Disney+ membership: How to sign up, how to watch for free, and what shows are on it

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Maybe you’ve heard of Disney before? The globe-spanning entertainment conglomerate arrived late to the streaming party, but when Disney+ launched in 2019 it had the backing of the media empire’s enormous back catalogue of movies and TV shows.

Infamous for gobbling up studios, the Disney umbrella includes Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Searchlight Pictures and 20th Century Fox, to name a few. That means Disney+ can offer big budget entertainment that no other streaming services can, including some of the biggest film franchises in existence like Star Wars and the Marvel movies, as well as beloved TV shows like The Simpsons and The Walking Dead.

Competitively priced to lure viewers away from main rival Netflix, Disney+ cost £5.99 when it originally launched. Since then Disney has increased the price of a monthly subscription to £7.99 and added Star to its offering, a collection of more mature shows and films designed to counter the platform’s reputation as a kid-friendly service.

Best known for hosting classic movies, Disney+ is also home to new releases. When the pandemic saw cinemas around the world close their doors, Disney+ launched Premier Access as an alternative. For a one-off payment, viewers could watch Mulan at home on the day of release, and as often as they liked. Since then, four more films have debuted on Premier Access, including Black Widow and Jungle Cruise.

If you’re considering signing up to Disney+ and still aren’t sure if it’s right for you, keep reading to find out more about this rapidly growing streaming service.

Read more:

Disney Plus is the streaming hub for the entertainment giant that is Disney. Home to some of the biggest film franchises, TV shows, movie classics and blockbuster new releases, it’s become one the largest streaming platforms on the market and costs £7.99 a month.

Sign up to Disney+ now

Signing up to Disney+ is simple. You can head to the Disney+ website and complete the sign up process in your web browser.

You can also download the free Disney+ app on your mobile device (Android / iOS) or on your smart TV.

Once you’ve signed up, chosen your subscription type and entered your card details, your login will work across all devices.

No. Unfortunately for anyone looking to try out Disney+ before they commit to a monthly subscription, there’s no free trial currently available. Disney+ stopped giving out free seven-day trials in 2020.

While Disney+ no longer offers a free trial, there’s still one way of watching the service for free, so long as you’re with O2.

New and existing O2 customers can choose Disney+ as their included extra on their phone plan, which gives up to six months free access to the streaming service.

Add Disney+ to your O2 plan here

If you’re an O2 customer and you’re already paying for Disney+, don’t fret. You can still add Disney+ as an extra on your O2 phone plan to gain access to the service free for six months. Disney+ will email you to confirm the deal and make sure you’re not being double-billed.

Star is a content hub within Disney Plus that launched in February 2021. The sub-section features films and series from Disney-owned productions such as FX, 20th Century Studios and 20th Television. Disney Plus Star offers subscribers more adult content, such as Desperate Housewives, Deadpool 2, Borat and Die Hard.

Disney Plus is compatible with Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, Android TV, iPhone/iPad, Android phone/tablet, Mac, Windows, PlayStation, Xbox, LG smart TV, Samsung smart TV, Sony smart TV and Vizio smart TV.

The streaming service offers multiple parental controls, including kid’s profiles, profile PINs, profile creation restrictions and content ratings.

Disney offers a GroupWatch feature of its own, allowing you to watch any title virtually with your friends and family, as well as a SharePlay feature which allows users to FaceTime while also doing other things on their Apple devices when a video is playing on their screen.

Even though it’s trying to steer away from its family-friendly image, Disney+ is still very much the streaming service of choice for anyone with kids, or anyone who’s a kid at heart. Almost every animated Disney is here, including the likes of Snow White and The Lion King, as well as more recent hits like Frozen and Moana.

Disney+ is also home to Pixar movies new and old, so you’ll find beloved classics like Toy Story and The Incredibles alongside more recent releases Soul and Encanto.

Read more: Paramount Plus launches in the UK – here’s how to watch

Every Star Wars movie is included in the package, from the original trilogy up to the modern spin-offs, as well as TV hits The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

As if that wasn’t enough, Disney+ is also the place to watch every movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (bar a Spider-Man film and The Incredible Hulk, neither of which Disney owns) as well as Marvel TV shows like WandaVision and Loki.

The addition of Star in 2020 ushered in some more grown-up programming and doubled the amount of content on Disney+ in the UK. The streaming service now includes classic boxsets of 24, Lost, The X-Files and Prison Break.

If you really want to commit to the binge, Disney+ also has every episode of all 33 seasons of The Simpsons available to stream.

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