Plus launches later this year.

Here's what you'll see when you boot up Disney Plus for the first time.

You can scroll along the very top to see featured items, like new movies like "Captain Marvel" or fan-favorites like "The Simpsons."

Below the top carousel of images are the five major categories of Disney Plus: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic.

Each of the categories have cute little animations when you hover over them. Pixar's shows clouds from "Toy Story" flying by ...

... while Disney's icon animates to show fireworks above Cinderella's castle.

When you click into any one of these categories, you'll see a brief animation ...

... before all the content appears below.

When you hover over a piece of content, like Disney's "Frozen," a brief trailer will auto-play at the top of the screen.

Thanks to the demo, we got to see a handful of titles confirmed for Disney Plus, including old favorites like "The Parent Trap" and "Steamboat Willie," as well as newer classics like "Moana," "Remember The Titans," and "Lilo and Stitch."

Similarly, we saw that Pixar will have almost every piece of content it's ever made available on Disney Plus, from features like "Inside Out" to shorts like "Bao" and original series like "Forky Asks A Question."

Disney has the full rights to Star Wars, so the company will feature every film in the main series, in order, right in the app. You can also watch any of the movie spin-offs or TV shows there, too.

Here's what the National Geographic page looks like: It's full of documentaries and shows that depict life on planet Earth.

We still don't know which Marvel movies will and won't be included at launch, but it won't include all 23 MCU titles at first. Still, most movies, and all of the original shows, will be there.

Here's what it looks like when you actually click a title. Here, you have the ability to play or pick up where you left off, or add the title to your watch list by clicking that plus sign. You can also read the movie's description, watch extras and see related movies at the bottom of the screen.

When you click "play" on a movie, you'll see the Disney Plus logo in the upper lefthand corner for a few seconds before it disappears.

Similar to Netflix, you'll have a sidebar on the left where you can jump to different sections, like movies and originals.

Here's what the Watchlist looks like. Pretty simple!

When you visit the Movies tab, you can filter by originals, alphabetical order, or genre. By default, Disney will show you featured films it wants you to see.

If you click the Series tab, you'll see similar filters to choose which TV show you want to watch.

It doesn't look like you'll get any filters when you visit the Disney Plus Originals tab, however, which just shows you a big grid of content to choose from.

The bottom-left part of the sidebar features settings, but the top-left portion features your user profile.

You just type your name and pick from a wide variety of icons from Disney's various properties.

Disney Plus offers up to seven different profiles on a single account.

Childrens' accounts are themed to be more playful: They use brighter colors and feature more options geared toward the younger crowd (even though the entire service is family-friendly).

All in all, Disney Plus should be familiar to anyone who uses Netflix; it even has similar row categories, like "Recommended For You," based off you viewing habits. The best part though: Anything on Disney Plus can be downloaded for offline viewing. Your only limitation is the storage on your device.

What do you think about Disney Plus?

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